Bite Me!

Handily situated for the Tate Britain, City Café looks less than appetising from the outside, being based in the City Inn hotel, a gigantic and unlovely block which is, fortunately, much more welcoming when you get inside. The restaurant is contemporary and stylish but still comfortable, especially the tables with sofa seating, which I went for immediately. We had our pick of tables – lunch at weekends, it would appear, is not their busiest time and we were the first people there at 12.30. The waiting staff, as might be expected, were attentive but not annoyingly so.

The reason I chose this restaurant for lunch was their separate vegetarian menu, which I had heard good things about – the dishes did look tempting (especially the fondue) but in the end I decided to go with the set ‘Market’ menu, (apparently changed twice weekly) which had seasonal vegetarian food on offer as well as the expected meat and fish dishes. This turned out to be especially good value, as they had a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer on two lunches of two courses.

I started with a creamy butterbean soup, and then went on to a wild mushroom risotto which was perfectly nice, if slightly lacking in depth of flavour. My companion’s fish, followed by a mixed grill, also went down well.

Overall, this was a nice place to have lunch – just that. Nice. Not particularly exciting, not innovative but not bad at all. I expect it has a bit more buzz during the week, and it would be a good place for a working lunch, but if you want to be sure of the undivided attention of the staff (and take advantage of their special offers) this is a good place for a genteel, post-gallery lunch.

City Café, 30 John Islip Street, London, SW1P 4D. For reservations call 020 7630 1000. http://www.cityinn.com/london/eating_drinking/citycafe.htm