At Elizabeth Tassel’s suggestion, she meets Strike here for a follow-up discussion. Much to Strike’s chagrin, she chooses to meet over lunch, which means that he will have to pay for it. “They love their bloody lunches, book people,” Strike said.
Liz chooses Pescatori, a nice little Italian seafood restaurant located on Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia.
Strike arrives first, and is “shown to a table for two beside a pebble-set and whitewashed wall. Rustic wooden beams crisscrossed the ceiling…. Across the opposite wall were jaunty orange leather booths.”
While enjoying a dinner here, we could imagine Strike and Liz sitting at the next table, with her having multiple coughing fits.
“A rowing boat was suspended over the bar.”
Strike orders cod and chips as well as an apple and strawberry crumble here, but the restaurant is actually quite fancy, and nothing that simple was offered on the menu. We ordered the antipasto ortolano, which included barley risotto cake topped with goat’s cheese, grilled radicchio, buffalo mozzarella, beetroot & poppy seed salad, and deep fried zucchini with parmesan — see what we mean by “fancy”??
Pescatori was also used as a filming location for the Strike TV series.
You can find it on Google Maps here:
PAGE UPDATE: Unfortunately, Pescatori was permanently closed on 11 March 2021 after 58 years of trading. However, they have a sister restaurant called Spaghetti House just around the corner on Goodge Street.