Time-poor business crowd pioneering the one-hour express executive lunches
VALE the traditional long lunch. Cut-backs on budgets and meal breaks mean Sydney’s executives are relying more on restaurants that have done away with luxurious frills in favour of a speedy sit-down.
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CALL it the curse of the credit crunch or just the plight of the time-poor Sydneysider.
The disappearance of the traditional long lunch, once the cornerstone of any well-heeled, inner-city office worker, is giving rise to a new Sydney dining market — the express executive.
Not content to sacrifice a good meal due to lack of time, the one-hour dining market is booming and restaurants are customising their menus accordingly.
Out go the roasted and confit meats, and its farewell to desserts.
The art of a quality in-and-out meal is a combination of the right menu items delivered by savvy floor staff and cooked by chefs adept at producing high-quality meals under extreme time pressure.
Neil Perry’s Rockpool Bar and Grill, long the heart of Sydney’s long-lunch crowd, now services the one-hour market with a custom-curated menu that, at a pinch, can even be turned over in 30 minutes.
“We often get requests for that sort of time frame,” said Perry, who stressed there’s more to an express meal than a flash-cooked minute steak.
“We really rely on the diners also choosing the right dish and that comes down to floor staff advising them correctly. “The kitchen of course has to respond.
“Everything needs to come together. Ideally, if they order a skirt steak or a beautiful snapper fillet ... something that can be cooked in around seven minutes and rested for five.
“Any more than that ... you’re starting to skate on thin ice.”
Not surprisingly Japanese restaurants have benefited from the burgeoning express market due mostly to quick-serve options like all-in-one Bento boxes which can be dropped in front of diners within minutes of ordering.
Sake at The Rocks, for example, has recently launched a series of new options under $50.
Chifley Plaza newcomer District Brasserie, meanwhile, has opened in recent weeks with a strict one-hour lunchtime promise.
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Owner John Vissaritis said the key is building a menu around the number of seats (they have 200), relying on savvy staff and, of course, respecting the ever-ticking clock.
“You basically work in reverse to how a normal restaurant would run,” Mr Vissaritis said.
“You put the menu first, you factor in the number of staff you have on the floor, the capacity of the restaurant and you work all of that against the clock.”
But his best secret — their charcoal oven set at around 450 to 480C.
“It cooks a steak in three minutes, you rest it for three. And boom, steak frites served in six minutes,” he said.
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