Placed in the basement of St Martin-in-the-Fields church and gallery just off Trafalgar Square is the Café in the Crypt, a venue lacking the kind of buzz it ought to generate. It seems a cruel coincidence that the crypt was historically a place for the dead and buried.

The Venue
The flow of tourists between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square makes the Café in the Crypt a fairly busy lunch spot. Through the glass elevator entrance and below the ground, the Café is found next to the St Martin-in-the-Fields gallery and brass rubbing activity area, and directly below the historic chapel. Tombstones line the floor of the large room and a low, exposed-brick ceiling arches over tables and chairs that are placed in a regimented fashion. Along one side of the café is a sterile, canteen-style food counter, where hot and cold foods are out on display and staff wait to serve queuing customers.

The Atmosphere
The Café in the Crypt is nothing more than a gallery canteen in a historic setting, but unfortunately the most has not been made of this unique location. As a consequence, the café lacks atmosphere. The clientele are predominantly older tourists and families, who are served by bored and disinterested staff at the canteen counter. Food prices are also tricky to figure out, making customer service below par.

The Food
There are plenty of dinner and lunch options, from light snacks to impressively large plates of food, and most options are reasonably priced, especially given the café’s prime location. Sandwiches are pre-prepared and bagged, costing £3.95, with a buffalo mozzarella, spinach, onion chutney and cranberry sauce sandwich made with soggy white bread. The contents of the sandwich taste relatively fresh, but the cranberry sauce and onion chutney overwhelm other ingredients.

Salad platters are huge plates of food and for £7.50 customers can choose from a special option served with three side salads, and can load their plates as high as they can get away with. An avocado stuffed with tuna salad is ripe and tasty, and coleslaw is creamy with mayonnaise. Hot food is served daily too and comes in similarly sized portions. For a British staple, pan fried hake, mushy peas and tartare sauce (£8.75) is bound to please the older clientele that this venue seems to attract. Hot vegetarian options are also served up, like braised aubergine and dill gnocchi with sun-dried tomato cream (£7.10).

Traditional British desserts come in the shape of bread and butter pudding (£3.90) and spotted dick (£3.90). There are also cakes and pastries aplenty, making the Café in the Crypt good enough for a spot of afternoon tea.

The Drink
Standard drink options are available here, with tea (from £1.60) and coffee (from £1.90) served at the counter, making this probably the cheapest cup in the area. Other soft drinks such as coca-cola and pressed apple juice start at £2.30 and are bottled and kept in a self-service chilled cabinet. House wine is served at £4.25 a glass or £15.95 a bottle, but it’s not the most sophisticated wine list in town.

The Last Word
Despite being a gallery canteen with a central London location, the Café in the Crypt serves up big plates of food at reasonable prices. However, there is little character, flare or originality to this ageing tourist hot spot.

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