The nine golden rules of the liquid lunch

The Eighties-style boozy lunch is making a comeback as a new ‘out of office’ trend – and you shouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it...

Roger Sterling and Don Draper in Mad Men
The working lunch is back, and bigger than ever Credit: Television Stills/AMC/Lionsgate

The din hits as soon as you walk through the door: a sea of shirts and red wine bottles lining every table at Le Relais de Venise. At 12:47pm midweek, the queue in the City outpost stretches from the restaurant floor to the door. It is filled with young financiers and old hands using its trademark double-serving of steak frites to mop up the bottles of Bordeaux rapidly depleting on the shelf. But the high-living doesn’t stop at the Bordeaux, which is merely the mid-point of the long, boozy lunch currently enjoying a spirited revival.  ...

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