Fun food facts. Because Londoners love to walk the streets and eat.
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
Londoner's have always had exotic tastes in food from pickled Eels to whatever the next food fad will be. Ever changing and ever creative menus, architecture needs to keep up. Unsurprinsgly its left a legacy of hidden food history, literally under our feet and all around us. Here are 11 questions, do you know the answers?
1. Where can you find the world’s first " tea shop," operating since 1706?
Answer: Twinings’ at 216 Strand. This tiny emporium, squeezed between larger buildings, has been run by ten generations of the same family and evolved from a coffee house into the world’s first shop dedicated to selling dry tea leaves.
2. Which legendary department store claims to have invented the Scotch egg in 1738? Answer: Fortnum & Mason. Originally started as a grocer’s shop founded by a royal footman and a local grocer, the store claims to have created the snack for travellers heading out of London by coach.
3. Which London restaurant used to have a functioning snail farm in its basement? Answer: L’Escargot in Soho. The founder’s customers loved the dish so much he renamed the restaurant after it and placed a plaster bust of a snail outside, which remains a landmark on Greek Street today.
4. Why does Simpson’s-in-the-Strand serve its famous roast meats from super silent antique carving trolleys? Answer: They were introduced so that chess players in the club would not be disturbed by waiters moving around the room. Simpson’s began as a coffee house and chess club in 1828 before gaining fame for its traditional British cuisine.
5. Which Michelin-starred restaurant is housed in a former bacon smokehouse? Answer: St. John near Smithfield. Housed in a historic industrial building, it is famous for its "nose-to-tail" philosophy and its signature dish of roasted bone marrow.
6. Where was the very first coffee house in London located? Answer: The Jamaica Wine House in St Michael's Alley. It occupies the site of London's first coffee house, which opened in 1652 and was visited by Samuel Pepys in 1660.
7. Which grand European café was originally designed as a high-end car showroom? Answer: The Wolseley on Piccadilly. The building still features the dramatic, large-scale doors and grand pillars from its days as the 1920s Wolseley Motors showroom. It has alos been a Chinese restaurant.
8. Where can you find a family-run deli that has been famous for its "piles of pickles" for four generations?Answer: Paul Rothe & Son on Marylebone High Street. Founded in 1900, it is one of the few remaining independent jewels of the Great Estate, beloved for its traditional sandwiches and vast collection of condiments.
9. Which famous restaurant takes its name from a Latin advertising slogan meaning "Now is the time to drink"?Answer: Bibendum in Chelsea. Located in the iconic Michelin House (a former tyre depot), the name comes from the slogan "Nunc est bibendum," featuring the Michelin Man on the building’s famous stained-glass windows. Because drinking and driving goes so well together?!
10. Where in Soho can you find a social hub which is open through the night to serve jazz musicians and was later immortalised in a song by Pulp? Answer: Bar Italia on Frith Street. Founded in 1949 and still run by the same family, it has been a 24-hour social anchor for London’s creative and musical communities for decades.
11. Where can you taste cheese which has literally aged under London’s busiest streets? Answer: Paxton and Whitfield. The Cheesmongers has been located in St James From 1797 It ages its cheeses in vaults underneath the premises at 93 Jermyn Street, London. It  holds two Royal Warrants for H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales so the cheese must be good, perhaps it even tastes of London (nutty)