In this guide
The same kitchen, the same chefs, the same dining room — for less than half the money. Fixed-price menus are the biggest structural discount in London restaurants, and it exists for an unglamorous reason: a half-empty room at midday costs the same to staff as a full one, so restaurants would rather fill it cheaply than leave it empty. The same logic applies to the early-evening tables a theatre crowd will vacate by 7pm, which is why pre-theatre menus exist and why they are priced the same way.
Everything below was read off each restaurant’s own website or menu PDF and checked on 31 August 2026. Where a price is a genuine saving against dinner, we say what dinner costs instead.
💡 The Short Version: Chez Bruce is the biggest saving in London — £40.50 against £98.50 at dinner. Brasserie Zédel at £16.95 and Franco Manca at £12.50 are the cheapest worth eating. Hawksmoor does £20 for a course of proper steak. Bocca di Lupo at £18 works for lunch and pre-theatre alike. And most of these run Monday to Friday only.
⚠️ Prices change and menus rotate. These were correct on 31 August 2026. Confirm on the restaurant’s own site before you travel — and never book a set menu from a third-party listing without checking it still exists.
🧭 This is one of a few ways to pay less to eat out in London, and it is the one with no catch — no membership, no app, no code. If it does not fit, the others might: discount cards if you eat out monthly, off-peak apps if you will eat at five, bottomless brunch if the drinks are the point, kids eat free if you are feeding children, or cheap eats if you would rather just spend less.
How these menus work
Weekdays, and often not Friday. The great majority run Monday to Friday. Several stop at Thursday, and Chez Bruce runs Tuesday to Friday only.
A limited choice. Typically two or three options per course. That is the trade — you are eating what the kitchen wants to cook that week, not off the full carte.
Time windows are tight. Most run from midday to somewhere between 2.15pm and 6pm. Some, like Restaurant Gordon Ramsay’s 12:00–13:30, are very narrow indeed.
Sometimes the whole table has to take it. Hoppers and Som Saa both require it, and several cap the table size — Quo Vadis at four, Hawksmoor at seven.
The biggest savings: fine dining at lunch
This is where set lunch stops being a discount and becomes a different proposition entirely — Michelin-starred cooking at a price you would pay for a mid-range dinner.
| Restaurant | Set lunch | Dinner instead | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chez Bruce, Wandsworth | £40.50 / 2 courses, £48.50 / 3 | £98.50 for three | Tue–Fri lunch |
| Galvin La Chapelle, Spitalfields ★ | £49 / 2, £55 / 3 | £34–£50 per main à la carte | Lunch, not Sunday |
| Kitchen W8, Kensington ★ | £49.50 / 3 courses | — | Lunch Mon–Sat, and 6–6.15pm sitting |
| Trinity, Clapham ★ | £105 / 4 courses | £155 for the same four courses | Daily 12.15–2pm |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea ★★★ | £125 / 3 courses | £210 Menu Prestige | Tue–Sat 12–1.30pm |
Chez Bruce is the standout. The “Brucie Bonus” is £40.50 for two courses when the same kitchen charges £98.50 for three in the evening — under half price, at a restaurant that has held a Michelin star for over twenty years.
Trinity and Gordon Ramsay are not cheap in absolute terms, but both are roughly a third off the same format at dinner. Whether that reads as a bargain depends entirely on your baseline.
