26 Outstanding Prix Fixe Menus in London

As bistros go, Bethnal Green institution Bistrotheque with its outré entertainment and camp cocktails is not exactly typique. However, its unwavering commitment to an affordable prix fixe, is a gesture that’s traditional through and through. Available for 6pm and 6.15pm reservations only, it’s well worth organising your social life around. It’s £30 per person for two courses or two of you can split five courses for £66. Feast on porchetta with ‘nduja and salsa roja, braised leek fondue pie or orange and salted caramel pannacotta.

Take a ‘Mozza Moment’ if you’re at Oxford Circus and hankering for a slice and a scoop. At Pizzeria Mozza, L.A. chef Nancy Silverton’s new place at Treehouse London, £15 will buy you a pizza margherita, half a lager, and a scoop of gelato. Not too shabby for Zone 1. Available daily from noon to 5.30pm.

There are wines in the walk-in cellar at Tom Sellers’ Parisian-style wine bar worth more than most of us earn in a month. But you don’t have to be a Rockefeller to dine here. There are several points of entry for the impecunious: stick to the signature rotisserie chicken with green salad and fries at £32, or book yourself in for the 5.30pm or 6pm slot and order the pre-theatre menu at £40 for two courses, £45 for three. Sample dishes include Chalk Stream trout, turnip and potato cream; pappardelle with girolles and burnt lemon; and almond and dill soft serve.

Husband-and-wife team Alex Reynolds and Maria Viviani have remodelled the classic French bistro du coin for a new generation. Their little Eline is clean-lined and contemporary, and cosy and convivial too. The menu follows a prix fixe format, at £42 for two courses, £50 for three, for your choice of dishes such as Anjou pigeon with beetroot and blackberries and red mullet with salsify and walnut bagna cauda. Matching wines, £30.

Tendril is what came about when ambitious chef and one-time carnivore – Rishim Sachdeva, ex-The Fat Duck and Chiltern Firehouse – tried out Veganuary one year. Sachdeva’s ‘(mostly) vegan kitchen’, now happily ensconced in permanent digs on Princes Street in Mayfair, shows that plant-forward is the way forward. Alongside the carte are three set menus; lunch and an early-bird dinner, both £35, and dinner at £45. Culinary influences come from every which where; think beetroot ‘nduja, rice cake and nigella seeds; aubergine ‘sabich’; pak choi with massaman dressing; and burnt Basque cheesecake.

The ‘genre-fluid’ restaurant formerly known as Black Axe Mangal, henceforward FKABAM updates its menu, a £55 set sharing menu, on Instagram regularly. What to expect? Always the unexpected with Lee Tiernan. Recent menus have included Sichuan smoked pulled pork shoulder and flame-grilled pig’s heart; ham hock, octopus, and cucumber salad; and peach and amaretto trifle. Loud music comes with the territory, though it’s a bit more civilised these days than yesteryear. Just a bit, mind.

Now, this looks like a place you could blow your paycheck: NoMad London in Covent Garden, with its soaring glass ceiling, tumbling foliage and plumped velvet cushions for days. But if you can resist the caviar, the oysters, and the upper reaches of the wine list, there are ways to be fiscally responsible here. The weekday set lunch is one, at £37 for two courses, such as house-cured salmon and tempura sea vegetables, and miso-marinated celeriac with truffle and beurre blanc. The pre-theatre menu at £45 is another.

Freddie Sheen and Zak Whittle, two former Galvin La Chapelle chefs, can cook up there with the best of them. At Rogues, their first permanent site on Hackney Road, it’s all about fun-dining, not fine-dining, evidenced by such clever creations as roasted cod cellar with smoked roe sauce and cos lettuce; Duroc pork chop and beer butter sauce; and Victoria plum and white chocolate trifle. All these you’ll find on their £50-£60 set menu, a weekly changing pick from their full menu.

Chef Mark Kempson’s been cooking at Kitchen W8 since it launched in 2009. His refined French-toned cooking earned him a Michelin star two years later. Over a decade on, Kitchen W8 remains the quintessential Kensington restaurant: smart, friendly, approachable. The £44.50 menu showcases some seriously classy cooking, for example glazed partridge boudin, creamed chanterelles and pickled walnut; and Cornish skate wing ‘au poivre’. Available for lunch (Monday to Saturday) and early evening (Monday to Friday).

Lunchtimes at this Michelin-starred Shoreditch gem are a dream. There’s a thoughtful and ever-changing list of wines by the glass; a pristine dining room with vintage furniture and tons of natural light; and a short-but-sweet set lunch prix fixe at £29 for two courses (£32 for three courses) that offers a modern take on classic French bistro fare. For the likes of boudin noir with crab apple; Cornish trout and warm tartare sauce; or burrata with grapes and artichoke, it’s extraordinarily good value.

Pressed for time? Strapped for cash? Both? Then whizz up to Seabird atop the Hoxton Southwark where a ‘Speedy Lunch’ at £32 for three courses awaits. Seafood’s the thing at this spectacular rooftop spot, so make it the coal-roasted market fish with mojo verde or a bavette steak and fries which, in the exuberant Hoxton house style, comes with caviar. Fancy!

Peckham Cellars, the excellent south London wine bar and bistro, has launched a new Saturday Set Sharer, for £22 a head. What that gets you, between noon and 3pm on a Saturday, is a generous spread of sharing dishes taken from the month’s menu. This month’s has cauliflower cheese croquetas and aioli, lamb neck and salsa verde, Delica pumpkin with goats’ curd, pumpkin seeds and sage, and a whole lot more. You choose your wine, from regions lauded or lesser known. Vegetarian options available.

