Published 2026-09-21 by the Rushxo team. More guides.
Short answer: London's best eating is not in the guidebooks' three-star section. It is in the markets, the neighbourhood curry houses, the pubs on Sunday and the afternoon-tea rooms. Budget £15 for a market lunch, £35 to £50 a head for a good dinner with a drink, £45 to £95 for afternoon tea.
The Wolseley and Fortnum & Mason (Piccadilly) from about £45 to £60; the hotels (Claridge's, the Savoy, the Goring, the Ritz) £75 to £95 with champagne extra. Sketch on Conduit Street is the one for photographs. Book weeks ahead for Saturdays and for December, when tea rooms sell out by mid November. A 15:00 sitting lasts two hours; do not book anything else until 17:30.
Pre-theatre menus (17:00 to 18:45) in Covent Garden and Soho are the best-value dinners in town; see the West End theatre guide. Chinatown is the walk-in fallback at any hour. Mayfair and Knightsbridge are where the prices double; the food is not always better. After dinner, a fixed-fare car back to the hotel or out to the suburbs is the same price at 23:00 as at noon: see getting home late.
Borough Market for lunch, a Soho or Covent Garden pre-theatre menu for dinner, one curry on Brick Lane or in Tooting, a Sunday roast in a pub, and afternoon tea once. That covers London better than any Michelin list.
From about £45 per person at Fortnum & Mason, the Wolseley and most hotels, £75 to £95 at the Ritz, Claridge's and the Savoy. Book two to four weeks ahead; the Ritz needs a jacket.
For anywhere with a name, yes, especially Thursday to Saturday. Chinatown, Borough Market, the food halls and most pubs are walk-in.
12.5% is usually added as a service charge; if it is, you do not add more. If it is not, 10% to 12.5% is normal. Pubs and cafés do not expect tips.
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