Olle, London: ‘The diners are the window display’

Pleasing dishes are in the spotlight at this fine traditional Korean barbecue – and so are the diners

Olle, 88 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6NG (020 7287 1979). Small plates £6-£12.50; larger dishes £11-£54.50; wines from £19

Olle Korean barbecue on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue has a shop window which puts the gorgeous displays of diamanté alligators and glass slippers over at Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly to shame. I’ve walked past Olle’s brightly lit picture windows countless times over the past year, and the view has always been intoxicating: diners at broad communal tables, hunched over electric grill plates, tending to sizzling pieces of meat, fish and vegetables as if they were holy relics. It’s dinner with a floor show. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would become one of those diners.