Eating out has become one of those pleasures that feels harder and harder to justify. Restaurant prices keep creeping up, plenty of beloved spots have disappeared altogether and even a fairly casual meal can now end up feeling like a splurge.
But eating out is a joy – I’d argue it’s one of the best ways to spend your hard-earned money. And an especially good way to spend it, in my opinion, is on a multi-course tasting menu that offers something genuinely different from what you could rustle up at home.
So, for occasions that deserve to be marked with an excellent meal, I’ve compiled a list of London-based tasting menus that are not only exceptional, but also on the more affordable end of the spectrum (for a tasting menu, that is), all under £100 per person.
Ranging from £46 right up to £97pp, there’s plenty of variety and, hopefully, something for anyone who likes spending money in great restaurants, but wants to know that where they’re going will feel worth it.
Angelina, Dalston
Something I’ve encountered on a couple of tasting menus is that they often start strong. Snacks, on several occasions, have ended up being the standout dishes. Though a bite-sized morsel to wake up the palate is nice, when the rest of the courses don’t quite match up, you can find yourself yearning for those nibbles, boasting texture and flavour from their little podiums.
I thought this might be the case at Angelina, a Dalston-based Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant that offers 13 dishes across seven courses. After all, it’s hard to beat battered, squishy lamb sweetbread with wasabi and radish; pickled langoustine with a crisp apple gel and turnip; or sticky mozzarella in carozza with a highly moreish duo of sauces – one oniony, one mustardy – elevated versions of what you’d squirt onto a hot dog.
Difficult for some, maybe, but not Angelina. Dish after dish arrived, each somehow topping the last. How can it get any better than silky triangoli pasta filled with creamy ricotta and courgette, topped with crab and ikura, and drizzled in Marmite-y miso butter? The answer to that is quail, slow-cooked for three hours and finished on the grill, with shrimp, apricot and a seared fig – a sticky, sweet, fishy and smoky creation made all the more perfect by the pillowy milk bread provided to swoosh through its glossy bisque.
But pudding – how does that look when fusing Tokyo and Rome? It looks like white chocolate namelka, a sort of Japanese ganache, on top of crushed kinako biscuits and finger lime; a blackberry sorbet with a spicy shiso kick; and a squidgy baked custard cake filled with matcha. All incredible.
Everything here just works, whether it’s the springy sourdough focaccia made from a seven-year-old starter, or the chawanmushi – a savoury egg custard dish with scallop, green pea and truffle – simultaneously earthy and fresh. This place is testament to why so many people are often baffled as to what warrants a Michelin star – as I can’t see a reason why Angelina shouldn’t have one.
Tasting menu £68pp; wine pairing £55pp
56 Dalston Lane, London E8 3AH | 020 3771 7958 | dalston@angelina.london | angelina.london/restaurant
Open for dinner, Mon-Fri; lunch and dinner, Sat and Sun | Booking recommended
The Ninth, Fitzrovia
Less “tasting menu” and more dishes to share, The Ninth’s “Chef’s Choice” is ideal for those who prefer their meals to feel a little more substantial than snacky. The plates are spaced out just right – which is just as well, as this unassuming six-courser really creeps up on you (in the best way possible).
From a beautifully elegant pasta topped with a cured egg yolk and shavings of truffle so fine they melt on your tongue in an instant, to chargrilled turbot paired with extremely moreish miso tenderstem broccoli, there’s plenty to delight in at this Charlotte Street restaurant – named for being owner Jun Tanaka’s ninth.
And while many things here are excellent – such as the “chips”, which are actually thousand-layer potatoes with a crunch more satisfying than autumn leaves, or the pain perdu, which was more than worth any indigestion I may have suffered on the Victoria line home – one thing really took the biscuit.
The Iberico, served with pickled radish and green and yellow courgettes, has to be the most expertly cooked piece of pork I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Succulent, juicy and as tender as physically possible – a real knockout. I even bonded with the waitress over it, who said it made her overcome her severe hatred of pork. The only issue now is I don’t think I’ll try pork this good unless I return – so return I shall.
