IT wasn't only the triumphant comeback of Jeremy King, the returning emperor, literally with Jésus by his side, but it marked the renaissance of the business lunch. The opening of Arlington in March reminded us that if we don't quite have the know-how to build nuclear-power stations or high-speed rail, maintain an effective army or run a respectable police service, we can do one thing brilliantly: lunch. And not any old lunch, but the business lunch. A full-steamahead, bells-and-whistles, multi-course, clearthe-afternoon-diary, booze-fuelled feast.
The Brits do lunch like no other. New Yorkers are a pitiful example, brandishing tepid water and actually being appalled at the idea of alcohol at lunchtime. God forbid the novice Englishman arriving in the Big Apple to entertain clients orders wine for his US counterparts. Mad Men is a long-gone myth, the martini-opening lunch horrifies the delicate New Yorkers who can only stomach the idea if it's on Netflix.
The French can only manage a long lunch at the weekend: if a businessman in Paris has an hour spare, he'll forgo lunch and bonk his mistress. Scandies seal the deal mid sauna.
But in bonny London, after a hiatus brought about by the covid plague, the business lunch is firmly back. A flurry of exciting new openings, grounded in the traditions of great service, uncomplicated food and a superb wine list, matched with a polishing of some age-old establishments, is backbone to the resurgence. Proof comes in the form of booking agony. If the lack of yellow taxi lights is a sign that the economy is up and running, then the seeming impossibility of bagging tables in the capital's hotspots without a steely PA or a concierge service is proof of a booming restaurant lunch trade. Hustle for a table, strap yourself into a suit (IT-geek T-shirts and baggy jeans are so last decade) and tell your other half you won't be needing dinner (you might still be at lunch...).
Denne historien er fra April 03, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra April 03, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
