Da Marco

Popular Italian standby Da Marco doesn't do lunch sets at its Dongzhu'anbang Lu flagship, but Xujiahui is a different story. At 48rmb, it's a salad and an appetizer like beef carpaccio; at 58rmb, it's a pasta -- rigatoni carbonara, spaghetti bolognese, etc. -- and a salad; at the top of the heap, it's 72rmb, for bruschetta, salad, and a main course like sea bass ravioli or osso buco Milanese. Drinks extra. 11.30am-3pm.

Tenya

Tuna specialists Tenya do up a simple but delicious lunch bowl of rice topped with tuna, soy, wasabi, and miso soup, plus ice cream or coffee for 58-68rmb. 11.30am-2.30pm.

Pasha

Pasha, a speck of a mod-Turkish restaurant, does two weekday lunch deals up in their second floor perch. Beef or chicken doner (or veggie wrap, if you must), plus a daily soup or salad, for 48rmb; a choice of three mains -- kofte with rice, eggplant meat moussaka with rice, beef or chicken doner with rice -- and daily soup or salad, for 68rmb. Both include a soft drink or homemade ayran. 11am-3pm.

Pizza & Beer Sunday

Tasty thin-crust pizzas -- pizzas you might recognize from Velvet Lounge -- plus an Italian Moretti beer, at a hefty discount. A parma ham and arugula pizza that otherwise sells for 118rmb, for example, goes for 100rmb, including the beer. All day.

Noodle Bull

One part minimalist concrete style, one part cheap Taiwanese beef noodles, has made newcomer Noodle Bull a roaring lunch success. They've quickly branched out, but this, their first store, remains the most popular. No sets, but a huge bowl of noodles, with a drink, comes in under 50rmb, and often less. Delivery available all day except during the noon to 1pm rush. From 11am on.