You can’t sit with us!

The first time I heard it was in the late 1990s. We’d left the theatre, and someone suggested we hop in a cab and head to the ‘Canteen’. At 10.30pm, other than Joe Allen or Stringfellows, where on earth could eight people find dinner? We arrived at the location 15 minutes later. Jesus (not that one) was still there, two tables were hastily pulled together, and we sat till 1am talking nonsense. This ‘Canteen’ was Le Caprice – then under the watchful eye of maes tro maître d’ Jesus Adorno and still the centre of the world.

Why the ‘Canteen’? For Tory grandees, David Bailey-era celebrities and people who wore ties, Le Caprice was their dining room, refectory and cafeteria, where you and your peers could drink well, enjoy a great menu and always get a table. It’s a term that has been applied to many restaurants across London since – with varying degrees of accuracy.