J Sheekey

J Sheekey has been serving oysters to theatre crowds since 1896, and the low-ceilinged rooms strung along St Martin’s Court between Charing Cross Road and St Martin’s Lane still feel like they belong to that era: white tablecloths, black and white photographs of old stage stars lining the walls, waiters in long aprons who have clearly done this job for decades rather than months.

The menu runs almost entirely on fish and shellfish. Oysters from the UK, Ireland and France sit alongside the restaurant’s own fish pie, a dish so associated with the place that regulars order it without checking what else is on offer, plus Dover sole, sea trout and a changing catch of the day dressed simply so the quality of the fish itself does the talking. It is not an adventurous kitchen, and it does not pretend to be; it is doing a small number of things it has done for well over a century, and doing most of them very well.

Because it sits two minutes from half a dozen West End stages, the pre-theatre crowd dominates early evening, and the staff are visibly practised at getting a table fed and billed inside ninety minutes without making anyone feel rushed, refilling the free bread basket for guests who want to linger a little longer once the curtain-call crowd has cleared out. Later in the evening the pace relaxes and the room fills with a mix of locals, actors and the occasional recognisable face who has clearly been coming for years.

Prices are steep for what is, at heart, unfussy cooking, though the ingredient quality generally justifies it, and the setting, all low beams and close-set tables, trades a bit of physical comfort for genuine atmosphere that newer, more spacious seafood restaurants rarely manage to replicate.

The honest caveat: it can feel like a museum piece as much as a restaurant, tables are tight enough that you will overhear your neighbours’ conversation, and booking well ahead is essential for anything but a very early or very late slot. If you want a spacious, contemporary dining room, this is not it, but if you want a genuine slice of Theatreland history with the seafood to match, it delivers.