London’s best express
lunches
Forget soggy sandwiches – the capital’s top restaurants offer
bargain dining, all within your lunch-hour... by Tina Lofthouse
I
t used to be the case – in some professions at least – where
it was acceptable, even the norm, to slope off for a long
leisurely Friday lunch. Unfortunately, those days are gone,
with most workers dutifully grabbing a sarnie to eat at
their desks.
But a rested employee is surely a more productive one and with
London’s top eateries promising you can be back at the office
within the hour, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take a
proper lunch break.
Min Jiang
You may not want to leave, given the views from this tenth
floor restaurant. However, should you have to, you can be in
and out within an hour. For £15 (or £19.50 with wine) the
express menu offers crab and sweetcorn soup, chicken with
sweet basil, and special fried rice with salted fish and seafood.
Finish with mango cream with sago pearls and pomelo. Shame
work calls when you can gaze over Hyde Park and beyond.
Royal Garden Hotel , 2-24 Kensington High Street, W8 4PT.
Tel: 020 7361 1988
108 Marylebone Lane
The bar and brasserie supports its local neighbourhood and
with the acclaimed La Fromagerie, The Ginger Pig and Biggles
Sausages on its doorstep diners are in for a treat. To tempt
in the time-strapped business folk around Marylebone, the
restaurant is promising you can eat two courses within 45
minutes or you get your meal for free. Pedants can even
monitor the chronograph to check! Two courses are a modest
£14.50, and the menu changes weekly.
108 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2QE Tel: 020 7969 3900 Quote the
booking reference 108 L45 to get the express menu.
Le Cercle
Have a taste of France in your lunch break at the sister
restaurant of Club Gascon. Le Cercle serves small plates, or
tapas French style, and is now offering a three-course menu in
30 minutes for £15 (or four courses for £19.50). Dishes include
summer salad and hazelnut vinaigrette; haddock a l’Antiboise
and basil pulp; seared scallops with Provencal dressing; and
chocolate fondant with ginger ice cream.
1 Wilbraham Place, SW1X 9AE Tel: 020 7901 9999
Flemings Grill
When a coffee and a sandwich can cost you well over a fiver
these days, a glass of wine and a proper cooked lunch for £10
looks like a very civilised deal indeed. Over at Flemings hotel,
you can dine – in a grand old Georgian townhouse – on dishes
such as gnocchi alla Sorrentina with tomatoes, basil, and
buffalo mozzarella or steak served with Café de Paris butter and
chips, relaxed in the knowledge you’ll be on your way back to
the office within an hour.
7-12 Half Moon Street, W1J 7BH Tel: 0207 499 0000
Mimosa
Inside the Jumeirah Lowndes hotel is Mimosa, a plush restaurant
and bar serving a modern European menu. The restaurant aims
to serve two courses in 45 minutes (£15.95) and the weekly-
changing menu might include dishes such as crumb fried
prawns with sweet chilli sauce to start, and pan fried sea bass
with sautéed spinach for a main. If you’re not served in 45
minutes lunch is on them. An extra £3 and a call to the boss to
make your excuses will get you dessert.
21 Lowndes Street, SW1X 9ES Tel: 020 7858 7223. 
Quote ’45 minute lunch menu’ at time of booking.
Sketch
The wonderfully eccentric Sketch offers business dining
with a difference. Now you can taste Pierre Gagnaire’s
inventive creations in a quick lunch break with the Menu
Rapide. Staff ask you how long you have to dine and serve
accordingly – however, the vast velvet armchairs may be
hard to drag yourself out of. Two courses will set you back
£30 so considerably more than a Subway sandwich but a
starter here alone can cost that on the a la carte menu. The
starter brings you a selection of tastes that includes shrimp
jelly, sharon fruit, tofu, and shiso and Japanese mayonnaise.
For mains, try slow-cooked shoulder of pig and turnips with
white beer.
9 Conduit Street, W1S 2XG.
Tel: 020 7659 4500

Sophie’s Steakhouse
This is the place to go to quench cravings for a juicy steak, and
you can pitch up in your lunch-hour for steak frites and a glass
of wine for £10. Alternatively, £12.95 will get you a two course
menu that includes dishes such as chicken liver pate to start
and swordfish skewers for mains – although sweet-toothed
types may prefer Eton Mess, cheesecake or crème brulee instead
of a starter (or for an extra £3). There are no bookings taken so
ideal for that spontaneous lunch out.
29-31 Wellington St, WC2E 7DB Tel: 020 7836 8836 and
311-313 Fulham Road, SW10 9Q
Tel: 020 7352 0088

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