Lunch at 7 delivers all one has come to expect from The Ritz-Carlton – attentive service, great international food and a relaxing atmosphere.
 
The restaurant is perhaps most famous for its decadent Sunday champagne brunches, but this beachfront establishment is also an ideal spot for lunch.
 
Acting on the recommendation of the hotel’s senior food and beverage manager, Mario Cabezas, I opted for the blue fin tuna tartare for starters and the West Indian chicken and mango curry for my entreé.
 
The tuna, diced with shallots, chives and capers, was served on a bed of cucumber slices, and was succulent, fresh and delicious.
 
The curry, cooked by an Indian chef, was creamy and spicy, with tender portions of chicken served with rice, with mango chutney and poppadoms on the side.
 
My colleague opted for a conch chowder starter and declared it “creamy, but not too creamy, with perfect bite-sized chunks of conch”.
 
On the recommendation of the restaurant’s food and beverage manager, Conrad Geske, she chose the beef medallion penne pasta that included perfectly tender beef, wild mushrooms, garlic, asparagus tips, cherry tomatoes, arugula and parmesan cheese in a peppercorn sauce. The flavours blended well together, and medium rare beef – guests are asked how they would like it cooked – was done to perfection.
 
Those dishes and other favourites including organic and vegetarian choices, as well as new additions to the menu, will be among those offered in a novel new twist on the executive business lunch from 15 November.
 
The restaurant is about to make life easier for those busy diners who want to enjoy the divine food but need to be back in the office within an hour.
 
“The appetiser, salad, entreé and dessert – everything will come served on one big plate,” explains Mario. “People don’t always have the time for three-course service that takes more than an hour. Now, you can have The Ritz Carlton experience and it will not take more than 40 minutes.”
 
The restaurant aims to serve diners their lunch within 15 minutes of sitting down.
 
For those lucky enough to be able to luxuriate over a long lunch, that remains an option, and the restaurant even has special lunchtime cocktails to make it even more relaxing.   WH