Reliable mid-range set lunches
| Restaurant | Deal | When |
|---|---|---|
| Brasserie Zédel, Piccadilly | £16.95 / 2, £19.95 / 3 | Lunch and dinner |
| Bocca di Lupo, Soho | £18 starter + main, £26 with dessert | Mon–Fri until 6.30pm |
| Boulevard Brasserie, Covent Garden | £21.95 starter + main, £26.90 with dessert | Daily 12–6.30pm |
| The Delaunay, Aldwych | £23.50 / 2, £27.50 / 3 | Daily from 11.30am |
| Balthazar, Covent Garden | £25.50 set menu | Mon–Fri all day |
| Sarastro, Covent Garden | £27.50 / 2, £6 for dessert | Daily until 6pm |
| The Palomar, Soho | £28 / 3 courses | Lunch 12–2.30pm, pre-theatre 5–6pm |
| The Ivy West Street, Covent Garden | £28.95 / 2, £34.95 / 3 | Mon–Fri 11.30am–6pm |
| Boisdale, Belgravia | £29.50 / 2, £34.50 / 3 | Lunch — confirm hours when booking |
| Mucci’s, Chelsea | £10 every starter, £20 every main | All day, every day |
| Colbert, Sloane Square | £30 / 2, £35.75 / 3 | Daily from noon |
| Quo Vadis, Soho | £30 / 2, £35 / 3 | Mon–Sat, lunch and dinner. Max four |
| Som Saa, Spitalfields | £35pp, £30 vegan — whole table | Mon–Sat 12–2.30pm |
| Chutney Mary, St James’s | £39 / 2, £45 / 3 | Mon–Fri 12–2.15pm |
| NOPI, Soho | £45pp / 3 courses | Mon–Fri |
Brasserie Zédel is the value outlier — £16.95 for two courses in a grand Art Deco basement off Piccadilly Circus. One honest caveat: it runs at dinner too, so it is a fixed-price menu rather than a lunchtime saving.
Mucci’s on the King’s Road works differently from everything else here. It is not a time-limited offer at all: every starter is £10 and every main £20, all day, every day. One of the first London restaurants to price the whole menu by course rather than run a lunch window — so there is no clock to beat, and no weekday restriction.
Bocca di Lupo on Archer Street is the pick of these — £18 for a starter and a main from the same regional Italian menu the restaurant is known for, running until 6.30pm so it works as lunch or pre-theatre, two minutes from Piccadilly Circus. The dishes change monthly.
Trishna in Marylebone deserves its own line, because the pricing is tiered: one course £25 and two £35 at weekday lunches only, while three at £45 and four at £50 are also available in the early evening, 5–6.15pm.
Chains and mini-chains that do it properly
Chain set menus are the most reliable of the lot, because the offer is set nationally and does not quietly vanish.
| Chain | Deal | When |
|---|---|---|
| Franco Manca | £12.50 one course — pizza plus a soft drink. £15 two courses | Mon–Fri 12–4pm |
| Dishoom | £16pp “Swift Vitality”, £20pp “Prompt Replenishment”, to share between two | Mon–Fri 12–5pm |
| Hawksmoor | £20 / 1, £25 / 2, £30 / 3 courses. Max seven | Mon–Thu 12–5.45pm, Fri–Sat 12–5pm |
| Côte Brasserie | £22.50–£23.50 / 2, £26.50–£27.50 / 3 — varies by branch | Mon–Fri from 11.30am |
| Hoppers | £22pp “Lunch Plate”, whole table | Mon–Fri 12–3pm |
Hawksmoor is the one to know. £20 buys a course at a steakhouse where dinner runs to three figures, and it runs on Saturdays as well — rare for a set lunch.
Franco Manca at £12.50 including a drink is the cheapest thing on this page that anyone would recommend on its own merits.
Two caveats on the chains. Côte’s price varies by branch, so check the specific one. And Dishoom does not say which branches carry Swift Lunches — confirm with your local one rather than assuming.
