Lovage SE1

13-15 Queen Elizabeth St   020 7403 8886

Rather obscurely located behind Shad Thames, a large and contemporary (but essentially conventional) Indian restaurant of a high standard; it offers very good all-round value, particularly at lunch.

As an all-round package, you really won’t find better value in London at the moment than the £7.95 two-course menu on offer at this new South Bank Indian, which offers not just a smart and spacious contemporary setting, but also notably solicitous service.

By night, the value would – naturally – be less striking, but there was nothing about the lunch we enjoyed which suggested that the higher evening prices would not be entirely justified.

We just hope they make a go of the place: its predecessor, Hara the Circle Bar, was fundamentally rather similar, and it didn’t last. So, invest the five-minute walk from the more obvious delights of the Shad Thames waterfront – it’s well worth it!