It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a Londoner in possession of a lunch hour must be in want of a decent meal. And yet it’s not every lunchbreak that you can order a steak and hear it sizzling seconds later. Nor is it every day that you can walk away from a sturdy midday meal of meat and two veg feeling both satisfied and strangely smug. But change has come to the high street: canteen-style dining is back and this time it’s healthy, high-end and served at high-speed. 

Spots such as Farmer J and The Salad Kitchen have sprung up around the metropolis like wildflowers in a spring meadow and Londoners are frolicking among them. But perhaps this isn’t surprising. As the pace of our lives has picked up and al-desko dining became depressingly common, office workers have realised that a walk and a warm lunch counts as an act of self-care. As one health-conscious Canadian colleague noted over his Farmer J “fieldtray” of brown rice, cashew kale miso slaw, spiced-date sweet potatoes and amba chicken with green tahini: “If you’re not eating healthy on Tuesday lunch, when are you eating healthy?” 

In an age when we’re surrounded by “sometimes” foods, Brits are belatedly learning the feel-good properties of nutrients that aren’t sealed in fried batter or plastic triangles. Hence why Monday-to-Friday workers and the hybrid hordes alike are now looking to make the most of their days in the office. “When people come into town now, they’re willing to spend more on lunch,” says Simon Stenning, industry analyst and founder of Future Foodservice. “They want something more exciting, more nourishing – fewer meals out, but better ones. People know that they’re spending more but they also know what they’re getting.”

For The Salad Kitchen, which opened its first outlet in 2014, the surge in popularity has seen its revenue double each year since 2021. Pass by any of its premises in the Square Mile during the lunch rush and you might confuse the queues for a Guinness World Record attempt at the largest gathering of gilets. But beware of pitying the hungry office workers mindlessly marching toward a square meal – Londoners love a queue, a lunch queue doubly so. 

For this isn’t just about the food so much as the strange mix of structure and escapism. There’s comfort in the choreography. You join the relative order and serenity of a London line made up of people who seem like they can keep their houseplants alive and didn’t scoff a block of chocolate before bed. There’s camaraderie in the collective pretence that any of us know what “amba” is. You shuffle along, answer questions with single-syllabic responses and semi-conscious nods. Mercifully, the decisions are so few that vacillation is easily avoided. 

Stenning notes that there is also a strong “pleasure principle” at play. In other words, the “treat yourself” syndrome – a chronic ailment for this writer. And Farmer J is surely playing to the pleasure seekers. It’s the kind of place where everything is “elevated”, including the price. But what’s a few extra quid here and there? The answer: a lot more there than here. Nevertheless, you’re back the next day. 

Concerningly, this new lunchscape could spell trouble for industry leaders such as Pret a Manger and Itsu as they get lost between premium canteen offerings and the holy trinity of the supermarket meal-deal. Londoners are loath to give up the latter: the streets remain replete with people juggling a sandwich in one hand, crisps in the other and a drink lodged somewhere in between. It’s not just a meal, it’s a pastime. So why bother with an overpriced Pret baguette when you can get an inexpensive meal-deal or pay a few extra pounds for a rainbow salad so vivid that it could hang in a fauvist exhibition? It’s a small extra cost for a dish that someone actually put some effort into. At Farmer J they’ve even gone to the bother of giving every item a backstory: every chickpea comes with a CV, every roasted cauliflower boasts a robust provenance. I wouldn’t even be surprised if the ponzu sesame broccoli had a podcast – did you listen to Florets of Wisdom this week?

It’s being called the quick-service restaurant revolution but canteen-style dining is hardly new – it’s just had a makeover. Many private businesses now have their own canteens, The River Café began in just such a fashion. And when Leon launched it pitched itself as healthy fast food in a similar vein. So perhaps we’re witnessing more than just the comeback of the canteen, we’re seeing the return of the lunch hour not just as a meal but a moment. An hour to slow down and check in with yourself, your community and your colleagues. It’s the office crowd’s small rebellion of individual sovereignty. If the system is going to occupy our minds, we might as well reclaim lunchtime for the body. 

And yes, I’ll probably go back tomorrow – because somewhere between the queue, the tray and the medium-rare steak, I’ve convinced myself that I’m making good life choices. And honestly, maybe I am.

Matich is Monocle’s digital sub editor and a contributor.