Fernandez & Wells
43 Lexington St
W1F 9AL
Tel: 020 7734 1546
Date of Last Visit: 7 June 2008
The Victim: Me
The Damage: Less than £10?
The Background: I’ve become a compulsive shopper as of late. I really can’t help myself.
I think it’s because I normally go back to the U.S. with two empty suitcases around this time of year and stock up on all sorts of new duds. I don’t, unfortunately, have time for that this summer. So Oxford Street is getting to know me better than ever before. It knew me pretty well, that’s for sure, but I was more a looker than a buyer. Now the AMEX is primed and ready and I own four too many purses than ever before.
The Entrance: I’ve had Fernandez & Wells on my To-Do List ever since I watched the Trusted Places video with Niamh of Eat Like a Girl. A Saturday on Oxford Street provides the perfect excuse.
It’s buzzy when I enter…it’s not big place, maybe just eight stools? Five are full and I pick mine overlooking the cash register. (Photo taken from my stool.) The staff are fun and jovial and pleased to see me, a total stranger. I order a chorizo sandwich and because I got my ass kicked that morning by my personal trainer and it’s just coming up on 3 p.m. (when I think drinkng during the day becomes acceptable), I do treat myself to a sneaky glass of rioja.
The Food: The sandwich arrives in all its crispness and it is fantastic. I want it to go on and on and on. I watch them plate up ham and cheese for other guests, and I wish I was hungrier and/or already thinner so I could join in the fun. In short, I have a lovely sandwich and a lovely time and me and my AMEX are refueled and ready to hit the streets again. Which we do.
The Verdict: Love, love, love Fernandez & Wells. Simple is perfect and perfect is simple. Why haven’t I been here before? I will be back.
7 comments
Like F&W’s chorizo sandos? Have you gone to see Tony at Lina Stores, down the road in Brewer Street? Get him or Frank to whip you up a ciabatta with their chorizo, or whatever else they’ve got in the deli cabinet from hell. One of the better value lunches in London. God I miss it.
http://euroblather.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-lunch-of-choice.html
Wonderful! So glad you liked it.
I really want to try their black pudding sandwich – might go after work!
Scott, I didn’t know Lina Stores did sandwiches. Must check them out. I really like that shop, it’s a treasure. I have a similar old school shop near work in King’s Cross that does sandwiches too, although not toasted, which I have a weakness for.
Went back to F&W for lunch today! The Lexington branch wasn’t serving any more sandwiches, but they let me get one from the Beak Street cafe around the corner and bring it back to enjoy with a glass of wine at the Lex St. branch.
And afterwards, I went to Lina’s and fell in love. Tortellioni (I would call them ravioli?) and pesto for dinner!
I love F &W – In the summer it’s great to get a paella to eat in the sun at the nearby Golden Square.
F&W used to do a fantastic tortilla, no idea why they stopped it. It was an enormous wedge of egg interspersed with onions, i loved it.
Lina stores are good but they are bloody miserable in there. I prefer I Camisa on Old Compton Street. They seem to have far more passion for what they’re doing.
Fernandez and Wells is really cool, went there with my New Zealand friend and after blogging about it have been back 5 more times. Try the bourbon vanilla cheescake – sublime
F&W is also one of the five best places in London for espresso and the textured-milk-added coffees made with it.
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