The Eagle - possibly the best steak sandwich in the world - June 2011

We've all been there. Half way through a night out and you're regretting the straight from work sprint that meant you didn't eat since lunch. If you're as lucky as I was, you're in Farringdon and The Eagle is round the corner.

Most days you'll struggle to get a table in the stripped back, frequently copied old saloon bar. Seen in a thousand, thousand pubs since the place opened in 1991, it's hard not to feel at home among the mix and match furniture and the junkshop aesthetic. There are a couple of spots to watch chefs and bar staff dance behind the bar cum kitchen that ranges down the back wall too, but these tend to be taken with drinkers, thankfully as welcome as diners in the first come first served hierarchy of the place. That being said, there aren't many drinkers who don't dine when the food is as well known as this. Lunchtimes are local, it used to be the Guardian's de facto office canteen when they lived next door, now it's full of the crazy and the creative. Close enough to piggyback Exmouth Market's vibe and established as a gastro mecca, it's never too quiet in the evenings either.

A handful of regularly changing mains each night scrub from the long blackboard above the bar as they finish. Maybe they were too early for the small plate revolution, but other than a lonely Serrano ham, olives and bread, there's not much for the snacker here. Arriving mid-session, my belly was crying out for the Bife Ana, their sandwich of thinly sliced rump, marinaded in a garlic and oregano heavy chimchurri and slapped on that open grill behind the bar. Thick and tasty meats squish into floury white rolls, holding together long enough to soak the juices before collapsing like a beefy sigh into your mouth. One word of warning though... If you're there with a date, just make sure you share, there's enough garlic there to dent an entire vampire trilogy.