Lanes Restaurant & Bar

Lanes is a bit of a showcase for the talents of New Zealand Chef, Hayden Smith, who worked at Quo Vadis for some two years, and he has created a menu with elements of both French and Italian food. While it tends to be a little full of city suits at lunchtime it takes on a more relaxed flavour in the evening. The bar is open from eleven in the morning until eleven at night. In any case it is lunchtime which really gives the place its raison d'etre. Long gone are the days when half the city migrated to the West End for lunch, even though a massive increase in places like Lanes is only one of the reasons.

The atmosphere is a bit clubbish, in the best sense, the menu drawn from the modern idiom with starters of smoked goose breast done as a carpaccio and accompanied by roasted vegetables, or a very snazzy bouillabaisse with cod ravioli. Main courses are substantial as befits the appetite brought on by slaving over sliding shares or bouyant bonds, and braised pork belly, roast duck, guinea fowl along with a goodly selection of fish are all part of a regularly changing menu. Follow this up with a banana creme brulee, with custard on the side - literally - or a delightful quince crumble and the rest of the day will pass in a haze of well-being. The wine list is robust, if brief, and I defy anyone of decent taste to pass it by unmoved.

Interestingly the increase in places in which to eat in the City has not been at the expense of quality and at Lanes they have a London Restaurant Remy Award to prove the point.