There appear to be more January deals than ever in London. It’s probably something to do with far fewer people having any money and pubs and restaurants facing a notably challenging post-Christmas lull.
Here we’ve rounded up 35 deals that particularly appeal, from some of London’s best restaurants to high street chains. There are some restaurants included in this list which we’ve not been to in a long time, so we must say: this isn’t an endorsement or anything of the sort, merely a compilation of some of the cheapest ways to dine out in London this winter. Anyway, £5 pasta, anyone?
J W HOWARD PHOTO
- Two courses for £20, three for £25
One of South London’s foremost gastropubs is running a January lunch time offer available between Tuesday and Friday. The debut set menu featured a purple sprouting broccoli ‘cacio e pepe’ before a beef and pork chilli con carne with beef dripping toast, and treacle tart with clotted cream. It sounds like solid winter fare and the pub is beautifully cosy.
- Two veggie courses for £22
Available until mid-February, Angela Hartnett’s Café Murano is putting on two vegetarian courses for £22, available during the week between 12-3pm. The current menu begins with roasted pumpkin alongside radicchio and toasted seeds, before a wild mushroom lasagne topped with 24-month aged parmesan.
Though not bound by January or winter — and so this menu, together with the next two entries will be featured in my set menu mega list eventually too — Labombe is serving a set lunch that combines a main course and side dish. Big plates to date have included the likes of Tamworth pork neck with braised lentils and green sauce, and grilled poussin with spiced tomatoes and a bitter leaf salad. On the side, Trivet’s (the two Michelin-star sister restaurant) hot tongue bun, or grilled duck hearts with sour cherries.
Patricia Niven
The South African restaurant Kudu in Marylebone, one of London’s hottest openings in recent months, serves an express lunch menu at £32, with two options per course, starter and main. Starters might include cured sea trout with daikon, shisho and tiger’s milk, or burrata with datterini tomatoes and ginger. Later on, South African braai cookery comes into force, with poussin alongside Kashmiri chilli or a Boerewors burger with chipotle.
The plant-based restaurant is doing a lunch time vegan offer during the week priced at £22 for a starter and main course. The menu begins with koji bread and a selection of dips, including white beans with curry leaf oil and tzatziki with cucumber and sweet and sour dill. Main courses might include ezmé with chilli, blueberry, pine nuts and crema; crispy mushrooms with aji buffalo hot sauce; and shakshuka with grilled peppers, smoked tofu and focaccia.
The set lunch is back at Phil Howard’s Elystan Street. It’s an astonishingly good deal, this — three courses of Michelin-starred cooking for £26. The menu will change weekly but at the time of writing includes sourdough bread and butter, a Cornish fishcake with tartare sauce, pickled cucumber and dill, coq au vin and creamed potatoes, and a clementine parfait. Superb.
Cinnamon Club, Westminster
- 2001 pricing, with mains from £5
The Cinnamon Collection
- 50 per cent off food and Champagne for £10-a-glass for mailing list subscribers
This terrific restaurant is offering a dining discount to its newsletter subscribers, so you need to join the list to qualify. Afterwards, diners get 50 per cent off food and champagne for £10 a glass. It’s a stupendous deal, well worth doing. Have the crab on toast.
London’s longest-standing Michelin-starred restaurant is offering what may be its cheapest deal since its earliest days in the 1990s. As it steps into its 35th year, David Moore’s restaurant is offering three courses for £35, available for both lunch and early dinner bookings. The restaurant isn’t skimping on the dishes, either: the menu, at the moment, includes the likes of cod with pumpkin, praline and trompette mushrooms, and guinea fowl with parsnip, coco nibs, walnut and coffee. A vegan menu is also available.
- Bottomless brunch for £49 (down from £70)
The endlessly cool Hackney restaurant is doing a bottomless brunch throughout January. Each weekend between 12-3pm customers can have unlimited prosecco and cocktails for 90 minutes with a menu of fine British cooking. Dishes might include tomato and basil croquettes, tuna tataki, fried sea bream with curry sauce, and slow-cooked beef short rib. The deal is £49 per person in January, down from the usual £70.
