The Eagle, Farringdon Road, Central London

One of London's first gastropubs, the Eagle, like its customers, is dishevelled in a trendy kind of way. Tables and chairs are strewn randomly around the green and cream bar, while a battered leather sofa with no springs huddles in one corner. The open kitchen is tucked behind the bar, so you can watch the laid-back chefs at work. As the Eagle is packed most lunchtimes, you may have to share a table. Order at the bar choosing from the ever-changing menu scrawled across the blackboards above the kitchen. The lavishly-described main courses, which cost around a tenner each, are rubbed out as and when the chefs run out of ingredients. The menu typically features hearty dishes, such as rabbit stew with potatoes in a creamy white wine sauce topped with rosemary, or roast haddock with purple sprouting broccoli. The food is full of flavour, but the portions aren't particularly generous - some of the rabbits used to make the stew, for example, must have been pretty scrawny creatures. 7/10