Chef's Choice tasting menu £97pp; wine pairing £70pp
22 Charlotte St, London W1T 2NB | 020 3019 0880 | theninthlondon.com
Open for lunch and dinner, Mon-Sat; closed, Sun | Booking recommended; walk-ins accepted at the bar and terrace
Bubala, Spitalfields, King’s Cross and Soho
Bubala, now with locations in Spitalfields, King’s Cross and Soho, has the combined virtues of being on the more affordable side – the Bubala Knows Best tasting/sharing menu is £46pp – and being fully vegetarian (there’s also a fully vegan menu if you so desire). For anyone worried about the lack of meat or fish – firstly, grow up, and secondly, you won’t miss it. And that’s because Bubala does some rather magical things.
Of course, there are the fantastic dips to begin: thick, dense labneh with velvety confit garlic and za’atar, and rich, creamy hummus topped with a little puddle of burnt butter, designed for your slightly blackened laffa bread to swirl through. But then there’s what Bubala manages to do with vegetables.
Yes, the smacked cucumber with tahini and crispy chilli oil is incredibly moreish, and yes, a whole cauliflower roasted and served with yoghurt, zhoug and amba onions is surprisingly satisfying. Yet it’s a skewer that looks and tastes suspiciously meaty, but is in fact an unassuming oyster mushroom, which really shows there’s no need for carnivorism here. Cooked with tamari and coriander seed, this shroomy delight is salty, umami, charred and chewy – and might actually be better than chicken – leaving me plotting my next visit.
They do potato latkes extremely well, too, each layered crunch as pleasing as the last, and the cocktails – the smoky mezcal margarita with a chilli and Persian lime salt rim – are the ideal way to bookend the generous feast (the kind that requires expert-level Tetris skills just to fit everything on the table).
As I leave, the staff are setting up to enjoy their end-of-service meal with the fruits of their labour. It’s not hard to see why they were recently recognised as one of Code Hospitality’s happiest places to work – if I got to eat that food every day, I’d struggle not to smile.
Bubala Knows Best menu £46pp
Spitalfields: 65 Commercial St, E1 6BD | King’s Cross: 1 Cadence Court, Lewis Cubitt Park, N1C 4ED | Soho: 15 Poland St, W1F 8QE
reservations@bubala.co.uk | www.bubala.co.uk
Open for lunch and dinner, Mon-Sun | Reservations and walk-ins welcome
Nest, Shoreditch
Don’t be put off by the graffiti-laden exterior of this Old Street establishment, because inside, Nest is pure rustic sophistication. From the sage-green wood panelling to the tucked-away corners that offer pockets of intimacy, this candlelit restaurant defines cosy. Within seconds, I forget I’m in stifling Shoreditch and feel transported somewhere else entirely – sipping on a dangerously drinkable Lambrusco.
Nest, which moved from its Hackney Morning Lane location in October 2023, uses one meat in the kitchen at any time, alongside British seafood and seasonal produce – both wild and grown. The star for our visit is Highland beef, paired with altitude wines for added acidity.
Special attention is paid to the meat in question. The kitchen avoids waste by boiling down the bones into a luscious, nourishing broth to be sipped alongside snacks; a piece of beef is served brilliantly pink with a crunchy, salty crust, allowing the fine, succulent texture that makes Highland cows unique to sing; an English muffin rarebit with Marmite-y, house-made cheese is a classy, carby nod to childhood favourites; and kale, lightly steamed in that same beef broth so it keeps its bite, makes for a perfect side.
Fortunately, everything else is given just as much care. From a tomato and strawberry salad with homemade ricotta and tangy vinaigrette – a fantastically fresh start that balances the richness of later courses – to an impossibly fluffy custard bun that I challenge anyone to eat and not be speechless – just trust me. This is somewhere I’d happily roost regularly.
