The owner of Claude’s Kitchen has turned his attention to gastropubs but what becomes of his refined British food when it’s meant to seem all casual? Thankfully not a lot, finds William Morris

‘That’s a bargain!’ is not something you hear uttered a lot in the vicinity of St James, but that’s definitely what Umai Saturday lunch at Sake No Hana  is. And I say that as someone who’s not content until he’s haggled shopkeepers to within an inch of his life.

ETHOS is a little place tucked away behind the shopping hordes of Oxford Circus and still feels like a little secret, despite its growing popularity and notoriety with London vegetarians. Emma dropped by on a Tuesday for lunch to try ETHOS’ latest additions to their menu – a selection of fermented dishes.

Turtle Bay does the sort of things that make a chain restaurant seem attractive. Bright colours, clean tables, friendly (and far too attentive) staff and well-priced dishes that will see £20 cover three courses. It’s the reason I’ll visit Pizza Express. Nothing attention grabbing, just inexpensive food, located in a city centre and usually well placed for a pre-cinema dinner.

Reviews of their Brixton original restaurant have been uniformly of the AMAYZZZEEENG!! Kind, but this branch needs some work to get it right, until then you may well want to bogart this joint.

With creative cocktails to kick off and a menu full of unusual ideas, Zaika is certainly a cut above the average. It’s no more than you’d expect of a sibling of Tamarind of Mayfair of course and as a local it’s lovely.

Nik travels East (again) to sample squash, steak, and chocolate tort beneath a railway arch, at Jones & Sons residency at TripSpace Projects.

Lunchtime is a tough business, so Nik rolls up his sleeves and tackles pizza after pizza after pizza, at Pizza Rossa – the newest lunch venue to hit the City and possibly the only one you’ll ever need!

Another cow-and-crustacean offering…

Chef Andrew Jones needs to be famous and you need to eat his unshowy, fabulous food. London lunch of the year for me, hands down. Get it while you can.