Dine with the Nighthawks ; Edward Hopper Would Have Had No Problem Finding a Late-Night Diner, but Where Can You Find a Decent Meal After Midnight Over Here?

Mail on Sunday › August 04, 2009

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Summary

At 4.15am, after a particularly brutal night on the sauce, even the most invidious of foods hold near-mystical allure. Fatty, BO- scented kebabs, flaccid chips and vaguely obscene hot dogs all dance across the boozesoaked palate like mink-slippered angels. Never mind that in more sober, daylight hours you'd barely acknowledge these culinary reprobates, let alone embrace them. Once you've had a skinful, even the Ginsters pasty turns from pale wretch to blonde goddess, complete with come-hither smile.

But in Britain, despite our unquenchable thirst for grog, we lack a decent late-night eating culture. In New York, you're never far from early hours sashimi or respectable pizza. Japan is stuffed full with superb, 24-hour ramen noodle shops, the perfect salve for the wobbling salaryman. Southeast Asia has a glut of night markets, serving up everything from chilli-fried locust to chilli-flecked soups. Even Germany triumphs with a pre-dawn currywurst, a seriously fine sausage with a hint of the sub-continent. Here, though, the options are more limited.