Restaurant: The River Café’s secret, affordable set lunch

How much do we love The River Café? The answer is, better than anywhere else. We love the menu, we love the food, we love the Prosecco cocktails (made with blood oranges in winter and white peaches in summer), we love watching dishes being shovelled into its wood burning domed fire, and we love the way it pulls off being both delightfully informal and exceedingly glamorous at the same time. We would go more often but we can’t because it costs the earth. Except, that it doesn’t – not necessarily. Not if you’re in on the secret of the ‘Winter Set Lunch Offer’. OK, so, since we’re spilling the beans, here’s how it works: for two and a half months beginning this Monday and ending on the last day of March, if you book a table at 12.30pm or 2.15pm any weekday, you can ask for the ‘Winter Set Lunch Offer.’ This means you’ll be given a slightly shorter version of the day’s à la carte menu (the dishes are the same, there’s just a bit less choice), which is also, crucially, much, much cheaper. How much cheaper? At least half price, with two courses for £25 (not including drinks or service), two courses and a dessert for £31, or a full on three courses and a dessert for £39. But if you don’t ask for the Winter Set Lunch Offer, you won’t be offered it. The River Café originally devised the shorter, cheaper menu to allow those who work in the next door offices to treat the restaurant like a posh canteen, and they don’t advertise or publicise it at all. Asking for it is like a secret handshake. Use it well.