Dean Street Townhouse, Soho

A special birthday treat breakfast, this was much more formal and upmarket location than the usual choice of cafe. It's New York Style diner meets hotel lounge and the uniformed staff are highly professional - no chance for the usual caffeinated wittering!

The food - chosen from an extensive menu - was delicious and beautifully prepared. Given the earliness of the meeting, we were rather unadventurous, choosing a basket of fresh croissants and a danish as well as a bowl of creamy yoghurt with banana, raspberries (a special addition on request!), sprinkled with candied pecans and a drizzle of honey. The coffee, Darlington Blend, was dark and delicious and we began with large freshly made glasses of apple, orange, carrot and ginger.

Although when we arrived, at 7.45, the place was pretty much empty, it was full, and buzzing by 9 am and judging by the quality of the food it's not difficult to imagine why.