Inside the FT Magazine's Lunch Issue. Famurewa Returns. Critics & More.

Hayward adores Trivet. Jay ruins my local. Grace smells Wildflowers. Famurewa goes to the Canteen.

A big welcome to the substantial influx of new subscribers this week, and a massive thanks to Josh Harvey for his very kind words on LinkedIn. For newcomers, please start with the Quick Reference Guide. You can expect two e-mails each week: On Monday, an update with a wide assortment of items relating to Professional Lunch. And on Wednesday, a review of a place that I’m happy to recommend.

Please do take a moment and share the Guide or the site. It’s a great excuse to plan a lunch.

This week, we start with the FT.

Behind the Scenes of the FT’s Big Lunch

When the FT Weekend Magazine’s “Let’s Do Lunch” issue dropped last month, I promptly received a few dozen messages asking if the FT’s editors had been reading Professional Lunch. For the record, I never thought for a moment that was the case (and it wasn’t), but it was a generous, amusing, and ultimately harmless thought.

That said, the issue’s call to action, right on the front cover, was so in line with my own thinking that I was eager to learn more. “It’s time to rediscover the most inessential and glorious part of the working day.” Indeed. So I featured it pretty extensively in a weekly update.

Then I got very lucky. A friend introduced me to FT restaurant critic, Tim Hayward, who was kind enough to sit down for lunch. Tim connected me with Harriet Fitch Little, the FT’s Food & Drink Editor, who graciously accepted my invitation for coffee.

And a short time later, I found myself sitting on a bench outside of Rosslyn Coffee listening to Harriet recount the issue’s origin story.

You might wonder why I care. Well, for starters, I’m a communications professional with a nerdy interest in the inter-workings of newspapers. And for me, the FT has a better read on trends moving professional London than anyone else. This is just as true on cultural matters as financial ones. Their recognition of an emerging trend around lunch reinforced the notions that led me to write the Guide and set up this site.

So, is this just an exercise in extreme confirmation bias? Sure.

But maybe, it’s also a huge piece of evidence to support my argument.

The initial inspiration for the issue came from Anjli Raval, the FT’s uber well-connected Management Editor, and Janine Gibson, its similarly well-networked Weekend Editor. Both sought out Harriet with a similar observation: Something has changed. People are going to lunch again, purposefully. Post-pandemic reluctance has faded. With sufficient people back in offices, there is a critical mass around. But things seem different. Lunch has become a reason in itself — to come to town, to plan a meet-up.

All of that resonated with Harriet, and so much so that she wanted to go beyond a predictable one-off story.

“I thought the message ought to be: ‘You should be doing this thing. It’s good.’ And I wanted to be ambitious with our approach to really make that case,” Harriet told me. “It felt like a real opportunity to embrace our influence. To tell people, ‘Things have changed’ and ‘You should do lunch.’”

So the idea for a whole magazine dedicated to lunch emerged.

But Harriet felt there was one other key element: It’s shouldn’t feel backward. She wanted to embrace elements of both “tradition and frivolity.”

To bring that thought to life, she partnered with FT Art Director Shannon Gibson, and they cooked up the idea for the magazine’s cover: A traditional lunch scene with a sharply contrasting, cartoonish headline.

The photo was arranged at Kerridge’s Bar & Grill in the Corinthia Hotel. But there was a challenge: Tom Kerridge never, ever uses table cloths. So there were discussions. The cloth was laid. The table set. Then, more concerns expressed. Negotiation. And on page 5, beneath the table of contents, a resultant caption: “The archetypical City lunch table … and the only time you’ll see a white tablecloth in a Tom Kerridge restaurant.” All well.

While the visual concepts were emerging, there were articles to commission.

Harriet started by diving deep into unfamiliar parts of the FT. Networking among her colleagues the way Woodward and Bernstein might work through sources, Harriet discovered dozens who had strong, well-informed opinions. Head of Investigations and Alphaville creator Paul Murphy was a key voice.

So was Bryce Elder. By day, City Editor and editor of Alphaville. He’s also an accomplished food writer with extensive ties into the restaurant scene.

Pitched the concept, he was instantly in, and wanted to write about gossip. “Lunch is a vehicle for so many other things,” Harriet said. “And we were eager to explore just exactly what it’s a vehicle for. Changes in lunch habits — smaller groups, less frequency — were making gossip harder.” And Elder’s resulting story makes a compelling case for its value.

Some ideas presented themselves. When Harriet Agnew, Asset Management editor, got wind of it, she asked to interview Jesus Adorno, the legendary maître d' from Le Caprice. Success. She coaxed our fantastic secrets.

The focus on how lunch is changing arguably came through most strongly in two pieces briefed later in the development process. The FT’s Globetrotter desk mobilised correspondents in business capitals around the world and asked them to identify new and emerging restaurants and neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, original co-conspirator Anjli Raval suggested that business lunches were moving towards the country.

But my favourite piece was born of frustration. Harriet wanted something to focus on the historical exclusion of women from the business lunch, but to do so without being “po faced.” She decided to kick the problem around with her boss, Weekend Editor and original co-conspirator, Janine Gibson. In their conversation, Gibson offered an idea and, after discussing it for a while, realised, “I’m just going to have to write it, aren’t I?” Her story, “The History of the Power Lunch, Without Men,” sings off the page.

The rest of the pieces came together readily. Jancis Robinson was eager to advocate for more wine at lunch. Tim Hayward captured the complication of Sweetings. Josh Barrie explored the culinary care and creativity behind a set-lunch menu.

