Marylebone, W1U and W1G: slow dinners and village streets

Marylebone is where Londoners come to slow down. Chiltern Street has tailors, perfumers and the brick fire station turned hotel. Moxon Street hosts a Sunday farmers' market, and Marylebone Lane twists like the old stream it once followed. Manchester Square hides the Wallace Collection behind its tall windows, Wigmore Street is home to Wigmore Hall, where chamber music plays beneath a painted cupola, and Harley Street and Wimpole Street carry long elegant terraces.

Evenings here are about good food and good conversation rather than big nights out. A companion who knows Marylebone will suggest a small table and plenty of time.

The Langham on Portland Place, facing the curved front of Broadcasting House, with the Artesian bar just inside. Chiltern Firehouse on Chiltern Street, a Victorian fire station with a leafy courtyard where tables are famously hard to get. The Zetter Townhouse on Seymour Street, full of curiosities, velvet and old portraits. Dorset Square Hotel, a Regency townhouse overlooking a leafy garden square near Marylebone station. The Mandeville on Mandeville Place, steps from Wigmore Street.

They are here as landmarks and nothing more; this agency has no understanding with any of them. The mansion flats of Marylebone, often with a porter at the desk, are visited in exactly the same discreet way.

Baker Street is about 4 minutes from the top of the district and is one of the best connected stations in London, with the Bakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith and City, Jubilee and Metropolitan lines. Bond Street lies around 6 minutes south of Wigmore Street, where Central line and Elizabeth line trains stop. Regent's Park station, a Bakerloo line stop, is roughly 7 minutes from Park Crescent, and Marylebone station, with Bakerloo trains and National Rail services, is about 8 minutes' walk from the High Street.

Tell us who you would like to meet, the hotel or flat, the time and the length of your night. The desk replies in minutes and, over WhatsApp, confirms who you are: full name, address and, at a hotel, the room. A deposit of one quarter, paid by bank transfer, then holds a standard visit. Overnight stays and events need half up front, and its travel portion is not refunded if you cancel.

Marylebone is close to the middle of our map, and after confirmation a companion usually reaches you in about 40 minutes, dressed for dinner. Pay what is left however suits you: cash that evening, or a bank transfer.

Seven o'clock, a cocktail at the Artesian bar at The Langham, where the room glows purple and gold. Eight, a short taxi along Wigmore Street to the courtyard of Chiltern Firehouse for a long dinner under the trees. Half past ten, a slow walk down Marylebone High Street past the dark windows of its little shops. Then a nightcap back at the hotel, or at home if home is a flat round the corner.

Evenings of this shape are what the dinner date, four hours at £1,300, was made for. A drink and conversation alone need no more than two hours at £750, and dinner through to breakfast is an overnight at £2,400.

Residents of the mansion blocks who would rather host a quiet evening at home. Visitors staying at The Langham for business, who want a relaxed dinner away from the shopping crowds on Oxford Street. Guests on a long weekend who have discovered that Marylebone is the London they like best. What they share is a taste for calm, well made arrangements and a companion in no hurry at all.

Summer adds its own reasons. Regent's Park stays light until late, the Open Air Theatre fills its tiered seats among the trees, and a picnic dinner followed by a play is one of the most romantic evenings London has to offer.

Liana has long straight chestnut hair and a gentle, attentive manner. She loves novels, pilates and tending her garden, and she listens the way good readers do. Rosa is petite with chestnut curls, loves baking, collects soul records and spends free afternoons in galleries.

Living here, they tend to be the first to arrive. Every other companion in the line up travels to Marylebone on the same terms, with the journey included.

Cross Oxford Street and you are in Mayfair. East of Portland Place the streets lead down into Soho, and west along the Marylebone Road lies Paddington with its canal and its Heathrow trains. The bright heart of the West End is ten minutes by taxi.