Why early dining is so fine

No longer the preserve of the silver-haired, eating at 6pm is increasingly popular, writes a 'hangxious' Helen Coffey – it's healthier, cheaper and helps to avoid late-night indigestion

- Helen Coffey

“I've booked us a table for 8.30pm - hope that's OK!”

Few messages are capable of filling me with such instant dread. I am very fond of the friend in question - I wouldn’t be meeting her for a midweek dinner if I wasn’t - but she is testing the limits of my affection.

“Thanks! Didn’t they have anything earlier??” I ping back, with little hope that the inclusion of my own exclamation mark will do much to mask the pass-agg undertone.

“It was that or 6pm, sorry!”

In that case, book it for 6pm, you sadist!, I want to scream at my phone. Alas, convention forbids it. Until recently, admitting my preference for the early-bird option would have been tantamount to buying a pair of carpet slippers and applying for an OAP bus pass. But the tide might finally be turning: Gen Z are tearing up the status quo and writing their own restaurant rulebook and I, for one, have never been happier.

According to OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service, early evening bookings have surged in popularity, reports The Times. Reservations at the 6pm slot, in particular, have risen by 11 per cent in London and 6 per cent across the UK, year on year. Dining even earlier, at 5pm, has also seen a boost of 10 per cent.

Restaurants are getting in on the act and incentivising early eating. One site, First Table, gives diners 50 per cent off at a host of trendy London eateries when they book in for less-coveted slots, usually between 4.30 and 6.30pm. Counter 71 in Shoreditch, meanwhile, has started offering a cheaper early evening set menu for £50, making it a more accessible and affordable option than its usual £130 tasting menu.