Best quick lunches in Sydney

There was a time when a business lunch might stretch on to sunset. Not any more, as diary windows shrink and busy city workers dine and dash. Lunch, it seems, really is for wimps.

But look again. The old long lunch hasn't died. It's just evolved. Sydney's restaurants are reinventing the institution, distilling all the elements of a traditional lunchtime blowout into a streamlined, speedy package. The new, abbreviated lunches come with all the trappings of their predecessors – sumptuous surroundings, delicious food and excellent wines – but they're do-able within an hour.

Ananas Bar and Brasserie in The Rocks recently introduced its first express lunch menu, aimed at business clientele. Chef de cuisine Neil Martin's two-course selection of French dishes promises decadence, along with the promise that you'll be out within 45 minutes.

"I wanted to guarantee our time-poor customers a really quick lunch that's great value and still the highest quality," Martin says. "I've designed the Express menu around lighter-style dishes that are office-worker-friendly, such as steak tartare for entree and hapuka with grilled vegetables and hollandaise for main."

Many of Sydney's top chefs and restaurants now offer delicious bonsai versions of their full menus. Others have calibrated their service to accommodate on-the-run epicureans. Cafe Sydney, once a place where lunches rarely ended before dark, knows diners now come for a good time not a long time.

"Many guests are sharing appetisers, beautiful fresh oysters and seafood, then individual mains, tea/coffee and petite fours, and wine by the glass, so something of quality," operations manager Jan McKenzie says.

"Our menu is engineered for swiftness and our staff are trained for this. Our waiters will always check the guest for their time frame," she says.

Try our favourite Sydney spots for a short long lunch, and discover why a quickie can be just as satisfying as a lingering affair.

Ananas Bar and Brasserie

Efficiency meets elegance in the recently revitalised Parisian-chic bar area, where workers score a quick hit of decadence from Neil Martin's express lunches. The menu offers a pared-back daytime dose of rich French flavour in dishes such as roasted pork belly stuffed with figs and pistachios.

Monday to Thursday noon-3pm. Two courses $40, three courses $50.

18 Argyle Street, The Rocks, 9259 9668.

ARIA

The team at hatted ARIA at Circular Quay promise to have you out within the hour when you opt for head chef Ben Turner's seasonal lunch menu. True to owner Matt Moran's produce obsession, it's currently a celebration of winter's best, with some delicious slow cooking for fast eating. The two-course menu for $55 a person has a choice of two entrees and two main courses, including slow-roasted lamb neck with savoy cabbage, house-cured bacon and chestnuts.

Monday to Friday noon-2.30pm. Two courses $55.

1 Macquarie Street, East Circular Quay, 9240 2255, ariarestaurant.com

Balla

The new Fancy a Quickie express lunch from head chef Gabriele Taddeucci at Stefano Manfredi's Osteria Balla allows you to swing by for just one course for $19. With winter-weight, satisfying dishes such as Black Angus flank steak with roasted red onion or potato gnocchi with sauteed onions and buffalo mozzarella, you're spoiled in minimum time.

Tuesday to Friday noon-2.30pm. One course $19, two courses $35, three courses $49.

Level G, Harbourside, The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont, 1800 700 700, star.com.au

Est.

At this temple of fine dining, lunch can be a sumptuous sprint. Peter Doyle's new lunch menu gathers his signature dishes in a two, three or four-course combination, so you can still surrender to temptation and switch to the slow lane should you choose to. Highlights include lamb loin with glazed eggplant, soured hummus, green garlic and saltbush.

Monday to Friday noon-2.30pm. Two courses $69, three courses $95, four courses $118.

Establishment, level 1, 252 George Street, 9240 3000, merivale.com.au/est

The Governor's Table

Treat yourself to a swift hit of fresh produce and local ingredients with the new prix-fixe lunch at The Governor's Table at the Museum of Sydney. A block back from Circular Quay and a quick flit from most CBD offices, this warm, inviting sandstone space layers up the flavours with specialities such as salt baked beets with smoked ricotta, rhubarb and burnt cucumber dressing or crisp golden chicken with bread sauce, crimson grapes and cima di rapa. Includes a glass of red or white from the restaurant's menu of creative young Australian winemakers.

Monday-Friday from noon. Main course with a glass of white or red wine $29, two courses with a glass of white or red wine $39, three courses with a glass of white or red wine $49.

