Red Wine Decline. More Go-to-Office Orders. Cider Rising. Critics & More.
Giles, David, and Gavin all go for Italian. Charlotte hates Cornus. Tim gets chained up. Dominic advises burger and a slice. William and Tom feel barbarous.
Hello! I open with a warning this week: I’m in a pretty ebullient mood. Professional Lunch reached and surpassed the 500 subscriber milestone last week. A massive thank you to everyone who has signed up.
To keep the momentum going, could I ask a big favour? Could you share Professional Lunch with anyone you know who is interested in food and restaurants? Or mention it on LinkedIn? It’ll just take a second. The Guide is often a good place to start. Thank you!!
And if you have a Substack of your own, would you consider adding Professional Lunch to your Recommendations list? Again, thank you!!
It’s a super-busy week, so grab a beverage and dig in.
Walking Away from Red?
In two of the most important wine-loving regions in the world, red wine is out. In France, consumption of red is down 90% since the 1970s. In San Francisco, at one restaurant, red wine purchases were down 27% in one year. Across a wider cohort of restaurants in the Bay area, year on year red wine sales were down 12% in 2024.
So as you contemplate week two of dry January, spare a thought for the producers of the wines you aren’t drinking this month.
“The change in French consumption exacerbates global trends hurting the sector, such as people drinking less and changes in tastes. Red wines in particular are falling out of fashion among young people in favour of rosé, beer, spirits and alcohol-free options.”
The San Francisco Chronicle has the California side of the story:
“Wine sales are down across the board at Bay Area restaurants, a reflection of the larger downturn in the U.S. wine industry, and red wine is in a particular slump.”
All of this prompts a question: What’s wrong with everyone?
Red wine is the best. Give me a choice between a red and anything else, and I’ll choose the red. There is huge scope in red wine to suit any taste or pair with just about anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I like white and sparkling. They’re lovely. But red has great character, and it makes food better. So if you’re a red wine sceptic, use this moment to reconsider your assumptions. A world without red would be a very boring world, indeed.
If you need suggestions, let me know. And I’m curious: what stops you from drinking red more often?
Work from Office Mandate? Go to Lunch.
The Guardian rounds up the start-of-year trend across a range of employers requiring more time in the office. Subsequently, there was a big announcement from WPP, as well. Mandates are getting tougher and, after mixed success with soft requirements and incentive-based appeals, big companies are promising stiffer consequences for non-compliance. (Although small companies seem to be more open to flexible working.)
Businesses continue to explore a whole menagerie of methods to get their people to spend more time together face-to-face. And with AI in ascendency, creating environments for people to interact with the greatest impact is an understandably strong imperative.
Building deeper, more rounded relationships also makes remote working more effective. Collaboration is better when we know each other.
And the best way to build relationships? Over food and drink. Research from Compass Group confirms that and suggests that having a good break for lunch makes employees more productive.
I’m also struck that UK workers are among the lowest when it comes to the number of times they break for lunch during the week.
So I offer some practical tips you can implement at the start of the year to ensure more and better lunches in 2025:
Put a recurring block in your diary for a full hour at lunch time. Try to protect it from annoying meetings. Remember, you can usually say “no” without saying why. “I’ve got a clash” is plenty of info most of the time. You can always chip away at the hour if you need the time back.
Agree with your immediate team to do the same, and try to agree a shared time. That will create more impromptu opportunities for getting lunch together.
Collaborate with your team or a wider group to develop a list of good places near your office for lunch. Group choices by occasion. For example:
Best place with the boss.
Best for a quick bite.
Best for a gossip.
Best for drink-in coffee.
Best with a client, customer, or external partner.
Best breakfast.
Best for a hangover.
Best for cheap eats.
Best exotic.
Best salad / best for healthy.
What other categories would you add? Tell me in the comments.
Happy lunching.
Final Michelin Additions Before New Stars
The big ceremony is on 10 February. London places added in this final tranche include:
AngloThai, the buzzy spot in Marylebone.
Fonda, the new taco joint from team behind Kol.
Row on 5, the new high end, tasting-menu place from Jason Atherton.
Three Darlings, the casual Chelsea spot, also from Atherton.
Wildflowers, the stylish Pimlico joint.
Beyond London, they have also added another place in Bray to the Guide. I wonder: By Michelin reckoning, does that make Bray the best per capita food destination in the world? It’s got two three-star places (Waterside Inn and the Fat Duck), a one-star place (the Hinds Head) and two places with guide entries (the Crown and now the Braywood). So 7 stars and 5 listings against a population of 9,416.
UK Restaurant Trends for 2025
Following on from the rather bonkers food-related predictions in The New York Times, the UK’s Restaurant magazine released its own trends forecast. There’s interesting stuff about restauranteurs developing tighter relationships with farmers, a move towards smaller portions, and the re-rise of Korean, but most surprising is the suggestion that we’ll see more cider on wine lists. I’m a bit sour on that one. The most depressing is the “Ivy-fication of the high street.” Ugh. Remember when the Ivy was really special?
