With only sixty minutes to spare, finding a quick yet classy lunch time eaterie can be tricky. Anxious clock watching followed by a rabid nosh and mad dash back to the office can make eating out as stressful as staying desk-bound. Offering a solution to agonising slow service, a new self-service vegetarian restaurant in Mayfair caught my eye. Intrigued, I took two work colleagues along to sample lunch at Ethos.
Office Breaks Ethos Restaurant
Entering the brightly-lit interior, a crescent of silver birch trees neatly separates diners from the food. The interior is bright and modern with elegant pendant lights suspended from the ceiling and none of the dreaded school-dinner-style metal trays of traditional buffet dining. Due to demand, advance booking is recommended but there’s also a takeaway service for those on a deadline.
Glossy salads gleaming with olive oil nestle in pristine white china bowls. From livid beetroot to vibrant mango, the rainbow dishes promise a starburst of flavours and textures. With so much choice, it’s easy to succumb to an unbridled “eat as much you like” frenzy but pile-your-plate-high gluttons beware – here you pay for what you weigh.
Office Breaks Ethos Restaurant
Ravenous, I make the fatal error of delving deep into the first bowl of anti-oxidant salad, piling nearly half my plate before stopping to peruse the other exotic, global delights on offer. Adding stuffed vine leaves and arincini balls, I discover too late, the chickpea and almond tagine, managing room for only a small dollop. Here, the dishes change on a regular basis avoiding the tofu and lentil monotony sometimes experienced elsewhere.
Office Breaks Ethos Restaurant
Anxiously awaiting the outcome of the weigh-in, my generous plateful comes to £14.00. A bit more than I’d bargained for particularly with no meat in the equation but the décor and ambience are worlds away from the soup-kitchen-style canteen dining I’ve experienced in other vegetarian restaurants.
Office Breaks Ethos Restaurant
Settling down to our meal, silence descends as we delve in. The winners are the spicy, peanut-infused Eritrean mango and cucumber salad and the succulent stuffed vine leaves which take me back to gloriously lazy afternoons in Greek tavernas.
The beetroot and quinoa salad and the signature aloo scotch egg are both disappointingly bland but the almond and chickpea tagine is sweet, warming and intensely comforting. Such a shame you can’t try before you buy. Unable to resist a second helping, my £3.00 indulgence is generously discounted by the cashier with a special offer normally reserved for local officers workers.
Office Breaks Ethos Restaurant
The sweet selection is a quirky mix of muffins, cake pops, cheese cake, possets and doughnuts. Pushing the boat out, I opt for the lemon cheesecake which melts-in-the-mouth with just the right amount of zing to off-set the sugar rush.
With no awkward hanging around for the bill, we’re out of the door and into the tube within thirty minutes. Fearing no indigestion this time, I settle back at my desk on an anti-oxidant salad high.
Ethos Restaurant, 48 Eastcastle Street, London, WIW 8DX
Lunch at Ethos price per weight: £2.50 per 100 grams
Dinner price per weight: £2.70 per 100 grams
Where do you normally go out for lunch? I would love to hear your recommendations.