When you hear the words ‘Michelin-star restaurant’, don’t assume sky-high prices.
Your bill at even the poshest of eateries in London could end up high-street-chain-cheap.
If you time it right – and opt for a set menu.
Here we reveal how to dine like royalty for peanuts at some of the best restaurants in the capital, including one Michelin-starred eatery where two courses cost just £33.
And a restaurant at one of the most luxurious hotels London has to offer serves a set meal that can be savoured for just £60.
Scroll down for our mouthwateringly cheap portfolio.
NESSA SOHO – £28-35
Your bill at even the poshest eateries in London could actually end up being high-street-chain-cheap. You just need to time it right. Nessa Soho offers a pre-theatre set menu that’s available every weekday from 5 to 6pm, and priced at £28 for two courses or £35 for three
Nestling on the corner of Soho’s Brewer Street and Warwick Street, Nessa is right in the heart of Theatreland – so it’s the perfect place to eat before catching a West End show.
The British bar and restaurant, which featured on Masterchef earlier this year, has a pre-theatre set menu, called Nessa Express, available every weekday from 5 to 6pm, and priced at £28 for two courses or £35 for three.
The menu, created by Executive Chef Tom Cenci, has a choice of mains, including artichoke ravioli and flat-iron chicken.
For dessert, there’s cherry Bakewell tart with almond frosting and caramelised pecans.
There’s a choice between pumpkin and spelt risotto or beetroot and sheep’s cheese with granola and hot honey for starters – the latter being one that many customers on Tripadvisor have raved about, including ‘Angela F’.
She wrote: ‘Great service… friendly and attentive. Wonderful food… we had the most delicious selection of small plates (which were actually quite large) and each one was lovely and something a little bit different.’
THE NINTH – £33-38
Michelin-starred The Ninth, above, offers a daily lunch menu, costing £33 for two courses or £38 for three
Jun Tanaka’s Michelin-starred Fitzrovia restaurant, The Ninth, offers a daily set lunch menu with two courses priced at just £33, and three at £38.
It’s available Monday through to Saturday, for a maximum of eight people.
For the regularly-changing menu, the Japanese-British chef has chosen to highlight the best of the seasons, with sample mains including braised beef, honey-glazed carrot, celeriac puree and mojo verde or chargrilled delica pumpkin, tardivo [a type of radicchio], sage and aged Parmesan.
The starter selection might include seabream carpaccio, green chilli, kumquat and pickled kohlrabi; while to finish, guests can enjoy the likes of pain perdu and tonka bean ice cream or Gruyere alpage cheese and biscuits.
KOLAMBA – £17.50-35
Kolamba has two branches – one in Shoreditch and one in Soho. The latter offers a set lunch for just £17.50
Kolamba is a smash hit on Tripadvisor, with the Sri Lankan restaurant garnering 140 five-star reviews from a total of 209.
And now two sides of London can enjoy the South-Asian joint, as a new branch – Kolamba East – has recently opened in Shoreditch, in addition to the original one in Soho.
Both serve a £35 three-course set menu throughout January, with Kolamba East also offering a set lunch menu that costs £25 for two courses or £30 for three.
But it’s Kolamba Soho‘s lunch deal that will give you even more bang for your buck – it’s just £17.50 for two courses.
Served Monday to Friday, 12pm to 4pm, the menu begins with a choice of fish cutlet, served with curry mayo or banana blossom pattie served with spicy sriracha [a type of hot sauce].
For mains, it’s a rice and curry bowl, plus a choice of chicken, beef, mutton, pumpkin or beetroot.
MAURO COLAGRECO AT RAFFLES LONDON AT THE OWO – £60
Three-Michelin-star chef Mauro Colagreco has a restaurant in 5-star hotel Raffles London at The OWO, in Whitehall. The luxury eatery serves a three-course lunch menu for £60 per person, from Thursday to Saturday. Pictured right – the Cornish turbot and smoked sauce
Mauro Colagreco is the chef behind three-Michelin-starred restaurant Mirazur, in France.