Cocotte, multiple London locations
The modern French rotisserie restaurant is putting on a set menu throughout January. The deal is a £20 set menu including a starter, a quarter chicken, a side and a sauce, with dessert available for £4. Available Sunday to Thursday evenings from 5pm throughout January.
- £16 courses for two courses, £20 for three
The Soho seafood restaurant is offering a set menu throughout January. It’s super affordable: £16 for two courses or £20 for three. Starters include celeriac soup and deep-fried whitebait before mains of smoked haddock fishcakes, chicken curry, or pumpkin ravioli.
108 Brasserie, Marylebone
- Two courses for £30, three for £35
The brasserie is offering a seasonal contemporary European set menu throughout January, available for both lunch and dinner. It’s two courses for £30 or three for £35. Available daily throughout January with dishes such as crispy tiger prawns with cocktail sauce and chicken milanese.
- Two courses and wine for £75
Andrew Burton
A charming spot by the Thames in west London, the relaxed but gently refined brasserie Sam’s Riverside is doing a £75 “wine and dine” deal this month, with two courses plus a bottle of house wine during the week, as well as the option of half-price oysters (not available on Fridays).
Banana Tree, multiple locations
- Various “better than half price” dishes
The pan-Asian restaurant group is offering “better than half price” comfort bowls throughout January. So there’s laksa or ramen for £6.95, down from the usual £15, until January 29. Don’t expect fireworks, but the food is reliable.
Mowgli, multiple locations
The restaurant is offering a lighter Indian sharing menu throughout January, with small tiffins at £15 per person. They include two curries, rice, chaat and a soft drink. If you’ve not been to Mowgli, it’s comparable to Dishoom and Kricket, but was founded in Birmingham rather than London. There’s also a £25 deal on throughout the year with a handful of dishes, including a “curry roulette”, where the team picks for the table.
- 50 per cent off for mailing list subscribers
The South London-based Three Cheers Pub Co., which operates the Latchmere in Battersea, the Bedford in Balham and the Tommyfield in Kennington, is doing a big food discount for mailing list subscribers throughout January. Customers can get 50 per cent off food between Monday and Wednesday until January 28. Expect pub classics.
Drake & Morgan, multiple locations
- Steak, lobster and fizz for £25
The restaurant group is offering a steak, lobster and sparkling wine deal throughout January, comprising a butcher’s cut of steak, half-lobster, a side and a drink for £25. “Reef, Beef and Bubbles” will be on until January 26.
Sticks ’n’ Sushi, multiple locations
- Two-course (plus a snack) set menu for £21.50
The accessible sushi group Sticks ‘n’ Sushi is doing a Japanese-inspired set menu for £21.50 this month. It includes edamame, miso soup, and a mushroom curry and is available on weekdays. Adding a plate or two of sushi wouldn’t break the bank, either.
Riviera London, St James’s
- One course for £19, two for £34, three for £41
The restaurant is serving a Côte d’Azur-inspired set lunch menu throughout January, focusing on Mediterranean dishes. Diners can get one course for £19, two for £34, or three for £41 daily between 12 and 5pm. The menu includes truffle and goat’s cheese fried courgette flowers, grilled chicken and sea bass with olive oil and lemon.
Pizza Express, multiple locations
- Buy one pizza, get another for £1
PizzaExpres
The country’s most famous pizza chain is running a £1 promotion to kick-off the year. The deal? Buy one main and get another for a quid. You have to be signed up to the Pizza Express club to qualify, but that’s relatively straightforward. Until January 29.
Tattu London, Tottenham Court Road
The food at Tattu is better than might be expected, given it’s a sizable group with sites across the country (and one in Dubai). The glam, luxury modern pan-Asian restaurant is putting on a winter sale until February 8, with 30 per cent off its entire à la carte menu. Expect dishes such as tempura prawns, mushroom dumplings, blackened miso cod and wagyu beef.
- Three course set menu for £26
The bougie Japanese-inspired restaurant Roka is putting on a three-course set menu for £26 until the end of February. Starters include miso soup or crispy prawns and there’s a choice between miso cod or chicken with garlic and soy for the main course.