Pre-theatre and early evening
Same mechanism, later in the day. A restaurant near a theatre needs its 5.30pm table back by 7.15pm, so it prices that sitting to fill it — and you get the identical kitchen at the identical discount, having had a proper day.
| Restaurant | Deal | When |
|---|---|---|
| Bocca di Lupo, Soho | £18 starter + main, £26 with dessert | Mon–Fri until 6.30pm |
| The Palomar, Soho | £28 / 3 courses | 5–6pm |
| The Delaunay, Aldwych | “Full Haus” — 3 courses and a drink, £29.50 | Mon–Fri 4.30–6.30pm, and from 9pm |
| Sarastro, Covent Garden | £27.50 / 2, £6 for dessert | Daily until 6pm |
| Boulevard Brasserie, Covent Garden | £21.95 starter + main | Daily until 6.30pm |
| Trishna, Marylebone | £45 / 3, £50 / 4 | 5–6.15pm |
| Kitchen W8, Kensington ★ | £49.50 / 3 courses | 6–6.15pm sitting |
Bocca di Lupo is the best-placed of these — two minutes from Shaftesbury Avenue, and its window runs to 6.30pm, which is late enough for a 7.30pm curtain without rushing.
The Delaunay’s Full Haus runs again from 9pm, which is the one on this page worth knowing for after a show rather than before it.
Watch the clock, not just the price. A 6.30pm cut-off means ordering by 6.30pm, not arriving. For a 7.30pm curtain, book at 5.30pm — see our London theatre guide for how curtain times and running times actually work.
What is not actually a deal
Worth knowing, because these come up on every other list:
- J Sheekey has a £34 set menu, but it runs all day every day — a fixed price, not a lunch discount
- The Wolseley serves lunch 11.30am–3pm but has no set-price lunch menu at all
- Barrafina does not run one; the tapas are à la carte only
- Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester charges the same at lunch as at dinner
- Quo Vadis and Brasserie Zédel are the same price in the evening — genuinely good value, just not a lunchtime saving
Also gone: Le Gavroche closed in January 2024, Marcus Wareing in December 2023. Any list still recommending their set lunches has not been checked in two years.
Continue planning your London trip
Paying less to eat out in London. A few different strategies, and they rarely combine — pick the one that fits how you eat:
- 💳 Restaurant Discount Cards — Tastecard and the rest, and why one costs £29.99 and its twin £79.99
- 📱 Off-Peak Restaurant Apps — First Table and EatClub — cheaper if you will eat early or walk in
- 🥂 Bottomless Brunch — 38 packages compared on price per minute, and what “bottomless” covers
- 👨👩👧 Kids Eat Free — every free and £1 children’s offer with a London branch
- 💷 Cheap Eats in London — good food under £15 with no offer, code or membership at all
- 🍽️ Where to Eat in London
- 🍝 The Best Italian Restaurants in London
- 🥩 The Best Steak Restaurants in London
- 🎭 London Theatre: Choosing a Show and Paying Less
All prices and times read off the restaurants’ own sites and menu PDFs on 31 August 2026.
Common questions
What is a set lunch menu?
A fixed-price menu with a limited choice of dishes, served at lunchtime and usually on weekdays only. Restaurants run them because a half-empty dining room costs the same to staff as a full one, so the kitchen is the same and the price is often less than half what the same food costs at dinner.
Which London restaurant has the best-value set lunch?
For the size of the saving, Chez Bruce in Wandsworth — £40.50 for two courses against £98.50 for three at dinner. For an outright cheap lunch, Franco Manca at £12.50 for a pizza and a soft drink, or Brasserie Zédel at £16.95 for two courses.
Do I need to book a set lunch?
Usually yes, and for the fine dining ones well in advance. Set menus often carry table-size limits — Quo Vadis caps at four, Hawksmoor at seven — and some, like Hoppers and Som Saa, require the whole table to take the set menu.
Are set lunch menus available at weekends?
Mostly not. The great majority run Monday to Friday, and several stop at Thursday. A few run daily, including Trinity in Clapham and the prix-fixe at The Delaunay, and Hawksmoor runs its set lunch on Saturdays as well.
Is a pre-theatre menu the same thing?
Almost. It is the same fixed-price idea moved to early evening, usually finishing before 7pm so the restaurant can turn the table for the post-show crowd. Several restaurants run both, at the same price.
