London is an expensive city. Increasingly so. Those with ambitions to dine out, and dine well, might fall foul of purse-walloping situations. But this need not be the case, even when stepping into the Michelin-starred arena.
There are plenty of lauded restaurants in town that offer affordable options, mostly at lunch but occasionally for dinner, where menus land at £60 or less but satisfy much the same as any drawn-out 10 courses.
A handful of newly anointed restaurants in the 2025 Michelin Guide have followed others in dealing in budget-friendly deals. Granted, a bottle or more of wine and service might turn the screw — as any business would hope — but for sub-£60 options (at the very least, a plate of food and a glass of something) here’s where to look.
Chishuru
There was a time when dishes such as sinasir and akara were largely unknown to a great number of people in London. Today they are being introduced to more diners every day. A keener sense of West African food here is down to restaurants like Chishuru, which started life in Brixton in 2021 and is now found in the West End. At last years Michelin announcement, chef-founder Adejoké Bakare became the first black woman in the UK to win a Michelin star, and anyone with an interest in food should make use of the lunch menu: three courses for just £45.
3 Great Titchfield St., London W1W 8AX chishuru.com
Trishna
Gymkhana is the jewel in the JKS crown thanks to its two Michelin stars. Good luck dining there for £60. At Trishna, still plump with one star, it is entirely possible: a three-course set menu of modern, coastal Indian cooking comes in at half a ton (and four courses are just £55, by the way) and brings a wealth of dishes that change with the season. The likes of squid and shrimp with curry leaves, raw mango and coconut chutney, and chicken with pepper and cashews are exceptionally done.
15-17 Blandford St, London W1U 3DG https://www.trishnalondon.com/
AngloThai
The AngloThai story is the stuff of lore. Chef John Chantarasak has spent more than six years finessing and fine-tuning his British-and-Thai-inflected food, hence the name, which in 2025 earned him a coveted Michelin star. The lunch time menu is concise at five courses and flows from red curry tempura and Carlingford oysters to pork chops with smoked chilli relish. Good value too, at £55.
22-24 Seymour Place, W1H 7NL, anglothai.co.uk
Luca
The cooking at Luca, one of a number of distinctly modern Italian restaurants in London today, is excellent. And that is why the express lunch menu is such good value. Two courses for £32, or three for £38 are to be enjoyed in the bar rather than the dining room. Dishes shimmy courteously from fried artichokes with hen of the woods to Cornish haddock with crushed peas, Jersey Royals and salsa verde. These are doubtless put on to satisfy, but also to lure diners to return and to explore the full menu more formally. Either way, a joy.
88 St John Street, Clerkenwell, EC1M 4EH luca.restaurant
Cornus
Cornus feels particularly plush Michelin fodder: the sort of thing built for a star. And so it was to be, receiving one in 2025 just six months or so after opening. The tasting menu and a la carte are spendy things, but look out for the more approachable £55 set lunch. Three course at this level and at this price point is a rarity and dishes of Guinea fowl farci with chanterelles and boudin noir followed by a strawberry and Yorkshire rhubarb fool feel plenty generous.
27c Eccleston Place, SW1W 9NF, cornusrestaurant.co.uk
The Ninth
Just two years ago, Fitzrovia restaurant The Ninth was stricken by fire, soon forced to close temporarily. Thankfully, chef Jun Tanaka and team returned in early 2023, bringing their own brand of relaxed and casual Michelin-starred hospitality. The Ninth is as pleasing as ever, serving simple — to a point — French and Mediterranean cooking. And it is affordable: a set lunch menu is just £30 for two courses, £35 for three. On offer, the likes of risotto al salto and red mullet tempura with courgettes and plucky aioli.
22 Charlotte St, W1T 2NB theninthlondon.com
La Trompette
Chiswick is a postcode that can support a Michelin-starred, neighbourhood spot with fervour. La Trompette serves W4 splendidly. Here, a French restaurant buoyant with joie de vivre, and a set lunch menu for £39.50, even with house-made sourdough bread preceding and petit fours thereafter. On the menu, the likes of pappardelle of slow cooked lamb, sea bass with cockles and beurre blanc, and a warm chocolate brownie. Such accessibility is rare in London today.