The final, brilliant topper was published only in the magazine, so I didn’t see it until Harriet handed me a copy. “Menu of Manners” is from Peter York, who co-authored the 1982 classic “Official Sloane Ranger Handbook,” a crushingly funny caricature of London’s posher, earlier take on yuppies. This new, modern take is hilarious.

The whole project took about 3 months from concept to publication. And, for anyone interested in lunch, it has to be considered a resounding success. Harriet told me that she hoped the issue would show what lunch can be and avoid celebrating the “macho-ness” of the old school business lunch.

There’s no doubt in my mind that she and her colleagues succeeded.

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Jimi Famurewa Launches ‘Seconds’ Substack

I am really pleased that

Jimi Famurewa

has launched his own Substack, where he will continue serving up restaurant reviews and other cultural insights. Jimi remains my favourite writer on food and restaurants, and I’m thrilled we will benefit from his wit and perspective. He’s offered four reviews in his launch post, which I’ve included in the critics wrap-up below. He’s also posted a lovely kick-off video.

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Michelin October Additions

Michelin added a flock of restaurants to its UK Guide in October. London selections include Lita (which I really must try), The Hero in Maida Vale, Cloth in the City (my review here), Agora in Borough Market, and Kioku by Endo in the Old War Office.

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Critics Wrap-Up

✍🏻 indicates a review that you should read for the writing.
🍽️ indicates a place that sounds excellent and is probably worth a try.

• ✍🏻 🍽️ Tim Hayward (FT) reviews Trivet, my favourite restaurant in London and the first place I reviewed. He catches some of my key themes: “It could be my local.” … “It’s the only two-star Michelin restaurant in the country that’s not serving a set multi-course tasting menu.” … “Isa Bal, the man behind the wine list at Trivet, is whispered to be an eccentric genius, and I will not argue.”

• ✍🏻 🍽️ Jay Rayner (Observer) ruins my favourite new local spot by giving it a great review. Mauby, which I tried two nights ago, is a simple, fantastic Caribbean joint about 5 minutes walk from my house. “Mauby has exactly the vibe you want of it: relaxed, mellow and bubbling.” Thanks, Jay.

• Jimi Famurewa
  launches his new ‘Seconds’ Substack with one full review and three capsules:

  • ✍🏻 🍽️ Canteen in Portobello Road, a new spot from the team behind The Hero in Maida Vale. “Canteen fizzes with atmosphere, a pleasing quantity of edge and occasional flashes of considered, committedly unshowy deliciousness.”

  • ✍🏻 🍽️ Café François in Borough Market. “It was the thoughtful little gracenotes … that gave the lasting impression of what happens when a sharp eye for pleasing hospitality details meets the unfathomably deep pockets necessary to bring them to life.”

  • 🍽️ Hill & Szrok in Broadway Market. “Everything we ate … had a thrust and sure-footed originality to it.”

  • 🍽️ Bistro Freddie in Shoreditch. “Can I be the 731st person to tell you it’s great?”

• Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) heads to It’s Bagels! in Primrose Hill which has “brought the NY bagel to the UK and everyone’s gone wild for them.”

• Grace Dent (Guardian) tries Wildflowers in Pimlico. “So charming and tasteful that finding fault is a challenge.”

• William Sitwell (Telegraph) visits Cornus in Belgravia, but his review is rather… unavailing. “Go if all the fun places in London are booked out.”

• David Ellis (Standard) checks out The Yellow Bittern in Kings Cross. “If this is a long lunch place then it is one with training wheels. It offers the requisite sense of mischief without the ruinous side effects.”

• Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) dives into luxury at Caviar Kaspia in Mayfair. “I’d eat this every day if I could. But I can’t. Obviously.”

• Tanya Gold (Spectator) is the next in the parade of critics to Ambassadors Clubhouse in Heddon Street. “A party mansion means chaos: bright swirled carpets, faux Egyptian pillars, chequered glass panels, golden orbs for lamps, extremist woodwork. It is eye-melting kitsch, and I like it.”

• Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) heads to the Blue Stoops in Kensington. “The many visitors to London who want to visit a genuine British pub could do worse than drop in at The Blue Stoops.”

• 🍽️ Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) test drives The Grill at The Hero in Maida Vale. “If you love the idea of The Hero, but prefer having a more comfortable dining experience … then The Grill is the way to go.”

• 🍽️ Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) tries Sael, the new Jason Atherton spot in St. James. “The space itself … was always rather impressive, but now it feels like it's paired with an excellent menu.”

• Andy Hayler (independent critic) reviews Lisboeta, a new Portuguese place in Charlotte Street. “Lisboeta fits well into this culinary hotspot. Just don’t expect too much from the wine list unless you are a masochist.”

  • Andy also returns to Dinner, the Heston Blumenthal monument in Knightsbridge. “The elaborate and theatrical service is doing a lot of heavy lifting here to distract from this inconsistency in the cooking.”

• ✍🏻 The November edition of Palate Magazine has reviews of Café François, The Cocochine, and The Audley in London plus Vivant’s in Bordeaux. The review of Café François from Milton Tomic is notable: “I may have walked into this establishment as polished as Macron, looking forward to a night of restrained elegance, but I left as Gérard Depardieu, following unhinged debauchery, minus the Air France carpet incident.”

• Giles Coren (Times) tries Aven in Preston. Marina O’Loughlin (independent critic) posted updates from a range of spots in Paris.

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