Sonya, companion in Fitzrovia

Thirty two, and Sonya would rather have that on the record than guessed at. She is 162 cm with an athletic build, dark brown hair long and straight, hazel eyes, and she moves like somebody who trains, because she does. She dresses simply, in very few colours, and the effect across a dinner table is considerable.

Her English is fluent and unhurried, and she is the best conversationalist here by a clear margin. She is interested in how things work, will ask about your business until she genuinely understands it, and has no patience for pretence in either direction. She swims, cooks very little and admits it cheerfully, and is excellent company for a guest who wants to be treated as an adult. She is also the least sentimental company here, which guests find bracing at first and then rather enjoy, and she has no time at all for flattery in either direction.

In Fitzrovia she suggests Berners Tavern on Berners Street, a room that does the theatre for you so that neither of you has to provide any. Dinner there runs long and pleasantly. Oxford Street is three minutes away, Charlotte Street six, the Portland Place hotels about eight. Sonya travels in from Knightsbridge, twenty minutes when the park route is open, and she confirms her own timings rather than leaving them to the desk. She books her own car and gives the desk the time it is due, so there is nothing approximate about her arrival.

Her listing sits on the Fitzrovia page. Durations and their figures are shown under rates. Say in the booking note whether anybody else will be at the table.

Sonya confirms her own arrival time and holds to it. Tell Romilly the hotel and the hour, and say if the evening involves anybody else at the table.

Every figure she works to is on the board of rates, and the rest is one message away.

Book Sonya for dinner and you will get the sort of evening people describe afterwards as unexpectedly good. She asks about the thing you actually do, follows it properly, and disagrees with you at least once, which most guests find refreshing after a week of being agreed with. The food is almost incidental, though she orders well.

The second half is calmer and considerably warmer. She is not a woman who performs charm and she does not switch it on; what you get late in the evening is the same person you met at eight, just with her shoes off. She is direct about time, direct about what she enjoys, and she leaves at the agreed hour without any awkwardness whatsoever.