- Three courses for £29.95
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Credit James Ram
Rick Stein’s west London outpost is serving a seafood-focused set menu until the end of the month. The deal is three courses for £29.95 and though dishes will change, they may include the likes of mackerel pate, crab on toast, tagliatelle of red mullet or seafood curry.
Mildred’s, across London
- 30 per cent off, when signed up to the newsletter
One of London’s oldest plant-based restaurants, Mildred’s, is offering a dining discount for newsletter subscribers throughout January. Diners can get 30 per cent off food when signed up to the newsletter and the offer is available throughout the month. Lots of spiced cauliflower, beans and hummus, veg curries and loaded fries, here.
Breezy Chelsea restaurant Ollie’s is running a budget-friendly gyoza happy hour every day this month. Diners can get £1 gyozas, steamed or fried and veg or chicken, with a minimum order of five. They’re available daily between 3-6pm. Cheap anywhere, but especially in Chelsea.
Normally fairly expensive for an everyday pub — a “meat board” comprising a slider, fried chicken, chorizo croquettes, padron peppers and fries will usually set you back £35 — but over January you can get mains for a tenner or three small plates for £20. Salt and pepper squid, halloumi fries, steak and chips and sausage and mash, that sort of thing.
- Two courses for £19, three for £23
Press Handout
Numerous pubs in the Young’s group, including the Windmill in Clapham and the Bunch of Grapes in London Bridge, are doing two courses for £19 or three for £23. The menu is the same across the board. Think pub classics, fairly modern and serviceable. The offer is on until February 27.
The Ivy Collection has relaunched its two-course, £19.17 menu over January and February. Starters range from French onion soup to duck liver parfait, while main courses include a pan-fried sea bream with fennel and the restaurant’s famous shepherd’s pie. Not on at the original Ivy in Covent Garden, but at all the others.
- Weekday set lunch for £25
Kapara was the first opening from ex-Ottolenghi chef Eran Tibi, who serves plates of Tel Aviv-inspired cooking. With low lights and low-key club beats pumping through the night, it’s the sort of place for a lively date. The restaurant is offering a Mediterranean-inspired lunch set menu on weekdays, comprising two courses and a side for £25. It’s on during the week, 11am until 5pm. The menu features the likes of sea bass ceviche, beetroot carpaccio, beef fillet skewers and aubergine roulade.
Remember Bill’s? The high street chain is doing two-for-one burgers until February 6. Monday to Friday only. Bill’s might not be spectacular, but it is reliably solid with the classics.
- Fish n’ chips for £13.50, plus two-for-one gin cocktails
National treasure: the city is full of top chippies
Thomas Alexander
A lot of people have been bemoaning the price of fish and chips in recent years. Fish prices have soared, in fairness, so too oil for frying. The Mayfair Chippy is turning the clocks back and doing a full meal for £13.50, plus two-for-one gin cocktails. The offers are available between Wednesday and Sunday until January 28.
Harrild & Sons, Farringdon
- Three small plates for £20
The bar is offering a small-plates sharing deal throughout January, or three for £20. Choices include chicken wings with spicy soy ketchup, salt and pepper squid, and a mini shepherd’s pie with HP sauce. There’s also a regular “10 for 10” deal, or 10 larger plates at a tenner each. Bring the lads.
Bloomsbury Street Kitchen, Bloomsbury
The restaurant is offering a Mediterranean-Japanese fusion dining discount throughout January. Available Tuesday to Friday, you can get 20 per cent off the à la carte menu, which is eclectic. There are tacos, pastas and grilled fish and meat alongside sashimi, risotto, and burrata with tomatoes, strawberries and balsamic glaze.
The restaurant chain is doing bowls of pasta for £5 this month. It might be a bit M&S ready-meal, but hard to argue with a fiver isn’t it? Available daily until 29 January.
Côte Brasserie, multiple locations
- Two courses for £15, three for £19
The French brasserie chain is offering a set menu on weekday evenings throughout January. It’s two courses for £15 or three for £19. Dishes include potted crab and steak frites, which makes the offer ludicrously low. Côte still punches above its weight.
