The Book Club, Leonard Street, central London

One of many self-consciously hip places to hang out in Shoreditch, The Book Club is dominated by a large loft-style space with tables laid out canteen style. Cartoons are scrawled on the white-washed brick walls and light floods in through the large windows and from the ranks of hanging lights above. A side room is given over to a ping pong table, overlooked by dozens of table tennis bats hanging on a wall. The varied lunch menu includes a Ploughman's Lunch, quiche, burgers,  risotto and even mackerel fillets.  If you want to revisit your childhood, you can also get a fish finger sandwich (£7.50) in bloomer bread with lettuce, tartare sauce and chunky chips. It is filling, but a bit dry. You have to go to the counter to order your food, where you can help yourself to a glass of cucumber-flavoured water. With many of the punters touting laptops, the Book Club has an industrious vibe. 7/10

The Book Club pulls in plenty of punters from the Old Street tech hub