One of the busiest restaurants in London, The Wolseley (pronounced Wool-sey) is housed in a former car sales room for the eponymous cars, yet this is no empty cavernous space; the vaulted ceilings, chandeliers and Art Deco styling harp back to a more elegant age. It’s not surprising to learn that the restaurateurs behind this bustling yet elegant brassiere also previously managed The Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey. The staff is (usually) attentive and friendly, a remarkable fact considering that The Wolseley is open from early morning to midnight on weekdays. It’s a magnet for celebrities such as Sir Elton John, and assorted media types, who choose from separate menus for their power breakfasts, morning pastries, long lunch meetings, restorative afternoon tea or post-performance dinners. The food is firmly European café, with an emphasis on quality ingredients rather than overblown flavor combinations. The All Day menu includes Plats du Jour that grace their allotted day of the week: coq au vin on Mondays, spit-roast suckling pig on Thursdays. This menu has a sense of fun, too, as among the seafood and eggs, you can choose Jonah’s toasted chocolate sandwich. Menu favorites include seared scallops with pancetta, chicken soup with dumplings or oysters for those with a naughty twinkle in their eye. Main course fish dishes are consistently good, as is the braised lamb shank, a dish where the meat should fall off the bone in delicious subservience. The dessert trolley is a welcome sight to the sweet-toothed diner, and, appropriately, the wine list is exclusively European, too. The Wolseley is never going to be the cheapest brassiere in town, but it is certainly one of the best.