London can be spenny but there are ways to eat at some of the best restaurants in town for less
That’s why we look for loopholes where cheap eats (and a cheap night out in London) can be found, and a good value set menu is actually not too hard to come by. Restaurants across the city (including some of our all-time favourites) have dedicated menus of two or more courses that’ll set you back a whole lot less than standard – but will blow you away just as much.
Duchy
Duchy, the new restaurant that’s set up shop in the old Leroy site in Shoreditch, has an excellent set lunch menu every day, including Saturday. It’s £24 for two courses or £29 for three with dishes including the likes of soused mackerel with horseradish creme fraiche; confit duck leg with lentils vinaigrette; and brown butter and almond cake. You’d be a fool not to add on the brown crab arancini for £6 too. There’s also a great wine list, cocktails, and great tunes coming from the in-house vinyl collection.
18 Phipp Street, London, EC2A 4NU
@duchy.restaurant
Quality Wines
We love Quality Wines, the sister wine bar next door to Quality Chop House, and even more so for their lunchtime offering of three courses for £26. There’ll be the choice of delicious things like fasolakia, feta & oregano; pot-roast poussin with borlotti beans, tomato & lemon; and Amalfi lemon & almond cake. Plus look out for the lunchtime only exclusives – in the past chef Nick Bramham has done his take on the Portuguese classic bifana sandwich, served with a beer for just £10.
88 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3EA
qualitywinesfarringdon.com
Albers
De Beauvoir bistro Albers is doing a weekday Workers Lunch offering, which includes a main plate, such as house-made sausage and beans or cod cheeks with potatoes and peas, plus a glass of wine for £16. Running from 12pm – 3pm on Thursdays and Fridays, it’s a great way to ring in the end of the week and a perfect excuse to try out the restaurant if you’ve not been in before.
23A Englefield Road, London N1 4JX
albers.london
Manteca
Get your Manteca fix on your lunch break with the restaurant’s new Rapid Rigatoni set menu. Running from 12pm – 3pm on Mondays – Fridays, with two courses for £24 or three for £28, the menu features rotating seasonal plates, like wild garlic Caesar salad, rigatoni with slow-cooked beef ragu and summer fruit meringue with cream. Simple and satisfying, what more could you want from a lunch?
49-51 Curtain Rd, London EC2A 3PT
mantecarestaurant.co.uk
Kolamba East
At Kolamba East, Eroshan and Aushi Meewella are showcasing their take on modern take on Sri Lankan home cooking, inspired by the dishes of the duo’s childhood in Colombo. The restaurant is running a set lunch menu, costing £25 for two courses or £30 for three, which includes a glass of wine or a mocktail, and dishes like idli with sambar, charred coconut chicken, breadfruit curry, dhal with spinach, cucumber sambol and yellow rice, and coconut & lime sorbet.
12 Blossom Street, London E1 6PL
kolamba.co.uk
BAO
Looking for a lunch that’s fast, filling and friendly on the wallet? Head to BAO for the BAO 15, which is available form 12pm – 6pm on weekdays. The menu includes a bao, a snack and a noodle dish for £15, with the option to add on some of their Taiwanese fried chicken for an extra couple of quid. If you’ve got a little more time to eat, the King’s Cross and City restaurants also serve the four-course A Taipei Story menu for £29 per person, which features a selection of the team’s fave dishes.
All BAO locations
baolondon.com
The Palomar
Lunch for less at Soho fave The Palomar, where you can get three courses for £28 with the restaurant’s prix fixe menu. Dishes include beetroot with ajo blanco and zhoug, mackerel with chermoula, and pistachio baklava ice cream sandwich – all of which are even better enjoyed from a counter seat.
34 Rupert St, London W1D 6DN
thepalomar.co.uk
Sune
Sune on Broadway Market does one hell of a sandwich at lunchtime – a croque monsieur topped with beef tartare – but you can also get a great value two- or three-course meal as well. Running Wednesday – Friday and costing £25 for two courses or £29 for three, the set lunch menu includes dishes like cured trout with winter tomatoes, roe, capers and dill; pork loin with charred greens, madeira and green peppercorn; and ginger cake with blood orange and cream.
129A Pritchard’s Road, London E2 9AP
sune.restaurant
Akara
Head to West African restaurant Akara from Tuesday to Thursday, 12pm – 5pm, for a steal of a set lunch deal. You can get the namesake akara – black-eyed bean fritters with fillings like BBQ prawn and BBQ celeriac – and the likes of Lagos chicken or BBQ king oyster mushroom served with efik rice or Brazillian carrot rice for £29, with a drink and dessert option for an additional £10.
Arch 208, 18 Stoney Street, London, SE1 9AD
akaralondon.co.uk
The Barbary Notting Hill
We’re big fans of The Barbary Notting Hill already but now the west London spot has got even better thanks to its prix fixe lunch menu. For £28 you can enjoy three North African, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-inspired courses, like burnt tomato salad with ricotta salata, coffee rub chicken, and seasonal ice creams and sorbets.
