JOYCE CAFE

The Atrium, 1 Exchange Square, Central Tel: 2810-1335 Open: 11am-7pm It is so wholesomely healthful you walk out feeling almost as good as if you have spent your lunch hour at the gym. It is so happening - with more suits and tai tais than you can shake a Gucci briefcase at - that you feel nearly as cool as if you have lunched at the China Club.

Joyce in Exchange Square is a vast warren of glass booths and neatly aligned tables. Service is a little snappy (a request for the newspaper was met with a waspish 'get it outside') but the food is so good you let it go - remembering only not to tip.

Appetisers are delicious, but can be as calorific as they are light. There is a mild potato chat, served with two dips; unctuous bruschetta weighed down with avocado, oozing ripe tomatoes and other delicacies; and paper-thin dosas stuffed with lentils or potato and onion.

The menu spans the globe, from India to Italy. From Japan comes the bento box ($125 for vegetarian or $150 with fish): wild rice, a perfectly cooked fillet of sea bass in a piquant broth and tomato concasse; deep fried molten tofu, perfectly undercooked broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, and nutty squash.

Take in a glass or two of Joyce's legendary vegetable/fruit juice cocktails (the murky parsley carrot and spinach belies its cleansing bite and refreshing taste) and you have the makings of a true working lunch: one that will send you back to the office bright eyed and bushy tailed, not ready for a nap.

CHUK YUEN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT 1-6 Connaught Road West, Sheung Wan Tel: 2815-6286 Open: 11am-midnight This cavernous basement restaurant is a hop, skip and a jump from the more touristy enclaves of Western Market, and worlds away on food. It is not the kind of place where you will find weary backpackers clutching guide books; as can be ascertained from the restaurant's name and from tanks of live fish, crustaceans and shellfish, this place specialises in seafood.