For the purists, Smithfield market hasn’t been the same since they stopped herding the animals in live and shrieking in the 1850s. But, short of hanging around barns in the countryside, it still can’t be beaten as a place to get close to your food source, and there’s nothing quite like the sight of your local butcher wrestling a carcass into the back of his Transit Van to remind you where you stand in the chain. But even after the vans have gone and the slabs have been hosed down for the next load, the knowledge of that visceral reality can require a soothing tonic, and around the corner is just the spot in which to settle back and be thankful that humans thought of bladed tools before anybody else.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

It’s tempting for any establishment so close to carnivore corner to adopt a meaty tone. But even though Vinoteca is near enough to the market for the odd breeze to waft a faint tang of raw fat past the doorway, this place is designed purely for the living and breathing. Simple wooden chairs and tables, bar and floorboards create the backdrop for a relaxed, cool atmosphere helped along by ambient tunes and light flooding in through glass doors that give straight out on to the comings and goings of a great old London street. The setting is perfect for the easy and convivial enjoyment of the bar’s main focus, an extensive, imaginative range of wines, prominently but unobtrusively displayed in one corner and dispensed by people who care about what they’re doing and who can talk about wine till the cows come home.

WHAT TO DRINK?

It’s only been open a year, but Vinoteca already has a big reputation for its range and prices. A shop as well as a bar, its takeaway and drink-in lists allow value-minded punters to measure the refreshingly low mark-ups on a list of more than 200 wines, both classics and surprises. If you can’t find something there to tickle your tastebuds, I’m a vegetarian.

Vinoteca, 7 St John Street, EC1 (020-7253 8786)

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