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Five set menu lunches that won't break the bank
By Fay Maschler, Evening Standard 26.03.08
Chef's choice: Hibiscus has moved to London
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It's easy for a lunch date to turn into an expensive affair. Here are a few set menus that shouldn't put too much of a strain on your bank balance...
ONE-O-ONE
Sheraton Park Tower, 101 Knightsbridge, SW1 (020 7290 7101) £34.
Brittany-born chef Pascal Proyart — proclaimed Norwegian Seafood Ambassador — relaunched this fish restaurant last summer with a grazing, or perhaps more appropriately diving, menu of small dishes.
At lunchtime, three choices such as rillette of Norwegian red king crab with smoked salmon mouillette, roasted pavé of sole with baby squid and squid ink pasta and grilled white halibut with snake beans and pork belly should be enough. Alessandro Bonuzzi is a terrific sommelier.
Book a table for lunch on www.oneoonerestaurant.com using the code 101LUNCH and your Business Lunch deal of £19 for three “petits plats” will include a glass of wine and a cup of coffee.
UMU
14-16 Bruton Place, W1 (020 7499 8881) £35+
The spirit of a Kyoto-inspired, artful, balanced, kaiseki meal is present in the hangetsu set lunches, where prices start at £21 for Shojin-age with its centrepiece of vegetable tempura.
Even though presented on a half-moon shaped tray (the meaning of hangetsu) rather than in courses, there is great attention paid to presentation and grace of service.
Tempura moriawase (£29) featured huge shrimps and a fillet of white fish alongside dainty sashimi served in a mother-of-pearl shell. Seasonal appetiser and green vegetables had been cooked with the utmost sensitivity. Miso soup, red or white, and fresh fruit or ice cream topped and tailed the array.
THE LEDBURY
127 Ledbury Road, W11 (020 7792 9090) £38.
There is more than financial advantage to lunch rather than dinner at The Ledbury. It is much easier to get a table and the local Notting Hill bankers are safely — or maybe precariously — at work in the City.
The set menu at £19.50/£24.50 for two/three courses has a choice of two dishes in each course. Chef Brett Graham, who worked with Philip Howard at The Square, seems to put his heart, if not his most expensive ingredients, into dishes such as ravioli gourmand with Jerusalem artichoke, hazelnuts and rosemary and roast John Dory with squid sautéed with sake and sherry, caramelised onions and a potato risotto.
On fine days, if they ever arrive, there are tables outside on the terrace.
BRUNELLO
Baglioni Hotel, 60 Hyde Park Gate, SW7 (020 7368 5700) £38.
The restaurant in the lobby was perhaps more of a blow struck for fashion four years ago when this opulent hotel opened than it is now.
A relaunch this month with a more laid-back look and a new chef, Andrea Vercelli, who has worked in London at Luciano and Harry's Bar, makes an exploratory set-price lunch (£19.50/£24 for two/three courses) worth a try.
Prosciutto with burrata leads nicely into duck breast with endive and orange. Tiramisu or caprese al cioccolato might be a rewarding way of spending £4.50 on calories. The bling-bling Brunello bar is the hub of the action which is the sort of thing you'd like if that is the sort of thing you like.
HIBISCUS
29 Maddox Street, W1 (020 7629 2999) £40.
When Claude Bosi relocated from Ludlow to London last year I wasn't immediately enamoured of his mannered cooking.
A set lunch at £25 for three courses — as opposed to £60 à la carte — inculcates more benign consideration.
While there is no Jerusalem artichoke in the set-price desserts nor mutton with octopus, smoked olive oil, lychee salad and rosewater in the lunch deal first courses, there is, nevertheless, audacious detail.
Rillette of ox cheeks and foie gras was mined with the deeply resinous flavour of peel from a Hand of Buddha ornamental lemon. Salsify, onion, rhubarb and sage all contributed to amazingly good white beans serve with roasted mullet. Several other customers last week were London chefs.
Prices above estimate a set lunch deal with glass of wine and service for one.
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