Bridge Street and Phillip Street, 9241 1788, thegovernorstable.com.au

King Fook, Chatswood

Despite visual cues that suggest it's party time – chandeliers straight from a Disney ballroom, blinging ornaments and magnums on the bar - you can be in and out of Chatswood's chief yum cha specialist in an hour. Maybe even 30 minutes, if your meal turns out to be a one-trolley wonder – that glorious moment when all your favourites arrive at once. Picture warm and flaky egg tarts sharing shelf space with endless combos of scallop, prawn, pork, snow pea and spinach dumplings. It happens here.

Westfield Chatswood, 28 Victor Street, Chatswood, 9413 9388, kingfookgroup.com.au

O Bar and Dining

Michael Moore's CBD restaurant and bar has instant gratification built in. In one elevator ride, you're whisked 47 floors above the daily grind for views to the mountains and ocean. In the main restaurant, Moore conjures up fine-dining tastes from clean, heart-healthy food, but the tapas menu in the bar loosens the stays and keeps the tempo rapid with shared indulgences such as wagyu beef cheese sliders, crab and pork dumplings and sticky honey braised lamb ribs. You can pile these on and chase them down with an expertly prepared cocktail within the 45 minutes it takes for the revolving O to complete a single turn.

Fridays only from noon.

Level 47, Australia Square, 264 George Street, 9247 9777, obardining.com.au

The Devonshire

Every Friday you can enjoy an astoundingly affordable snapshot of head chef Jeremy Bentley's innovative flair at The Devonshire, which offers a $35 three-course prix fixe lunch menu. Voted one of the best-value lunches in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, the menu changes each week. Right now, you might find salt fish brandade with pickled fennel, radish and white onion puree, or slow-cooked lamb shoulder, spiced chickpeas and yoghurt foam.

Fridays only, noon-2.30pm. Three courses, $35.

204 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, 9698 9427, thedevonshire.com.au

Bishop Sessa

While chef Paul Cooper's nose-to-tail dishes and his deeply considered, sustainable philosophy are very much the opposite of fast food, they can still be enjoyed at an accelerated pace. His "speedy, tasty, easy" lunch deal offers a main course from the menu plus a glass of wine for $29, showcasing Cooper's Michelin-star restaurant experience and painstakingly selected local meats and produce.

Daily, noon-3pm.

527 Crown Street, Surry Hills, 8065 7223, bishopsessa.com.au

Rockpool

The city's most stunning restaurant interior, Neil Perry and Phil Woods' benchmark creative contemporary Australian cuisine, and that vast wine list certainly don't scream haste, but Rockpool's two-course, $49, prix-fixe lunch menu wraps all the multi-hatted magic into an indulge-and-run package. No need to waste time deliberating: there's one option for each course, so your only choice is starter or dessert with your main of chou farci, chicken and prawn mousse wrapped in iceberg lettuce with umami broth. Opt to add the suggested wine matches, for a little extra coin.

Monday to Friday from noon. Two courses $49.

11 Bridge Street, Sydney, 9252 1888, rockpool.com

The Emporium, Parramatta

While Parra's impressive array of curry, dumpling and noodle houses always suited a quick lunch, the mix lacked a little modern Australian luxury. It's arrived courtesy of The Emporium and its head chef Rob Gannon, formerly ex-Pony Lounge and Dining. His produce-driven, Mediterranean-influenced menu groups dishes by size – bigger bits, smaller bits, naughty bits - and urges sharing, so the flavours come thick and fast. Try crispy pork belly with roasted apple compote, pickled cabbage and cider jus, or slow-cooked beef short rib, sticky maple paprika glaze, chimmi churri and watercress. A lush fit-out with tumbling ivy and jasmine and handmade Venetian furniture adds to the escapist vibe.

51 Phillip Street, Parramatta, 9687 1955, theemporiumparramatta.com.au

Little Fish Bar

Here's why Sydney has claims on the title of "world's best quickie lunch" city: scenic harbourside spots such as one-hatted Flying Fish right on your office doorstep. While the degustation and a-la-carte menus are best savoured at leisure, a flying visit is possible to Flying Fish, thanks to the menu at its Little Fish Bar, which offers sashimi, carpaccios of snapper and kingfish and freshly shucked oysters. With exclusive signatures such as popcorn prawns, cider braised chorizo and toast, fish taco, and smoked brisket sandwich, the bar menu has a devoted following all of its own.

Tuesday to Sunday from noon.

Jones Bay Wharf, 19-21 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont 9518 6677, flyingfish.com.au

Correction: The original version of this story said the Ananas express lunch is available Monday to Friday. It is only available Monday to Thursday. This had been updated in the text.