Healthy Options Aplenty
Last week, I asked (begged?) you all for suggestions about healthy options in good restaurants. The total lack of responses is a pleasing validation that Professional Lunch subscribers are a delightful collection of avowed hedonists who couldn’t give a fig for healthy options. Hurrah. 🎉
Fortunately for my waistline, the increasing indispensable
has partnered with an actual nutritional therapist called Jeannette Hyde to recommend healthy selections from some of London’s top restaurants. The list includes Oma, Apricity, The Ritz, Café Francois, Fallow, and Sael.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.
Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) visits Cornus, the incredibly well-reviewed, Michelin-star candidate in Belgravia. She finds a fresh take by hating it. “There is a lack of care to this place.” … “Someone looked at it and said, ‘Yeah, that’ll do. They won’t mind. Take their money.’ There’s a veneer of luxury — constant faffing with your water, fiddly bits of puree and drizzle. But it’s all hollow.” Ouch.
🍽️ Grace Dent (Guardian) joins the parade of critics to AngloThai. “This isn’t Soho or Shoreditch; this is a smart restaurant close to Edgware Road where Anglo and Thai influences collide with the requisite levels of pomp and fire.”
“Crown Prince Pumpkin, Honey Cake & Pumpkin Seed Ice Cream” at AngloThai. Photo by the restaurant via Instagram. Jay Rayner (Observer) makes it to Fonda. “After all these profound thrills and all this exotica, this waiter-narrated ballad of salsa and chilli and mole, an exuberantly good meal has ended with something which recalls nothing other than the childlike joys of butterscotch Angel Delight. And if that doesn’t sell Fonda to you, honestly, nothing will.”
Lisa Subbotin (Independent) gushes about Three Darlings. “I left realising it doesn’t matter if a menu needs explaining if it’s full of this many treats.”
David Ellis (Standard) enjoys Nipotima, a new Italian in Mayfair. “That’s the thing here; staff, unusually accommodating, will fit a meal around the table’s wants. There is no prescribed way to do Nipotina.”
✍🏻 Giles Coren (Times) heads to St. John’s Wood to review Babbo, another new Italian. “My grandparents would have loved Babbo and come here often. And so will I.” This is another strong review from Giles, with reflections on favourite places and kosher eating. It’s more than I can summarise here, but you should read it.
Gavin Hanley (Hot Dinners) also does Italian, this time at Pinna in Mayfair, which is from the team behind Fantomas and Lita. “It manages to mix a touch of old-school approach in the decor and service with a bit of Mayfair glamour.”
William Sitwell (Telegraph) heads to The Barbary in Notting Hill, which used to be a 7-Eleven, for North African delights. It “is, frankly, very good.”
Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) also reviews The Barbary. “In a previous incarnation, The Barbary was a gallery – and one I walked past daily for a decade. But there’s more true art in this one lunch than I saw in their window for years.”
Marina O’Loughlin (independent critic) has nice things to say about Ambassadors Clubhouse in Heddon Street. “omg the sheer opulence of it.”
- (Braise) reviews Jupiter Burger in Hackney, the new joint from the Dom’s Subs team. Dominic bravely compares it to In’n’Out, which is high praise indeed. But in my favourite line of the week, he makes a bold suggestion: “I just wish there was an option to upgrade to an extra patty on either burger — In-N-Out’s Animal Style may be here, but the Double-Double ain’t. For now, the best way to bulk out your meal is by following it up with a quick slice from next-door NY-style slice shop Gordo’s, for a complete coast-to-coast experience.” Burger followed by a slice? Sure. Why not?
Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) also tries Jupiter. “It's very nice to get back to basics at this burger shack offering a tight menu of burgers done extremely well.”
✍🏻 Emma Ansah (Vittles) profiles three places in Peckham: Agrobeso, for west African; Blue Nile for Caribbean; and Felix Kebab Grill for late night.
“Cara” (Foodepedia) reviews Clap in Knightsbridge, which has to be the worst name for a restaurant ever. “A Japanese fusion kitchen.”
Laurence White (The Arbuturian) checks out Med Salleh Viet in Earl’s Court. “I would argue Med Salleh Viet falls into a category all on its own. Authentic street food? Certainly. Served unconventionally? Yes’um. From a most unlikely location? Indeed. But worthy of a place in your little black book? 100%.”
✍🏻 🍽️ Tim Hayward (FT) considers why he doesn’t review chains. “Because Permit Rooms [in Oxford and elsewhere, but not London] should really be the case study for rollout.” It’s the new, more affordable place from Dishoom, and it sounds great.
- (Smashed) offers his reflections on 2024 which are, well, realistic, if not quite cynical. “So what was 2024 all about? With no discernible trends beyond a vague resurgence for comfort food (but did it ever really go away?) and a fair few French restaurants (did they ever really go away?) was everybody just busy doing their own thing? Well, maybe.” … “With last year representing nothing in particular, what the hell does 2025 have in store for us? By the looks of it, more of what we’ve had in the past.”
Thanks for reading this week’s update. If you made it this far, well done! Lots to talk about, so please sound off in the comments. And please remember to subscribe if you haven’t already.
I’m going to lunch.
Very enjoyable read (as a new subscriber).
Point of order as someone who lives nearby: The Braywood is absolutely not in Bray. It’s about 3 miles away in the village of Paley Street. Appreciate them trying to piggy back on the Bray bandwagon though!
We really enjoyed dining there when it was the Royal Oak so look forward to trying it.