La Trompette, 3-7 Devonshire Road, W4 2EU latrompette.co.uk/
OMA
As it stands, this could be London’s most casual Michelin-starred restaurant. It doesn’t have a tasting menu, it’s an open kitchen, there are no tablecloths and people seem to enjoy the Greek-inspired dishes as a vehicle for a raucous night out (as opposed to a solemn contemplation of Mediterranean cuisine). Based on two people having dinner, the a la carte doesn’t need too much cajoling to come in under budget: start with laffa and hot potato crisps before labneh and tarama dips, then the seabass crudo and trout sashimi, followed by mussels saganaki or an oxtail giouvetsi or the whole john dory and £60 a head will be more than enough. You just have to be a bit savvy.
3 Bedale Street, SE1 9AL, oma.london
64 Goodge Street
Sneaking in at £1 under our budget is the set lunch at 64 Goodge Street, one of the new 2025 crop of Michelin intake. The three courses are generous and bold; starters feature quail forestière with sauce albufera and smoked eel vol-au-vent with Lyonnaise onions while mains of rabbit with sauce moutarde à l'ancienne entice. Optional snacks at the start should be taken too, if the budget can accommodate, if not, luxuriate in this calm Fitzrovia space.
64 Goodge Street, W1T 4NF, 64goodgestreet.co.uk
Veeraswamy
London’s oldest Indian restaurant shouldn’t need any introduction. Founded in 1926 by Edward Palmer, an Anglo-Indian, Veeraswamy was awarded a Michelin star 90 years later, in 2016. The first menu, overseen by Palmer, was partly inspired by his great-grandmother, an Indian princess; today it blends the old and new, Indian and Anglo-Indian, and stands as an important part of London history. Much might be spent at Veeraswamy, but the set weekend lunch menu — two courses for £42, three for £48 — would be an affordable way to dine. On offer, paneer tikka, seekh kebabs, and gloriously fragrant curries of fish, chicken, lamb.
Victory House, 99 Regent Street W1B 4RS veeraswamy.com
Elystan Street
In Chelsea, the chef Phil Howard has built a modern European restaurant showing signs of becoming an institution in Elystan Street. It has held a Michelin star since 2017 and is beloved of locals as well as those from faraway. The set lunch and early evening menu brings three courses for £45. Cured trout with apple, kohlrabi and horseradish might precede a tarte fine of courgettes, else a sweet pea velouté may punctuate a fabulous duck confit.
43 Elystan St, London SW3 3NT elystanstreet.com
Lita
Luke Ahearne’s Lita opened to much acclaim last year. Early on it was clear the restaurant would do well. There’s no set lunch or tasting menu here and the fire-inflected a la carte is hugely expensive, but it can be explored, very moderately, for £60 a head. If alone, have a main of monkfish with fennel, heirloom tomatoes and bouillabaisse and add a glass of wine and you won’t need a mortgage; if sharing, then plates like Dorset surf clams with artichokes alla Romana, Hereford beef with Amalfi lemon and shoestring fries and the larger Cornish lamb with smoked aubergine, Italian courgettes and confit tomatoes could work out comfortably.
7-9 Paddington Street, W1U 5QH, litamarylebone.com
Labombe at Trivet
Not one, but two Michelin stars here. So be warned: you will get nowhere near the restaurant proper with only £60 to spare. But on Monday nights, the dining room moves aside to make way for a wine bar, bistro concept called Labombe. Here there are dishes to be had, a combination of which will lead to a meal of affordable and brilliant design. For example, a lobster roll at £17, a hot tongue bun — one of the finest sandwiches in London — for £15. Either with a plate of £8.50 French fries would be a marvellous way to start the week. Cooking is by Jonny Lake, once of The Fat Duck; wines by master sommelier Isa Bal.
36 Snowsfields, Bermondsey SE1 3SU trivetrestaurant.co.uk
