TODAY
Free Bacon Rolls

With news that Stateside fave Denny’s might be making its way over to our fair shores with its 24 hour fast–food fancies, we’re looking to one of London’s longest–standing all–day caffs for our quick fix. From 7:30am today until 7:30am tomorrow Polo Bar will be dishing out free bacon butties to get you lot in to admire their new decor – all 50’s inspired interiors and old–school Brit menu.

Polo Bar, 176 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4NQ.

BOOK AHEAD
Experimental Food Society Spectacular

Picky eaters keep clear – this gathering of gourmands and gastro–experimentalists promises to tickle your tastebuds in the most unusual ways possible. Featuring an awe-inspiring assemblage of jellymongers, bread artists, one–of–a–kind dining conceptualists, cake artists, butter sculptors, food landscapers, food performers and chocolate sculptors, choose from the daytime exhibition or head down at night for the banquet with a giant spoon and dig in.

25th September, Exhibition: 11am-5pm, £5. Banquet: 7:30pm-1am, £75. The Brickhouse, 152C Brick Lane, E1 6RU.

ESCAPE
Stop Making Sense Festival

OK. We know we poo–pooed festivals and had you all pack away your wellies. But this little musical number by the Croatian sea is more flip than flop, and just slipped through the net. With beautiful beaches, bars wedged in the sand and a floating boat-board stage featuring Secretsundaze, Radioclit, Benji B, Optimo and Friendly Fires, it’s our top pick for a last ditch fistful of sunshine.

3rd-5th September, £80.

SHOP
Puffin Designer Classics

To celebrate the publisher’s birthday, this limited edition range of collectible classics is available from today. With only 1000 of each title available and guest artists ranging from Antony Gormley and Orla Kiely to architect Frank Ghery, you’ll need to be quick to snap up James and the Giant Peach, Treasure Island, Little Women, Around the World in Eighty Days. Book worms – time to beat that early bird.

£100

RESERVED
This week’s hottest foodie destination

Polpetto
A mini Polpo above the French House

49 Dean Street, W1D 5BG – 020 7734 1969
www.polpetto.co.uk

Location
You can’t get more old–school Soho bohemia than the site for Russell Norman’s diminutive new dining room above the famed French House pub. Originally opened as a gin parlour in the mid 19th century, it’s also where Fergus Henderson cooked in the Nineties, pre–St John, so its food chops aren’t too shabby either.

Vibe
There’s something to be said for a restaurant that you can take in at just one glance and, with only 28 seats, Polpetto is perfectly formed – especially if you’re the type who’s nosy about what’s on everyone else’s plate. Unsurprisingly there’s no room for a bar but you can follow in the unsteady footsteps of Dylan Thomas and Francis Bacon and get your fill of liquid refreshment downstairs.

Flavours
While Polpetto is a little shabby–chic diamond in its own right, it also serves as a handsome overflow for its only slightly larger, yet still rip–roaringly successful, sibling restaurant Polpo as the menu is a continuation of Italian bacari (wine bar) bites. There are rustic chicheti of polpetti (baby octopus), of course, bruschette of stracchino, fennel salami and fig plus substantially larger dishes of osso buco and pigeon saltimbocca. Nothing is prissy or overworked; it’s good, simple, Mediterranean grub, served by the delightful Daniel, Carmen and other groovy young things.

Décor
Satisfyingly rough around the edges but with stylish touches like the French 19th century light fittings and mirrors made from reclaimed church windows, the place feels more ‘rustic coaching inn meets NY speakeasy’ than jewel box, and is all the better for it.

Upshot
Go during the day (when you can book) and enjoy seductively seedy views of Dean Street comings and goings, or tootle along in the evening (when it’s first come, first served) and submerge yourself in the twinkling, low–lit atmosphere of one of Soho’s most venerated establishments, past and present.