RFK Rankings · London
Best Tasting Menus Under $200 in London 2026
Tasting menus under $200 · London · 6 menus ranked · Updated April 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published April 7, 2026 · Updated May 15, 2026
Two hundred dollars, roughly £155 at spring-2026 exchange rates, still buys a serious tasting menu in London if you know where to point it. The city's headline rooms have pushed past £300, but a tier of one- and two-star kitchens delivers their full tasting for well under the cap, and several are among the most exciting cooking in Britain. London's particular strength here is its Michelin-starred Indian rooms, which deliver starred tasting menus at prices a French three-star would charge for a starter, alongside a new wave of Mexican and plant-based stars. These six tasting menus, all under $200 a head before drinks, are the ones that punch hardest for the money, ranked.
1.Kol
Santiago Lastra's Mexican-British tasting in Marylebone, £145, ranked World's 50 Best; the cap's most exciting menu. Snap up a table.
Kol sits on Seymour Street in Marylebone, the only Mexican restaurant in the UK with a Michelin star and number 49 on the 2025 World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Chef Santiago Lastra cooks unapologetically Mexican food using almost entirely British ingredients, importing little more than corn, chillies and chocolate; the langoustine taco with sea buckthorn is the dish people return for. The seven-course tasting is £145, comfortably under the $200 cap and a genuine bargain for cooking at this level. The downstairs mezcal bar, Kol Mezcaleria, extends the night. It is the most exciting menu under the cap. Snap up a table when the booking window opens, ideally midweek.
Book at kolrestaurant.com.
2.Plates
Kirk Haworth's £130 plant-based tasting in Shoreditch, the UK's first vegan Michelin star; converts carnivores nightly. Take a sceptic.
Plates, on the edge of Shoreditch, made history in February 2025 as the first plant-based restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star. The brother-and-sister team of chef Kirk Haworth and Keeley Haworth run an eleven-course Discovery tasting at £130 and a shorter Signature menu at £109, vegetable cooking with the ambition and finish of any starred kitchen, from smoked celeriac to a chocolate dessert that has converted plenty of doubters. The chef reports that the large majority of his diners are meat-eaters, which tells you how little this feels like a compromise. It is proof a tasting menu does not need animal protein to thrill. Take a sceptic and let the room win the argument.
Book at plates-london.com.
3.Pied à Terre
David Moore's Fitzrovia institution, five courses for £135, Michelin-starred since 1993; London's most reliable fine dining. Pencil it in midweek.
Pied à Terre has held a Michelin star on Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia almost continuously since 1993, the longest current run of any restaurant in London, under proprietor David Moore. The cooking is refined modern French, with a celebrated dedicated vegetarian tasting alongside the omnivore menu; the five-course is £135 and the seven £155, both for the whole table. For a kitchen with this much history and a cellar this deep, the price is remarkably restrained, which is the point of its place here. The narrow townhouse room is intimate and unshowy. Pencil it in midweek, when the dining room is calmest, and let the sommelier steer the pairings.
Book at pied-a-terre.co.uk.
4.Benares
Sameer Taneja's one-star Mayfair tasting at £135, the Old Delhi butter chicken; Indian fine dining that overdelivers. Go for the value.
Benares overlooks Berkeley Square in Mayfair, where chef Sameer Taneja holds a Michelin star for modern Indian cooking that pairs classical technique with British produce. The tasting menu is £135, with shorter set menus from around £49, and the Old Delhi-style butter chicken is the dish to anchor the meal. London's Michelin-starred Indian rooms are the city's great fine-dining value, and Benares is among the clearest examples: a tasting at a Mayfair address, at a fraction of what a comparable French room charges. The cooking is generous and assured rather than fussy. Go for the value, book a window table over the square, and ask about the wine and the cocktail pairings.
Book at benaresrestaurant.com.
5.Portland
A one-star Fitzrovia tasting at £110, dry-aged Goosnargh duck the high point; serious cooking on a gentle bill. Worth the booking.
Portland sits on Great Portland Street in Fitzrovia, a small, pared-back room that has held a Michelin star for its precise modern European cooking. The tasting menu is £110 for the whole table, with an earlier four-course option at £55 leaning on the kitchen's greatest hits from its first decade, and the dry-aged Goosnargh duck is a recurring high point. There is no grand dining room and no theatre, just confident cooking at a price that undercuts most of its starred peers. Pair it with its sibling wine bar Clipstone around the corner for a drink first. It is serious food on a gentle bill. Worth the booking, especially the early seating for the value menu.
