Dish of the Day
Chris Cottingham writes on everything foodie.

You shouldn’t make too much effort on a first date. Once, I took a girl out for dinner and when I picked her up she answered the door wearing a cocktail dress and a tiara. (If I’d know she owned a tiara I wouldn’t have asked her out, but that’s another story.) However, slumming it is no easy matter either: no one wants to look cheap.

Tom Conran (son of design magnet Sir Terence) has skillfully straddled the too-much-not enough divide with West London hamburger joint, Lucky 7. The interior is like a hyper real version of ’50s America diners – booth seating, period advertisements, a menu spelled out in stick-on white lettering. The food is similarly authentic, or, at least, as authentic as you’re going to get in London.

Forget healthy salad options: the burgers are the reason you’ll have to queue for 15 minutes or so – they don’t take reservations – or have a drink in the Mexican bar next door while you wait. All the men seem to go for the towering Kalifornian (complete with guacamole!), while porridge-thick milkshakes, served in the steel blending jug, have the ladies cooing, ‘I shouldn’t, but…’ Lucky 7 is fun, it doesn’t take too long and it’s not too expensive - Unlike girls in tiaras.

Lucky 7, 127 Westbourne Park Road, W2 5QL, 020 7727 6771, www.lucky7london.co.uk