But there’s no need to secure a bank loan to experience his culinary skills.
The Argentine cook is now offering guests an excellent-value meal at his London eatery, situated in five-star hotel Raffles London at The OWO, in Whitehall.
Available at lunchtime, Thursday to Saturday, for £60 per person, the three-course menu offers a curated overview of Mauro’s signature dishes, exploring more than 70 fruits and vegetables native to the British isles.
Guests begin with an amuse-bouche, before a selection of dishes including cep [mushroom] with Westcombe cheddar curd, puffed spelt and rocket; and kohlrabi [turnip cabbage] with Cornish turbot and smoked sauce.
Rounding off the meal, desserts – such as ‘citrus’, served in a crispy ravioli shell with black lemon ice cream and yogurt Fontainebleau – are accompanied by complimentary mignardise [bite-sized desserts].
CORNUS – £55
Located in Belgravia, Cornus, pictured, serves a £55, three-course lunch menu from Tuesday to Saturday, cooked up by Executive Chef Gary Foulkes
Cornus, in the heart of Belgravia, has been getting rave reviews on Tripadvisor.
One customer, Mister_Lloyd, was ‘so impressed’ by his first visit, he returned four months later.
‘I can honestly say now I’m so glad we did as we enjoyed an incredible dining experience,’ he added.
Set across the top floor of The Ice Factory in Eccleston Yards, Cornus offers a regularly-changing, three-course set menu from Executive Chef Gary Foulkes, showcasing ‘a bounty of British and European seasonal produce’.
Sample dishes on the £55pp menu include ravioli of pheasant with a game consommé, quince and truffle; followed by mains of roast red mullet, Cornish mussels, chanterelles and seawater potatoes.
Desserts from Head Pastry Chef Kelly Cullen include an ‘indulgent’ vanilla custard tart with blackcurrant and fig leaf or a selection of cheese from Buchanans Cheesemonger in London.
Cornus is open for lunch from 12-3pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
ROKA – £38-48
High-end sushi joint Roka has four branches across London, all of which offer a £38 set menu
High-end sushi restaurant Roka has four branches throughout London – Mayfair, Aldwych, Charlotte Street and Canary Wharf.
And a set menu, designed to be shared by the table, is being served at all of them from 12 to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Costing £38 per person, the ‘classic’ lunch menu begins with starters – including beef, ginger and sesame dumplings and ‘Chef’s 3 piece sashimi selection’ – followed by a ‘signature’ robata [grilled] main, such as salmon fillet teriyaki with sansho salt or baby back pork ribs with sansho [a spice from sansho-tree berries] and cashew nuts.
For an extra £10 per person, diners can enjoy the premium menu, which includes black cod, beef fillet, and yellowfish tuna tartare.
At the two Soho branches, Roka Aldwych and Charlotte Street, these menus can also be ordered from 5pm to 6.45pm and 9.30pm to 10pm, Monday to Friday.
LA TROMPETTE – £39.50
La Trompette, based in Chiswick, serves a three-course lunchtime menu for £39.50
Michelin-star restaurant La Trompette has been serving high-end modern French food in Chiswick since 2001, and diners love it.
On Tripadvisor, a user called Fabienne wrote: ‘Fantastic staff, Monika is delightful. The cheeses are always to die for, the meat, the fish, everything they do here is incredible. Fine dining, not extortionate.
‘Service is excellent, cocktails are delish. We come as often as possible and we love it. Desserts, starters – all mouth-watering. The area is nice too.’
And you can munch down three courses for just £39.50 there, lunchtime Monday to Friday.
A sample menu includes a choice of hass avocado, enoki mushrooms, yuzu, chilli, ginger, sesame and coriander; or hand-rolled pappardelle with slow-cooked lamb, shallots, garlic, anchovy and pecorino to start.
This is followed by sea bass, Dorset cockles, baby lou potatoes, beurre blanc and chives; or roasted chicken ballotine, fondant potato, sprouting broccoli, girolles and tarragon.
