The same three-star kitchen, the same room, a shorter menu and a bill that is a third of dinner. Lunch is the best-kept open secret in fine dining.
Why lunch is cheaper
Great restaurants need their brigades at midday and their rooms full; a lunch menu with fewer courses and simpler luxury products fills the seats without cannibalising dinner. For the guest it means the kitchen of Le Bernardin or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay for the price of a good bistro dinner.
The best lunches in this guide
Jacobs on the Hamburg Elbchaussee, with its lime-tree terrace, may be the most beautiful lunch in Germany. Steirereck in the Vienna Stadtpark is better at lunch than at dinner because of the light. Marc Fosh in Palma and Adrián Quetglas offer three-course lunches that are among the best deals in starred dining anywhere in Europe. Pavillon in Zurich serves the same room at a fraction of the evening price.
How to plan around it
Book the lunch at the grand house and the dinner at a brasserie or a counter: Le Cinq at one, Lipp at nine. Your day has a shape, your budget survives and you see two sides of the city. Our Weekend Planner builds days exactly this way.
What you give up
Fewer courses, sometimes the cheaper cuts and a room that empties by three. What you keep is everything that matters: the kitchen, the service, the cellar and the sense of occasion, in daylight.
Try it
Dinner BudgetTasting menu or à la carte, wine by the glass or the pairing, two people or eight: the Dinner Budget estimates the bill per person in your city and compares it with the other eighteen..Gourmet Weekend PlannerPick a city, one to three days, your pace and your budget.Frequently asked questions
Is the lunch menu the same quality as dinner?
The same kitchen and standards, with fewer courses and often less expensive products. The cooking is identical.
Do I need to book lunch?
Yes, though usually only a week or two ahead instead of months.
Which cities have the best lunch culture?
Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Hamburg and Palma; New York’s Le Bernardin lunch is the classic American example.