Signature set menu £90pp; wine pairing £70pp
374-378 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT | 07769 196972 | hello@nestfood.co.uk | nestfood.co.uk
Open for dinner, Tue-Sat; lunch, Sat; closed, Sun-Mon | Booking essential
Rogues, Hackney
Two words will forever spring to mind when I think of Rogues, located on Hackney Road: Bovril butter. Despite the potato and thyme sourdough being good enough to demolish in its own right – warm, crunchy, soft and springy – it arrives with an intriguing caramel-coloured quenelle, topped with something darker (pickled walnut ketchup). This creamy quenelle is incredibly umami, salty and beefy. All I can say is thank God I don’t work there, because I’d find my way to an early Bovril-butter-induced grave. No doubt.
Butter aside, the restaurant is also really cool. Stonewashed walls, stylish wooden chairs, and a slightly separate area stuffed with books that feels like someone’s lovely, lived-in home. And, aptly, what ensues feels like a really fantastic dinner party.
Apart from the snacks – a crunchy salt beef croquette with dollops of horseradish and pickled mustard seeds, and a potato rosti topped with mackerel and piperade (both fabulous) – the rest of the dishes are delivered on single plates to share. Once I got over my initial fear that my boyfriend was sneaking larger portions (he wasn’t – I’m a greedy, therefore paranoid eater), I loved it.
The day boat fish is elegantly cooked, laid atop burnt leeks and a buttery roe sauce to rival the Bovril (though not quite). Thick homemade mascarpone supports an earthy, autumnal salad of candy beetroot, pistachio and plums. A big hunk of duck breast with cherry sauce looks a tad unwieldy, but that only makes its juicy, delicate texture more surprising and enjoyable.
Pudding – a tart lemon posset with stewed raspberries, teensy meringues and a swirl of dulce de leche – is all you really need. Rogues is a neighbourhood restaurant anyone would be chuffed to have nearby, and I’m very glad that I do.
Set menu £55-70pp; wine recommendations per course available
460 Hackney Road, London E2 9EG | 020 3737 3690 | rogueslondon.uk
Open for dinner, Mon-Fri; lunch and dinner, Sat; closed, Sun | Reservations and walk-ins accepted
Apricity, Mayfair
Apricity’s ethos is all about regeneration, sustainability and highlighting seasonal British produce – an aim that has been recognised with a Michelin Green Star. While its tasting menu contains a serving of more than 30 plants (they say you should eat 30 different plants a week to maintain a healthy gut), there’s nothing worthy about this place. In fact, each vegan course has an animal-protein counterpart you can mix and match with your dining partner – a win-win.
Split the menu as we did and you get to try a bit of everything. Pierogi-style chicken dumplings with carrots and daikon in a rich, glossy broth are a comforting hug, while carpaccio-like beetroot with cashew butter and oat groats is both rough and delicate. Lightly battered oyster mushrooms with XO rival the moreishness of calamari and are just as enticing as the beautiful Cornish plaice with damson and kohlrabi served alongside.
Plants and meats are treated with equal care and attention, meaning tender, pink venison with a beautifully sticky glaze and crispy parsnips is easily rivalled by a celeriac and pear terrine – which is never a sentence I thought I’d write. I didn’t think I even liked celeriac, but that’s what Apricity does so well: taking something you might overlook and making it the star of the show.
And then there’s dessert. I’ve had doughnuts, I’ve had cronuts, I’ve even heard of dagels (doughnut bagels), but this was my first time trying a chouxnut. Dense yet light, fried but not at all greasy, and generously coated in cinnamon sugar, this custard-filled pud is definitely one for the ages.
It’s rather unique to finish a tasting menu feeling both satisfied and reassured that you’ve done your gut biome some good, with the added comfort of knowing the planet has been considered at every step. Apricity – with its cosy, glowing dining room, enchanting staff and iPads in place of printed menus – leaves you feeling exactly as its namesake suggests: like the warmth of winter sun.
Five-course £85pp; seven courses £99pp; wine pairing £68/£85pp
68 Duke Street, London, W1K 6JU | 020 8017 2780 | hello@apricityrestaurant.com | www.apricityrestaurant.com
Open for lunch and dinner, Tue-Sat; closed, Sun-Mon | Reservations and walk-ins welcome
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