San Chiu Dim on Lisle Street follows the Chinatown tradition of running affordable set menus alongside a full array of dim sum and Cantonese classics. The three set menus at £25, £30, £35, should cover your cravings, whether for crispy duck, spareribs, and crispy chilli beef, or scallops in X.O. sauce.

Excellent sushi doesn’t have to break the bank. At Temaki in Brixton, London’s first dedicated handroll bar, Tokyo-trained chef Shaulan Steenson crafts perfectly formed temaki rolls from £5 a pop. He also offers them in flights, at £24, £32, and £39 for four, five and six rolls respectively. An extra £4 gets you mochi for afters.

How considerate of Fallow’s Jack Croft and Will Murray to add so very many of their must-try dishes to the £40 weekday lunch menu. There we find the signature mushroom parfait, made of mushrooms grown in on-site; also, dairy cow two ways, steak or towering burger; and not forgetting the wobbly Chelsea tart, a Boomerang clip encased in golden shortcrust. New to the menu are flamed mussels, curry sauce and coriander, and lemon sherbet ice cream.

Some days are for the leisurely enjoyment of lobster noodles and top-ups of Baijiu at Tao Tao Ju; other days are for quick decisions, within budget. It’s on such days that this decade-old Chinatown restaurant’s set menus, from £25.50, come into their own. There’s one of dim sum, two of Cantonese classics, and a fully vegan menu at £28.50 which non-vegan diners might well want in on.

Tasting menu taste on a set menu salary? Look no further than Silo, Douglas McMaster’s zero waste restaurant in Hackney Wick. The ‘Silo’ menu at £65 is a deal in its own right but even better is the ‘Shortlist’ menu at just £45, available from 6pm to 7pm and for lunch on Saturday. It’s a little taster of McMaster’s style including the famous quaver with vegetable treacle and goats’ cheese and the Siloaf ice cream sandwich.

The Holland may be located in one of London’s ritziest neighbourhoods but that doesn’t mean its regulars don’t like a bargain. The set lunch, served weekdays from noon to 5pm, might include courgette and squash soup with roasted pumpkin seeds, then gnocchi with wild mushrooms and tarragon cream at just £15 for two courses, £30 for three. If you want to delve into the full menu, come between 5pm and 7pm and get an aperitif and the starter, main and dessert of your choosing for £45.

This hidden gem within the Whitechapel Gallery offers some of the best value and creative modern British menus around. In the evening, it’s £34 for four courses such as the trademark Red Leicester croquette with pickled mushroom croquette; followed by Cornish beetroots, almond cream and sorrel; squid ink dumplings with Portland crab, garlic and chilli; and thyme poached pear, sponge, and vanilla custards. If you can up your budget a tad, treat yourself to a rock oyster or two to start.

No Londoner, no matter how jaded, could fail to marvel at the view of Tower Bridge from the terrace at Gunpowder’s SE1 branch. They’ll be just as impressed by the Express Menu, £22 for two courses, £25 for three, that’s served pre-theatre (the Bridge Theatre is next door). These are some Gunpowder bangers: Kerala beef pepper fry, tandoor saag paneer, Bengali beetroot croquettes, and, oh yes, the famous Old Monk rum and bread and butter pudding.

£42 may not go far at Bulgari on Bond Street but at the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge, home to New York import Sette, it gets you a lovely three-course lunch. Here’s a chance to try the signature ‘Scarpetta’ spaghetti with silky tomato sauce, borrowed from Manhattan sister restaurant Scarpetta, as well as elegant vitello tonnato, and espresso budino to finish. It’s a stylish scene, so look sharp.

At Franklins in Dulwich, they pull the dishes for their set menu directly from the à la carte. Choose between something like ox tongue, swede mash and black pudding, and cod with lentils, beetroot, and tarragon yoghurt; between plum fool and a salted caramel chocolate pot, for the princely sum of £16.95 for two courses, £19.95 for three. Weekdays from noon to 5pm.

To give you some idea, here’s what was on the £29 set menu at Wander in Stoke Newington recently: mac and cheese croquettes with mortadella; pho broth, sourdough and Vegemite butter; short rib ragù gnocchi and cime de rapa pesto; and a strawberry and Sichuan pepper frozen pav. Aussie chef Alexis Noble’s cooking is a joy.

Anthony Demetre may have a Michelin star but he’s not too grand to lay on a prix fixe, neither at Wild Honey in St James’s, nor here at The Crossing, the smart new dining pub in Barnes where he consults. The Crossing’s set lunch, served Monday to Friday at £19 for two courses, £23 for three, includes such good things as confit duck leg with braised lentils and buttered cabbage and fresh pappardelle with pork and veal ragù.

Established in 1991, Simon and Jolanta Bradley’s cheering modern European bistro is by now a Swiss Cottage institution. Regulars keep coming for the keenly priced prix fixe: £39 for the joy of schnitzel Holstein, twice baked leek and Cheddar soufflé, and blackberry and apple crumble. There’s also a lunch and early supper menu (£26 for two courses, £30 for three) that you’d be hard pressed to beat.

Gunpowder’s central London branch pairs Soho glamour and a sparkling cocktail menu with superb modern Indian cooking that’s among the finest in London. Those who don’t know where to start with the kitchen’s plentiful small plates should plump for the Express Menu; £22 for two courses, £25 for three, served both pre-theatre and at lunch. These are some Gunpowder classics: Kerala beef pepper fry, Bengali beetroot croquettes, and, oh yes, Old Monk bread and butter pudding.