Curtain up on a secret

You have the show tickets but where to eat? It's a bit of a lottery - I know better than most, having spent most of my professional life in Theatreland - yet it can make or break a visit to the West End. Many restaurants offer special theatre menus, but it seems that sometimes the more they promise with their special deals, the less they deliver.

One of the newest recruits in the cut-throat chase for your pre-theatre money is also one of the grandest. There is a well-kept secret lurking on the upper level of the Royal Opera House. THE AMPHITHEATRE RESTAURANT offers an excellent two-course lunch menu for £12.50, but you would never know this from the Royal Opera House's website or even from strolling through the foyers.

Up the stairs, across the empty Floral Hall and on up the steep escalator, past the bar serving lunchtime sandwiches and there it is. The flashy decor seems a little at odds with the rest of the house but the tables are comfortable and the service efficient.

On my most recent visit I deliberatelyignored the limited set menu and opted for the à la carte; it was a mistake. What we ate was good but nowhere near the value offered by the fixed-price lunch.

I had not made a reservation, but it did not seem to matter as the room was only modestly filled and I have yet to see it really busy at lunchtime. Having been seated on the outer edge, it was a shame to see that the view to the adjoining balcony and beyond was blocked by the closed Venetian blinds, as the mostly hidden panorama across the rooftops looked rather interesting. Perhaps they don't want their patrons to look across to ENO's refurbished home at the Coliseum.

The starters were well presented. My guest's field mushroom carpaccio (£5.25), which came with goat's cheese, looked rather better than it tasted and the mushrooms were quite thickly sliced. My crayfish-and-prawn salad (£8.40) suffered from a strongly flavoured dressing which took away, rather than complemented, the taste of the seafood. It was also heavily weighted towards the prawns; crayfish were thin on the ground that day.

For the main course we chose marinated lamb (£10.95) and roast fillet of cod (£10.75). The lamb was served on a piece of bread which added nothing but bulk to the meal. However, the meat itself, a generous portion, was beautifully cooked and accompanied by a rocket-and-mint salad.

The roast cod came on a bed of vine tomatoes, cooked on the vine, which made them awkward to eat; nevertheless, the flavour of the tomatoes with balsamic vinegar provided a perfect balance with the cod. Vegetables are extra (£3.25 each) so we ordered a portion of French beans and one of chips, hand-cut and delicious.

The wine list is quite extensive with a good selection from around the world, but the wines themselves are not cheap. From the lower end of the price-scale, at £21.75, we chose a bottle of Châšteau Goudray 2002, a lovely light-bodied red Côte du Rhône from Haute Vaucluse.

For dessert we had warm ginger cake with poached pear and crème Anglaise and warm autumn berry soup with lemon-thyme-and-honey mascarpone. This was a little light on the berries and could have been improved by removing the honey, which made it taste rather too sweet.