Thirty seconds from the crowds: supper in St Christopher's Place

The passage most shoppers walk past

Crowds stream past it all day, and very few turn in. On the north side of Oxford Street, a few minutes' walk east of Selfridges and close to Bond Street station, a gap between two shop fronts leads into Gees Court, a passage so narrow that two people walking side by side fill it. Take twenty paces and the street noise halves. Take twenty more and it has gone.

The passage opens into Barrett Street and then St Christopher's Place itself, a small tangle of pedestrian lanes lined with restaurants, cafés and independent shops, running north towards Wigmore Street. There is no traffic, the buildings are low, and the whole place has the air of a square in a much smaller city. Of all the escapes from Oxford Street, it is the quickest.

Tables under the string lights

The draw is the outdoor tables. Most of the restaurants spill onto the lanes, and lights strung overhead turn the court into something close to a stage set once the sky darkens. Italian, grill rooms, small plates, wine bars: the mix changes as leases turn over, so walk the lanes before you choose and pick the table rather than the name.

A good table here faces into the court, away from the passage, with a wall at your back. The best are at the corners, where you can watch everyone and nobody walks directly past your chair. On a warm evening the tables fill early, and a reservation, where the restaurant takes one, is worth making.

A first hour, well staged

The court is public without being exposed. It is busy enough that nobody is watching you and small enough that you hear each other without leaning in. An outside table offers you both something to watch besides each other, the lights, the passers-by, a waiter crossing the lane with a tray held high, and conversation starts itself. If the evening wants to continue, your hotel is minutes away. If it ends after coffee, the passage returns you to Oxford Street and a taxi within a minute.

Choosing the evening

Lunchtimes and after-work drinks are the busy hours, and a dry summer evening fills every outside seat. Later in the evening, once the shops have closed and the office crowd has gone home, the court settles into something slower and more intimate. That is the hour to aim for.

Each season changes the place. In summer the light lasts until well after nine, and dinner outside under a pale sky is one of the pleasures of W1. In autumn and winter many restaurants keep a few tables outside with heaters and covers, though that varies from door to door, and in December the lanes are dressed for Christmas. On a wet night, choose an indoor table with a window onto the court; you keep the view and lose the rain.

A ninety-minute plan, and a longer one

The court suits the shorter rungs of the rates ladder better than almost anywhere in W1, because it takes minutes to reach from any hotel near the shops.

Leaving by the north end

Most people leave the way they came. Go the other way. The lanes lead north to Wigmore Street, and from there the evening can carry on in any direction. Turn east along Wigmore Street and within a few minutes you pass the mouth of Marylebone Lane, with its bends and its old pub, then reach Wigmore Hall for a late recital. James Street, with more café terraces, runs back down towards Oxford Street if you want to close the loop.

Keep walking north and you are in the heart of Marylebone, where the village restaurants and the townhouse hotels take over. Nobody who arrives at St Christopher's Place through the passage expects it to lead somewhere this quiet.

Small practicalities

A few details make the evening easier.

Who lights up under the lights

Roxi treats an evening here as three restaurants in one: something spicy to start, small plates at a second table, and dessert at a third, which she counts separately. Jasmin will choose a drink for you at the wine bar and watch your face as you taste it. Tina spends dinner admiring or gently critiquing the jackets at neighbouring tables, and Nora finds a reason for champagne before the menus arrive.

Jasmin and Tina are both in our petite window, and Roxi's long black hair puts her among our raven-haired companions. The Bond Street page shows the nearest hotels, and the booking page explains the single check that confirms every evening.