Staff is friendly, efficient and attentive and they all seem to understand that good food alone does not make a great restaurant experience. Weight it all in along with the really nice ambience and the short walk to Waterloo station and you find yourself with a gem of a restaurant. No wonder it is so popular.

Situated so close to the Old Vic, a lot of their business comes from pre and post theatre dinners so they cleverly run offers now and then for ticket holders to get a freebee or discount. You certainly don’t need to use Old Vic as an excuse to go here though, they manage so well to impress on their own. Excellent for business lunches if you want to treat a client to a nice meal around Waterloo.

Lunch and dinner aside, they also on weekends serve brunch all day and traditional roast on Sundays, so whether you just want to get away from the office for a while or want a nice start to your Saturday, this place comes with the warmest recommendations.

Oh, and do try the char grilled squid with chorizo salad. Pure genius.

No proper food is served, but you can get snacks and sandwiches from the bar. Usually it gets really busy just before a show starts, but before and after that you usually have a good selection of nice tables in the cosy cellar under the theatre.

Bring a few friends, a good book or that stack of printouts you need to go through for tomorrow and enjoy the intellectual aura of this fantastic old venue.

If you are looking for some of the best coffee in south London, nay, make that all of London, consider your quest over. This is it. You have stumbled upon a scooter workshop cum cafe extraordinaire by public demand. All thanks to their Italian 1957 Faema espresso machine and Craig O’Dwyer, the very well travelled owner and scooter connoisseur.

There is a story behind this place that is as fascinating as the cafe is cosy. Which means in the upper levels of “incredibly”. Craig O’Dwyer is originally from New Zealand. Many years ago he started travelling to and fro from Italy to London, collecting old Vespas and Lambrettas, pieces of furniture and coffee machines while at the same time becoming fluent in Italian. Combining all his passions together, he set up the coffee shop as we see it today on Lower Marsh.

You will still see several of his machines in the store, alongside memorabilia, press clippings and artifacts of days gone collected on his travels. Some would maybe call what they see as they step through the door rubbish, to me it is like stepping through a time portal. If you are looking for spare parts or scooter accessories, don’t come here though. In that case you are better off visiting their workshop Scooterworks on Enid Street, Bermondsey.

Foodwise they sell cakes, hot chocolate (ask to have it dusted with nutmeg, yum!) and delicious coffee, bought from a company called Londinium just outside London and ground at Scoottercaffe. As you can see in the comments below, even the decaf is bought as beans and ground in the shop which provides for great decaf coffee.

They are licensed, so you can also get Irish coffees and hot toddies. If that is not your poison of choice, there is a good shelf of alcohol as well as French cider, Suffolk Ale and Mexican and Italian beer. Throughout the winter months they serve mulled wine and hot spiced apple all day and evening.

You are allowed to bring your own food, so why not bring a food pack and take a quick detour over lunch to Italy. Or why not go for lunch at the nearby thai restaurant and finish with a coffee here?

Unfortunately the place is closed on Sundays, or this would be a great hang out with a good book. Preferrably while it is raining heavily outside.

UPDATE: The kind people at Scootercaffe also emailed me this – “We do hire the basement for private functions where we have a second little bar with cocktails. There is live music every Tuesday and Wednesday night and yes, we are still closed Sundays where upon we sleep solidly for 12 hours.”

Suggested by Wendy, thank you very much!

Might be a bit of a cheat to put this venue up on a lunch web site since they don’t serve food, but hey, this site is not just about good eating, it is also about making sure you have a good time and relax during your lunch.

What better way of doing that then, than bringing your own healthy lunch with you (or hey, buy a box from the Caribbean street stall in the nearby park!) and have a relaxing hour with your latest knitting project at the I Knit store? Since they have a fully licensed bar you can even get a nice glass of wine or a fizzy cocktail to add some glamour to your lunch hour.