Restaurants: Bites

Turkish tripe soup, oysters and satay: Caroline Stacey's guide to where and what you can eat in London after midnight

Istanbul Iskembecisi 9 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 (0171-254 7291). Daily noon-5am. This is no late-night kebab shop but an esteemed pastel-painted and chandelier-hung Turkish restaurant whose speciality is iskembe (tripe soup) - said to cure a hangover. Other intestinal dishes are available, but the more faint-hearted can take advantage of the late opening times by having the splendid meze, meaty grills and stews, and even an unusually varied selection of desserts. Around pounds 12 a head.

Little Italy 21 Frith Street, London W1 (0171-734 4737). Mon-Sat noon-4am; Sun noon-11.30pm. Related to the famous late-night caffeine magnet Bar Italia, this hip-looking Soho Italian restaurant draws a buzzing crowd of bleary-eyed post- clubbing diners. Food, though, is no better than many another unreconstructed Soho trattoria. Around pounds 25 a person.

Mezzo 100 Wardour Street, London W1 (0171-314 4000). Mezzonine Mon-Sat noon-2.30pm, 5.30pm-12.30am; Mezzo Mon-Thur noon-3pm, 6pm-midnight, Fri noon-3pm, 6pm-1am, Sat 6pm-1am, Sun noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm. Conran's Soho megalith. The ground-floor Mezzonine serves smart bowls of south-east Asian food contrasted with European puddings in a modern, clattering canteen. Under an unfortunately low ceiling downstairs, the crustacea counter carries on until 3am, even when the kitchen stops serving full dinners (pounds 35-pounds 45 a head) at 1am. A mostly out-of-town crowd is attracted by the Conran reputation for accessible glamour and the live jazz - for which there is an extra pounds 5 charge if you are eating when the players strike up.

Maze at Legends 29 Old Burlington Street, London W1 (0171-437 9933). Food served Mon-Fri noon-3pm, Sat 10.30pm-2am. A chequered attempt to establish a restaurant-in-its-own-right during the day now has a new chef, Justin Abbott-Charles, from quite another sort of club - White's. He's serving lunches (two courses pounds 17.50, three for pounds 21.50), and on Saturday nights, has recently introduced bar food of the satay, fishcakes and calamari variety to those who need sustenance away from the dance floor.

Cafe de Paris 3 Coventry Street, London W1 (0171-734 7700). Tue-Thurs 9pm-11.30pm, Fri, Sat 8-11pm. The management of Cafe de Paris wish it to be known that although members are given priority, non-members may book dinner at the famous galleried 1930s nightclub, robbed of its shabby charm in a 1990s makeover. Though what kind of enticement it is when two courses are pounds 28.50, with side orders an extra pounds 2.50? Tables are for two hours only and dinner isn't served particularly late, though you can continue clubbing (more mainstream disco than drum'n'bass) for longer.