Getting a table at one of London’s hottest restaurants can be a nightmare at the best of times. In-demand tables sell out months in advance. New openings tend towards no-reservations. Demand, implausibly for a city of this size and this many restaurants, still outstrips supply.
Then there’s the obstacle of cost. If one wants to dine out in London regularly, then one needs to be a banker or get a bank loan. That’s certainly not all of us.
Fear not; here at IDEAL we’ve found a way. Or, rather, several ways…
Here are our top tips and hacks on how to experience London’s hottest restaurants without reservations, without fuss, and without breaking the bank.
Search For Deals
If you are setting out for a dinner in the big smoke, be prepared by signing up to a discount scheme, one of our favourites is tastecard. This dining deal card allows you to get access to some great restaurant deals in London and beyond.
The card offers their members 2 for 1 deals and other cut price meal options, both at major London restaurant players like Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Banana Tree, and at smaller independents like the excellent Lebanese joint Zeit & Zaatar, making it a great London companion as it also has some exclusive offers on activities like the London Eye, London Dungeons and Madamme Tussauds – all of which make a perfect pre or post dinner treat.
Plus, if you sign up today your first 30 day trial is just £1.00 (However, prices may vary throughout the year). Why not join the 2 million members and save an average of £270+ on dining a year?
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Search For Set Menu Deals
When on the hunt for deals you can also consider set menu’s, many restaurants have amazing prices for both dinner and lunch such as the jaw-droppingly good set lunch deals going at Michelin starred restaurants across town. At Wild Honey, in St James, for instance, you can enjoy a three course lunch for less than £40 – a steal when you consider the prices of surrounding chain restaurants.
Read: Where to find the best pre-theatre menus in London’s West End
Take A Seat At The Bar
Whilst most of the trendiest, hippest foodie hangouts are booked up months in advance, many offer bar seating and a reduced menu. Take advantage of this – you don’t need a reservation and you can sample some of the restaurant’s classic dishes without having to indulge in a time and wallet consuming tasting menu.
Our current favourite bar seats are at 2 Michelin-starred Clove Club and the original Noble Rot on Lamb’s Conduit. At the former, you can snack on their signature buttermilk fried chicken with pine, as well as delectable haggis doughnuts, to the tune of less than a tenner each. Noble Rot’s slip sole grilled in seaweed butter is one of the country;s must try dishes which, again, can be enjoyed at the bar if the restaurant’s full.
Try The Hipper, Less Formal Sister Restaurant
Many of the city’s finest restaurants have addressed the recent diner desire for informality by opening cheaper, less stuffy offerings. Gone are the starched table cloths, closhes and waiters in dickie-bows. In are small plates, keen pricing and service with a beard. Trinity Upstairs stays true to the ethos of the Michelin-starred Trinity, with respect for ingredients and precision cooking, but is more reasonable and laid back. St John has Bread and Wine , Sketch has Bistrotheque, and the Ledbury has the Harwood Arms. It just makes sense.
Read: The best restaurants to eat game in London
Go to A Food Festival…
A recent explosion of London food festivals like Taste of London, hosted over summer in many of the capital’s beautiful parks, host rows and rows of tents housing top restaurants. Here, simply serving their signature dishes, you can enjoy a binge on Michelin level fare until you can take no more. A must on the British Summer schedule recently.
…Or, A Food Hall
One of the decade’s most striking trends in terms of London’s culinary scene has been the emergence of bigger, better, bolder food halls. Whether it’s Market Hall in London Victoria (home to Roti King’s sister restaurant Gopal’s Corner) or the heavy-hitting Arcade Food Hall, now with two branches on Tottenham Court Road and in Battersea Power Station. Here (and all across the city), you can find new restaurant concepts and trialling dishes from major hospitality groups, all at a fraction of the price you’d expect to pay in their adjacent bricks and mortar restaurants.
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Embrace The Queue
If you want to be where it’s at, London food-wise, then I’m afraid some standing in line will be involved. You could either write this off as an unnecessary annoyance that you’ll have no part of or you could recognise its advantages. Take the former approach and Hoppers, Bao, Barrafina, Kiln, Padella (a veritable feast of some of the best places in central London right now) are off limits.
No reservations means that you can go to some of the best places in town on a whim, as long as you can stand (ahem) the wait. The much maligned system also creates a buzz which is impossible not to get caught up in. These places also tend to the cheaper end of the spectrum, and usually trade in small plates – meaning you can sample a good selection of offerings once you’ve parked your bottom.
BYOB Spots
Believe it or not, London has a thriving BYOB (bring your own booze) scene. These restaurants allow you to bring your own wine or beer for a small corkage fee, or sometimes even for free. This can seriously reduce the cost of your meal, especially as drinks often make up a large portion of the bill. Some of our favourites include Singburi in Leytonstone, Silk Road in Camberwell, Mien Tay in Shoreditch, and Mangal 1 Ocakbasi in Dalston.
Anyway, all this talk of food is making us hungry. We’re off for dinner!