Food and Drink: Bites Left-Leaning Eating

Karl Marx worked over the shop at Quo Vadis (it wasn't a bourgeois restaurant then). Which other restaurants feature in old and new leftie history?

Gay Hussar, 2 Greek Street, London W1 (0171-437 0973). Mon-Sat lunch and dinner.

A name etched into the stomachs of Labour's ancien regime. Michael Foot's still a regular and Tribune magazine's lot lunch here still. The Hungarian food - wild cherry and yogurt soup, goulash and dumplings - shows all the signs of the years in opposition, but it is so Seventies it could be coming back into fashion. Shabby decor untouched by image-makers has an unreconstructed appeal. Lunch pounds 15-pounds 18, dinner around pounds 25.

Granita, 127 Upper Street, London N1 (0171-226 3222). Tues dinner, Wed to Sun lunch and dinner.

Where Tony met Gordon to seal the leadership of the party. The puritanically plain but chic dining room is still eating HQ for Islington intelligensia. That's because of the modish but unpretentious and successful food at moderate prices. Saltcod croquettes with aioli; char-grilled tuna, calf's liver or chump of lamb with punchy-flavoured accompaniments. Lunch pounds 11.95 two courses, pounds 13.95 three courses. Dinner's more like pounds 25.

North Sea Fish Restaurant, 7-8 Leigh Street, London WC1 (0171-387 5892). Mon to Sat lunch and dinner.

Excellent fish-and-chip restaurant that was a haunt of Arthur Scargill during the miners' strike in 1985 and reputedly bugged. Long before and since then it's been a favourite among cabbies - not generally known for their radical views. Closed for the holiday until 1 September.

September Brasserie, 15-17 Queen Street, Blackpool, Lancashire (01253 623282).

Tue-Sat lunch and dinner. Blackpool's best bet is chocka during political conferences. You'll have to imagine this pretty room above a hairdresser's filled with Labour Party or TUC types - they're going elsewhere this year. The annual price hike to pounds 28 for three courses in October is for the Tories to bear. Usually it's pounds 15.50 for two courses, pounds 18 for three - such as Thai fishcakes with fennel jam, cassoulet of wild rabbit with pancetta, vodka and lemon syllabub.