Food Fight

Gone is the era when a meal in a department store meant a scoop of chicken salad on a plastic tray in a room reminiscent of your grandmother's conservatory. These days, shoppers at Peter Jones in London are feasting on warm squid and green chilli salad. At Selfridges one can tuck into a plate of salmon ravioli at the Premier restaurant, which has a view over bustling Oxford Street. At Harrods, the clientele in the Georgian Restaurant is nibbling terrine of foie gras with cèpes, fillet of red mullet and wild game pudding whipped up by a chef who used to...