Cheap meals in London's best restaurants
Posh nosh for less dosh – the finest restaurants with bargain pre-theatre deals and set menus
Want to sample London's gourmet restaurants without splashing the cash? Take a seat at off-peak times and you can eat like a king for a lot less than you'd expect. Here are just a few the finest London restaurants with bargain pre-theatre deals and uncommonly cheap set menus.
Theo Randall at the InterContinental
- Rated as: 5/5
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
The name gives few clues, but there can be hardly an Italian food lover unaware that since 2007, following a long stint as head chef at the renowned River Café, Theo Randall has been turning out peerless Italian cuisine in this Mayfair hotel restaurant. No doubt the outstanding-value set lunches and pre-theatre suppers aren’t much of a secret either, but if you find a ‘special deal’ that includes a glass or two of wine from a dream list, seize the first opportunity to sample a
- 1 Hamilton Place, Park Lane, W1J 7QY
- Main courses £28-£38. Set meal (lunch,...
Rob Greig / Time Out
Kopapa
- Rated as: 5/5
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
Just what you want in a centre-of-town hangout, Kopapa is in turn soothing, cheerful and buzzing depending on the time of day you arrive. Food and drink options are winningly flexible, with the bonus that much of what’s on offer is not just delicious but tweetable. Co-owner Peter Gordon, Britain’s best exponent of fusion cooking, oversees a menu that reassures with fry-ups, burgers and steak sandwiches, while dazzling with combinations such as burrata, mint, black vinegar and
- 32-34 Monmouth Street, WC2H 9HA
- Main courses £10.50-£20 Meal for two with wine...
Orrery
- Rated as: 5/5
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
Dining at the Orrery takes place in the slim rectangular space of a converted stable block, a floor above street level and bathed in light from a glorious string of arched windows and skylights. And despite being so central, the views are bucolic and villagey, thanks to the well-tended church grounds opposite. Service is not overly formal, but can feel a little intrusive. It’s a shame as Igor Tymchyshyn’s dishes are so exquisitely prepped and preened that they make a big
- 55 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5RB
- Set lunch £22.50 2 courses (£38.50 incl wine),...
© Michael Franke
Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester
- Rated as: 5/5
- Price band: 4/4
- Offer
When you book a table here, they don’t ask for your credit card number. Instead, they ask (a) whether you’re celebrating a special occasion and (b) whether you have any dietary restrictions. That solicitous graciousness set the tone for our dinner at this triply Michelin-starred palace of haute cuisine. Yes, the expense at dinner is scary: over £100 a head for two courses without even beginning to approach the pricier territory on the wine list. But you get a lot for your
- The Dorchester, Park Lane, W1K 1QA
- Set lunch £55 3 courses incl 2 glasses of wine,...
L'Etranger
- Rated as: 5/5
- Price band: 4/4
- Offer
True to its name, this dark, chic restaurant is the outsider on a busy road otherwise occupied by charity shops, posh delis and quirky specialists. Inside, a world of glossy minimalism awaits, with black lacquer tables and grey leather walls. Thoughtful, attentive staff serve a modish French-Japanese menu that mostly favours high-end hits from both cuisines (scallop sashimi or miso black cod; terrine of foie gras or Charolais fillet steak), but also remarkably good Eurasian food.
- 36 Gloucester Road, SW7 4QT
- Main courses £16.50-£32.50. Set lunch £16.50 2...
Chakra
- Rated as: 4/5
- Price band: 3/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
Budget-price Indian street food canteens are currently in vogue, but this recently opened Notting Hill restaurant bucks the trend with a fine dining menu priced at the sharp end. Chakra is furnished in shades of biscuit-cream, with chandeliers, crisp napery and padded, dimpled walls creating a sophisticated vibe. The service team is clad in siren-red outfits, which adds colour. Restaurateur and executive chef Andy Varma previously ran the upmarket Chelsea restaurant, Vama. For
- 157-159 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3LF
- Main courses £7.95-£22.50. Set lunch (Sat, Sun)...
Cinnamon Club Dominik Gigler
Cinnamon Club
- Rated as: 4/5
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
On a quiet street, just across from the quaint Church House bookshop, the former Westminster Library is a glorious Grade II-listed red-brick building. Inside lies one of London’s top Indian restaurants: the Cinnamon Club. Executive chef Vivek Singh makes masterful use of traditional herbs and spices and modern techniques to create elegant, innovative dishes. The kitchen’s strength lies in game or lesser-seen cuts of meat. On our visit, this translated to a terrific starter of
- Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3BU
- Main courses £14-£32. Set meal £22 2 courses,...
Cinnamon Kitchen Ming Tang-Evans
Cinnamon Kitchen
- Rated as: 4/5
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
There’s something almost karmic about the location of this new sibling to the Cinnamon Club, occupying as it does a former warehouse of the East India Company. And it occupies it stylishly, with walls in soft pewter hues inset with lustrous mother-of-pearl patterns. The juxtaposition of exposed air-con ducts with intricate filigree light-shades works unexpectedly well under the lofty ceilings – as does the long tandoori-grill bar where chefs cook to order. Most dishes emerging
- 9 Devonshire Square, EC2M 4YL
- Main courses £12-£32. Set lunch £15 2 courses,...
Dorchster Grill Room Heloise Bergman
The Grill at the Dorchester
- Rated as: 4/5
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
The Dorchester is not under-supplied with impressive dining places, but the Grill offers one of the most distinctively enjoyable experiences of all London’s grand-hotel restaurants. First there’s the look: on top of the approach through the hotel’s magnificent Promenade, the room itself combines the opulent (gilded gates that could have graced a Romanov palace) and the dotty (hoots-mon Scottish-theme decor of tartan seats and giant painted laddies and lassies inspired by a
- The Dorchester, 53 Park Lane, W1K 1QA
- Main courses £19-£46. Set lunch (Mon-Sat) £23 2...
Hibiscous Michael Franke
Hibiscus
- Rated as: 4/5
- Price band: 4/4
- Critics choice
- Offer
‘Really weird, but really good.’ Those words made an appearance at least three times during lunch here, a tribute to the playfully adventurous cooking of chef Claude Bosi. First, over an amuse-bouche of pineapple and hibiscus-flower cola; finally over a dessert of olive oil parfait with charlotte strawberry and basil. In between, there were so many surprises that we often found ourselves at a loss for words. Fruit enters the cooking in surprising ways, such as the strawberry
- 29 Maddox Street, W1S 2PA
- Set lunch £33.50 3 courses. Set dinner £80 3...
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