For dessert, you can expect dishes like warm walnut brownie, vanilla ice cream and salted caramel or mango and coconut yoghurt sorbet.
CHISHURU – FROM £45
Michelin-star restaurant Chishuru, based in Fitzrovia, offers a set lunch menu starting at £45 per person, which may include some of the dishes seen on the right
Adejoké ‘Joké’ Bakare became the first black, female Michelin-star chef in February 2024, when her restaurant Chishuru was awarded the coveted – just five months after officially opening in Fitzrovia.
Serving modern, west-African cuisine, Chishuru charges just £45 for its set menu at lunch, available daily.
Your starter might be a fermented rice cake with heirloom cherry tomatoes, clementine and chilli dressing.
For a main course, you might find yourself enjoying char-grilled guineafowl breast with bitter leaf sauce – and your dessert option? Perhaps a caramelised filo pastry with soursop cream.
KANISHKA BY ATUL KOCHHAR – £40
Double-Michelin-star chef Atul Kochhar’s Indian restaurant Kanishka (above), in Mayfair, offers a three-course brunch for £40, Friday to Saturday
Double-Michelin-star chef Atul Kochhar opened Kanishka in Mayfair in 2019, serving modern interpretations of dishes from Northeastern India.
And the brunch menu is extremely good value, costing £40 per person for three courses – plus £10 extra for two hours of bottomless alcohol – if you book through Time Out Offers.
To start, the table can enjoy eight sharing dishes, including khari paneer tikka, and chole samosas, followed by a choice of five main curry dishes, all served with daal, rice and naan.
For dessert, it’s an Indian-fusion sharing trio of desserts: chocolate hazelnut choux, bhapa doi [steamed yogurt] and carrot halwa.
The set menu at Kanishka is available 11.30am to 2pm on Fridays and Saturdays, or 12pm to 2.15pm on Sundays.
VEERASWAMY – £34-41
London’s oldest-surviving Indian restaurant, Veeraswamy (left), on Regent Street, offers a pre-theatre dinner menu, charging £34 for two courses, or £41 for three. Above right is the grilled fish dish, which can be chosen as a main from this menu
Having opened on Regent Street in 1926, Veeraswamy is London’s oldest-surviving Indian restaurant – and it was finally awarded a coveted Michelin star 90 years later.
One Tripadvisor review reads: ‘It was the best restaurant meal I have ever tasted.
‘After much deliberation over the sumptuous choice of delights on offer, we opted for the tasting menu and every morsel was a sight to behold and a taste sensation.
‘The service from start to finish was impeccable and I can’t wait until we come again.’
While the tasting menu will set you back £90-a-head, Veeraswamy has a cheaper pre-theatre dinner menu served 5.30-6.15pm, Monday to Saturday.
It costs just £34 for two courses or £41 for three, and has a choice of Anglo-Indian mulligatawny soup or bori soya mince samosa to start.
For mains, you can choose from grilled fish, chicken dilkush and a vegetarian grill platter, which are all served with naan.
The traditional sweet dish kaala jaam is served for dessert, or you can opt for two scoops of ice cream.
KITCHEN W8 – £49.50
Kitchen W8, seen above, offers a set menu costing £49.50 for three courses, available daily
Kitchen W8 has been cooking up modern European cuisine since it opened in Kensington in 2009.
Chef Mark Kempson and his team won the restaurant’s first Michelin star two years later, and it has held onto it since.
While you can order food a la carte, the set menu is much better value, at £49.50 for three courses.
For starters, take your pick from stracciatella or chestnut and pear soup, followed by fillet of chalkstream trout or glazed slow-cooked pork cheeks.
Then it’s a rhubarb and blood orange fool or cheese for dessert.
The set menu at Kitchen W8 is available 12.15-1.45pm, Monday to Saturday, 6-6.45pm, Monday to Friday and 6-6.30pm on Saturdays.
