One Splurge Meal in London

Dinner by Heston Blunenthal. Have the meat fruit as a starter. Don’t have drinks as they can get spendy v quickly.

There are no end of restaurants in London where you can eat very well, but many come at a price where £50 wouldn’t be considered a splurge. If that’s your budget it wouldn’t do any harm to look at newer, less well-known establishments.

Jay Rayner in The Guardian always provides entertaining reviews, and you might find a few options here:

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jayrayner

Staying in Kings Cross, this place for fish and chips had a good recent write-up (and a lot less than £50).

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/18/united-chip-london-brilliant-sauces-and-rather-good-chips-restaurant-review

If you’re near Borough Market and like pasta

https://www.padella.co/#home

Not saying it’s a splurge but loved my meal at Dishoom. Adjacent to st Martins campus behind st Pancras so easy for you to visit.

Might also suggest researching London food blogs.

I've been to Dinner by Heston and with drinks and tip it was around £250 for two. You could probably dine for £50 a head without drinks as previously said. Was it worth £250? For the overall experience... Yes, but i won't be rushing back. Very relaxed atmos for a 2 star. Stunning service, on another level!

My recommendation is 'Cicchetti' in Piccadilly Circus. It's Italian 'tapas'. Essentially the tapas concept of small plates to share, but wonderful Italian food. The fresh truffle ravioli were amazing. Lovely restaurant. Great staff. We had plenty and tried lots of dishes, and with tip and a bottle of Prosecco it was around £120... Worth every penny. £50 a head easily doable. Again relaxed... But busy (in a good way).

Goes without saying... Book early.

I'm afraid £50 is not a splurge in London. Some of my best meals have been in London but they were expensive. If you're touring the UK you can certainly splurge for such a price outside of London.

I'm surprised that Giles Coren didn't make Emma's list of respected reviewers. I like his shoes and his usually very informative columns. He tends to take sports personalities with him on reviewing jaunts. Son of (late) Alan (also one of my favs but not about food) and brother of Victoria (another of my favs, also not about food).

What kind of food are you looking for? You can find almost anything.

I liked Dishoom and have eaten there a couple of times. A nice thing about Dishoom is that you can put together a meal of small plates. The things I have tried have been hit or miss though.

I visit one of the Ottolenghi places (either the less formal Ottolenghi or Nopi) on every trip because I just love his food. Other places where I have had really excellent meals recently include Honey and Co. (I loved the gundi sabzi that I had there so much that I bought the cookbook so I could make it at home) and the Palomar.

Some of the Michelin star places have set menus for lunch that are very reasonable. About five years ago I had an amazing meal at The Ledbury, but it appears that they no longer offer that.

I don't know if 50 GBP per person would be enough, but if I was going to really splurge in London, I would go to Rules. I was supposed to go there with my boss, but we didn't make reservations in time, and hey - it was good enough for the Crawleys.

Dance night at the Ritz

The Goring Hotel is an awesome place to dine. It is very quiet and classy. We have been there four times for dinner. I always call to ask what they are serving, so we don't go there if they are not serving something we want. The Goring Hotel is within walking distance of the Victoria Underground Tube. Our friends actually stayed at the Goring for two weeks and loved the whole experience.

check out lunches as well as dinners. for example, pollen street social has one michelin star (fwiw) and offers a 37 pound set lunch (55 pounds with wine).
http://www.pollenstreetsocial.com/

When we do our "splurge" dinner in London we are usually more interested in ambiance and view. The Criterion (above the Criterion theatre) is a beautiful restaurant. The interior is covered with mosaics which were considered important enough to protect during WW II. The food is also very good. Our other choice, which is only open some evenings, is the restaurant on top of the National Portrait Gallery. It has good views and is especially good at sunset. The food there is also very good. Both places should have menus on line.

We and many of our friends and family love the Ottolenghi restaurants and delis. Mediterranean food with an emphasis one fresh, local, and interesting spices. Everything we have had there has been delicious. Within my family we have at least two of his cookbooks.

For a “splurge”meals without breaking the bank, try Nopi is the West End. I had m y recent birthday celebration there and it was delicious and fun.

They do have an early pre-theatre price fixe menu which should suit your wishes. The website seems to be unavailable right now, but you can check it later.

I might have Lola beat as I have 4 of the 6 Ottolenghi cookbooks :). Lola, if you like Ottolenghi, you’d probably also like Honey & Co (the husband and wife team previously worked as chefs under Ottolenghi) and The Palomar.

Adding to Lola’s comment on Nopi ...
Unless things have changed, the do not offer the pre-theatre menu to solo diners. I tried to order the pre-theatre menu and the waiter pointed out that it states, ”Dishes to share’ and a price per person. Normally menus will state something more explicit (e.g., ”minimum of 2”) when something is not available to a solo diner, but I guess they consider the word ”share” to indicate this. You can still put together a meal of small plates, but it is quite easy to hit the 50 GBP mark if you add wine and dessert.

To treat myself in London, I've twice chosen St. John's Smithfield location. Menu changes daily with a nose-to-tail ethic, but also serves fish and veg. You can order a la carte in your price range. Many of the more expensive places, such as Gordon Ramsey and others, do offer a prix-fixe lunch special.

If you like cheese, then stock up at Neals' Yard Dairy by Covent Garden.

I was going to suggest Steak & Co in Kensington, but when hubby and I splurged there, it was well over 200 pounds. Worth every pound though.

They don't include a service charge, usually 12.5%.

This is always discretionary except usually for tables over six. I never pay the service charge, I prefer to tip what I feel is appropriate because the level of service is going to be the same (or should be) irrespective of what you order. Why should I pay more for a 'service charge' on a £60 bottle of wine over a £20 one? It doesn't take more expertise or skill to open and pour either. Likewise the £30 steak over the £12 vegetable pasta. Why should the service charge be higher simply because your meal was more expensive?

Besides, why the need for an additional service charge? Surely it's incorporated in the price of the meal, that's why it costs so much more to eat in a restaurant than to cook at home.

Oh dear god let's not start a conversation about service charges and tipping!

Oh go on, we haven't had one for a while ; )

Thank you to everyone! I checked out each and every one of your suggestions and they are great! :)

Laura from Virginia. That is a good point about the shared plates. I did not have a chance to look at the actual pre-theatre dining menu as the website was down. When we went two years ago it was later and we had the regular menu.

A different option for the OP would be to have lunch at one of the Ottolenghi deli-style places. We did that at the South Kensington Ottolenghi, with my son and his family. They were very accommodating and friendly, making room for the stroller and our two small grandchildren. We sat at the one shared table (other tables are outside in the courtyard) and my 2-year-old granddaughter befriended a little boy who was there with his mom. I say mom nut “mum” because she was American, a TV actress from LA whom my daughter-in-law recognized. The two mothers hit it off so well they ended up exchanging contact information.

You never know whom you might meet at a shared table in London!

Not the answer to your question, but found this site to be very helpful to find good food on a budget. Might help you be a foodie and also allow you to save up for a splurge meal. http://www.londoncheapeats.com/