by Fiona Chan

YOU'VE arrived at work promptly at 9am, yawned through a meeting, gulped down coffee and cleared your e-mail.

Now the all-important question: Where to have lunch?

In cuisine-crazy corporate Singapore, the choices for business set lunches are endless. You could go classic with Saint Julien at the Fullerton Waterboat House, where a three-course meal with a view of the river will set you back $46 and a four-course one, $58.

Another reliable favourite is Restaurant Ember at Hotel 1929 in Keong Saik Road. Its three- course menu, at $38, is one of the most comprehensive in town, with more than six options each for appetiser, main course and dessert. Specialities include the sinfully crackly pork belly and scallops with parma ham.

For a more divine experience, head to The White Rabbit at 39C Harding Road in the Dempsey area. Young, trendy professionals flock to the church-turned-restaurant for its famous Mac and Cheese and the set lunch, at $30 for two courses.

The office crowd at the Harbourfront area is lucky to have Wood Restaurant at VivoCity. Try its wood-fire cooked food, including Cardamom coffee and smoked Wagyu beef brisket, as a two-course set lunch at $28 or a three-course version at $35.

In the Tanjong Pagar area, Otto Ristorante at Red Dot Traffic Museum in Maxwell Road serves up an appetising $40 Italian three-course set that changes weekly.

If you work in the Orchard Road area and are sick of the usual fare, try the new Cova Pasticceria-Confetteria at Paragon. You will probably be surrounded by tai-tais leisurely lunching, but the food - upmarket Italian, with a deft hand at meat - is too good to pass up. A two-course set is priced at $32 and a three-course at $38; both come with dessert.

Off the beaten path, Dozo at Valley Point Shopping Centre offers a six-course 'modern Japanesque' degustation lunch for $38.80, in a private dining environment, complete with plush chairs. The seafood bisque and oven-baked hamachi kama (yellowtail cheek) are recommended.

Need a location map to find the places we mentioned? Go to rednano.sg/map.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on August 25, 2008.