Esoteric London

Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2. Photo © Roger Dean 2013

London of To-day. An Illustrated Handbook For The Season – Charles Eyre Pascoe, 1887:

In a general way we should say that no more delicious oysters are to be had than at Pimm’s in the Poultry, and Sweeting’s in Cheapside; and turtle than that which is supplied by Purssell’s of Cornhill (78-80), and Painter’s of Leadenhall Street (129-130), the Ship and Turtle tavern. Fish, plain boiled, may, doubtless, be had in greater perfection outside London, but hardly so in London than that which is shown on the daily bill of fare of Blanchard’s (Beak Street), Simpson’s (the Strand), and the Tavistock in Covent Garden.