Book at portlandrestaurant.co.uk.
6.Trishna
JKS's Marylebone coastal-Indian tasting at £100, Dorset brown crab the standout; the best-value star in town. Order the crab.
Trishna, on Blandford Street in Marylebone, is the south-Indian, coastal-focused sibling in Karam Sethi's JKS group, and it has held a Michelin star for years. The Koliwada tasting menu is £100 for five courses, with shorter set menus from £25, and the Dorset brown crab, dressed with garlic, chilli and butter, is the signature that built its reputation. It is arguably the single best-value Michelin star in London, a full tasting for less than a starter at the city's grandest rooms. The room is relaxed and the spicing precise rather than heavy. Order the crab first, then let the kitchen run the menu, and book a midweek table for the easiest seat.
Book at trishnalondon.com.
Over the cap: skip these for a sub-$200 night
Brilliant, but they bust the budget
The Clove Club. Isaac McHale's two-star Shoreditch room is one of London's best, but its tasting runs £185 midweek and £285 at weekends, which clears $200 even on the cheaper nights. Save it for a no-budget evening; for this list, the £130-and-under menus deliver more cooking per pound.
A. Wong. The two-star Pimlico dining room serves a remarkable Collections of China tasting, but at around £220 a head it sits above the cap. Go for the famous weekday dim sum lunch if you want A. Wong on a budget, and keep the dinner tasting for a night without a ceiling.
How to book London's value tasting menus
The sub-$200 tasting menus book differently from the £300 headliners, and the trick is timing rather than luck. Kol releases tables on a rolling window and fills fastest for weekend dinner, so aim midweek; Plates, still new to its star, is among the harder seats, so book the moment a month opens. Pied à Terre and Benares are easier and reward a midweek booking, while Trishna and Portland keep enough tables that a few days' notice usually works outside peak nights.
Two habits stretch the value further. Take the early or set-lunch option where it exists, Portland's £55 four-course and Trishna's set menus are genuine bargains, and skip the wine pairing in favour of two glasses chosen with the sommelier if you are holding to a budget. London's Michelin-starred Indian rooms are the city's best-kept value secret, so weight your shortlist toward them. For the bigger picture, see our London dining guide and the ranking of the best counter-only restaurants in London.
Frequently asked
What is the best tasting menu under $200 in London?
Kol is our top pick, the only Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant in the UK and number 49 on the 2025 World's 50 Best list, with a seven-course tasting at £145 in Marylebone. For plant-based cooking, Plates in Shoreditch holds the UK's first vegan star at £130. For sheer value, Trishna's £100 coastal-Indian tasting is hard to beat. All sit comfortably under $200 a head before drinks.
How much is $200 in pounds for a London tasting menu?
At spring-2026 exchange rates, $200 is roughly £155, so this list caps each tasting menu at about £155 a head before drinks. That threshold cleanly separates a strong tier of one- and two-star kitchens, from £100 at Trishna to £145 at Kol, from the city's £185-to-£325 headliners. Drinks, service and supplements sit on top, so budget a little above the menu price for the full bill.
Are there cheap Michelin-starred tasting menus in London?
Yes, and the best value is concentrated in London's Michelin-starred Indian rooms. Trishna's Koliwada tasting is £100, Benares is £135, and both deliver a full starred tasting for less than a starter at the grand French rooms. Portland's £110 modern-European menu and Plates' £130 plant-based tasting are also genuine bargains. London arguably offers the best-value Michelin tasting menus of any major capital.
Which London tasting menus are best value for money?
Trishna at £100 and Portland at £110 lead on pure value, both Michelin-starred for the price of a mid-range dinner elsewhere. Kol at £145 offers the most ambitious cooking under the cap, with a World's 50 Best ranking behind it. Take the early or set-lunch options where they exist, such as Portland's £55 four-course, to stretch the value even further without dropping the quality.
Do I need to book these London tasting menus far ahead?
It varies. Kol and Plates are the hardest seats and reward booking the moment a new month opens, ideally for a midweek dinner. Pied à Terre, Benares, Trishna and Portland are more relaxed, and a few days' notice outside peak nights usually secures a table. Across the board, midweek is easier than weekends, and lunch is easier than dinner, so flex your timing to land the booking.
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