London Restaurant Festival Is Back

Ben O' Norum
By Ben O' Norum Last edited 113 months ago
London Restaurant Festival Is Back

london-restaurant-festivalLondon Restaurant Festival returns for its sixth consecutive year on Wednesday, highlighting and celebrating the best of the capital’s eating out scene through special menus, events and offers from 8-27 October.

At the heart of the festivities are a number of themed restaurant tours which take guests around town allowing them to have one course in each of up to six restaurants.

Walking tours include a Japanese journey around the West End, a tapas trail centred around Fitzrovia, an exploration of Venetian small bites cicchetti in Soho, and tours around China Town. Most take place on Saturday afternoons between 11-25 October and cost just under £60 with drinks.

Higher-end Gourmet Odysseys take in fancier dining spots and transport guests between courses on specially commandeered routemaster buses. These are slightly strangely themed around restaurants in hotels (11 October), venues in east London (18 October) and American eateries (25 October), and cost just over £100 each including wine and Champagne. Our pick would be the east London route which starts with a Champagne reception at Ace Hotel in Shoreditch before taking in 8 Hoxton Square, Merchant’s Tavern and The Clove Club.

Other events include a feast of meat and local beers at Bermondsey Street’s Village East, a shrub making masterclass (the cocktail, not the plant) at The Well in Clerkenwell, a supperclub by MasterChef winner Natalie Coleman, a dinner inspired by film at BAFTA’s headquarters, and a lunch where the waiters perform Shakespearean sonnets at Swan next to the Globe theatre.

There are also special menus running at more than 100 restaurants across London for the duration of the festival, many of them very good value. We reckon that three courses for £25 at Hawksmoor’s sister restaurant Foxlow, and £17 for three courses at Cinnamon Soho are both particularly good deals. At the higher-end we’d also recommend the chance to dine at Roux at The Landau for £35, or Mayfair’s chic French restaurant Boulestin for £39.50.

Visit the London Restaurant Festival website for full details of events, menus and offers.

Last Updated 06 October 2014