112 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RU
thebarbary.co.uk
The Cinnamon Club
Vivek Singh’s Cinnamon Club does an early and late set menu, running from 5.30pm – 6pm and after 9.30pm. It features three courses for £38, including dishes such as Awadhi lamb galouti with saffron sheermal and smoked paprika raita; Chicken Rezala; Koorgi style double cooked pork belly with masala mash, raw mango and chilli sambal; and baked saffron cheesecake with coconut cardamom sorbet.
The Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BU
cinnamonclub.com
som saa
A frequent feature on ‘London’s best Thai restaurants’ lists, som saa is a great choice any day of the week. And the Tem Toh (meaning ‘full table’ in Thai) set menu, featuring a snack, salad, curry, greens, rice and dessert for £50, makes it even better. You can get it for dinner or for lunch (at £38 per person), there are veggie and vegan options, as well as the choice to add on a whole deep-fried seabass with isaan herbs and roasted rice powder for an additional charge.
43A Commercial Street, London E1 6BD
somsaa.com
Berners Tavern
If you’re heading out for a pre-theatre bite, or you just like an early dinner and being home by 8, then Berners Tavern at The London EDITION has just the thing for you. The new Early Berners menu, where you can get two courses for £29.50 and three for £34, runs from 5pm – 6.30pm, Monday – Saturday, and includes dishes like prawn cocktail with lobster jelly, Cornish Cob chicken paillard and pistachio & raspberry chocolate opera. Not only is it excellent value, you get to enjoy being in one of London’s most spectacular dining rooms too.
10 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NP
bernerstavern.com
The Ninth
Jun Tanaka has introduced a new set lunch menu at his Michelin-starred Fitzrovia spot The Ninth, running from 12pm – 2.30pm, Monday – Saturday. The restaurant is known for its French-Mediterranean style and this is reflected in the lunch offering, with dishes like spaghetti with girolles, peas & hazelnut gremolata; raisin vinaigrette & lamb sausage, fennel purée, courgettes & tomatoes; and poached peach with granita, mint oil & yoghurt sorbet. It’s £38 for two courses and £43 for three, and if the weather is good, you’ll want a seat on that terrace.
22 Charlotte Street, London W1T 2NB
theninthlondon.com
Noble Rot
A big name in the London restaurant scene and one of the city’s best wine bars, Noble Rot is here to keep the British boozy lunch brand alive. Their set lunch menu changes seasonally, with a choice of three courses – two for £24 and all for £28 – and each course has a suggested wine pairing which, although not included in the price, makes life a lot easier.
51 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1N 3NB
2 Greek Street, London W1D 4NB
noblerot.co.uk
The Devonshire
The Devonshire, aka London’s hottest pub, has won over the city with its superlative Guinness and classic dishes cooked on the upstairs restaurant’s wood-ember grill but we’ve fallen in love with its excellent set menu. You can bag the likes of prawn and langoustine cocktail, skirt steak with chips and bearnaise, and sticky toffee pudding for £29 (or two courses for £25), if you can manage to get a table that is….
17 Denman Street, London W1D 7HW
devonshiresoho.co.uk
Langan’s
This 70s and 80s hotspot was given a revamp before it landed back on the scene in 2021, but it’s still managed to maintain so much of what made it a hit all those years ago. Langan’s is a brasserie with a menu that focuses on British and French classics, so for their prix fixe menu, expect the likes of chicken liver parfait with onion & raisin jam and toasted brioche, Langan’s bangers & mash and baked cherry & vanilla cheesecake. You can get two courses for £35 and three for £40 making this a real steal.
Stratton Street, London W1J 8LB
langansbrasserie.com
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Eat at the two Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal for a snip of the price with the restaurant’s new The Luncheon Menu. Priced at £65, it includes three courses that take inspo from historical recipes that also showcase ways to minimise food waste. You can expect dishes like ragoo of pig’s ear on toast; salt cod with parsnips, pickled lemon and horseradish; and pineapple and cardamom tart.
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA
dinnerbyheston.co.uk
Spring
Spring’s Scratch menu is available from Tuesday to Saturday for just one hour each day (5.30-6.30pm), but it’s worth catching if you can. The ethos behind Scratch is that they use ‘waste’ produce – perfectly good fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be discarded because they’re considered too ugly or irregular. The organic, overlooked ingredients are turned into nutritious dishes and you get three courses for £40.
Somerset House, New Wing, Lancaster Place, London WC2R 1LA
springrestaurant.co.uk
Fallow
Under normal circs, a trip to Fallow means potentially having to plan your budget for the rest of the month around dinner (£30 for a roast alone… eek. It’s still one of our faves in town, though). But something magical happens at lunchtimes when you can secure three courses for just £44. Choose from the likes of mushroom parfait, sea bream crudo, dairy cow rump, mussels with smoked bacon and pickled lemon, Chelsea tart and rum-less raisin ice cream, and more, from Monday to Friday.
2 St. James’s Market, London SW1Y 4RP
fallowrestaurant.com
Quality Chop House
One of the most beloved restaurants in the city, the food at Quality Chop House always hits the mark. Their lunch set menu, which changes fortnightly and is available Tuesday through Friday, will get you three courses for £29 and although there’s just one option for each, you can put your faith in QCH to deliver something pretty special.
88-94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
thequalitychophouse.com
