Wright Brothers' Soho Oyster Bar

The Wright Brothers’ Soho Oyster Bar ticks all the boxes. It looks a bit like a funky architectural salvage shop. It has heft, sturdiness and manly chefs. And its oysters are as good as gold – the owners have custodianship of stretches of water down in the southwest of England which produce some of the loveliest examples, not least the Duchy natives.

There are tables upstairs, but downstairs it is all freestanding counters and an open kitchen, giving a top view of some hot man-on-shellfish action. It is self-consciously laid-back and an evening here is a jolt of life.