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Bring The Heat!

The best way to combat the chill of winter is to take yourself out for some spicy hot cuisine.  India, Thailand, Malaysia, Szechuan in China — the lands of sunshine and bright colours are also the countries where chillies and spices create heat on the tongue and warmth in the soul, a fire to see you through these dark days.

A quartet of top diner rated regional Thai and Indian restaurants are running brilliant special offers right now.  The Village Inn restaurant in Flixton outside Manchester offers a three-course dinner on Mondays and Tuesdays for just £12.95 including a glass of wine.  Stylish Baan Tha in Yalding in Kent between Maidstone and Tonbridge is delighting diners with 25% off the a la carte menu.  The Snooty Mehmaan in Faringdon in Oxon serves both a full Thai menu and an Indian one too, so everyone’s happy, especially on Sundays when the super buffet is £10 adults, £5 children.  The Ambrette Indian restaurant in Margate is an elegant spot offering 50% off lunch and 2-for-1 main courses at weekday suppers.

In London, some of your absolute favourite spice-inspired restaurants have special offers going right now: The Mango Tree has more offers than we can list here;  The Cinnamon Club has a two course lunch or supper with a cinnamon Bellini cocktail for £22;  its sister, the Cinnamon Kitchen, offers two courses with a Winter Martini cocktail for £16;  Thai Thai in the City offers diners 50% the a la carte menu during the week and 40% at the weekend; Malaysian Awana near Brompton Cross has a plethora of deals including 50% off food; ultra-modern Chinese standout Seventeen in Notting Hill is also offering 50% off food during the week and 40% off at weekends; smart, affordable Indian restaurant Imli has a 2-for-1 offer, including 2-for-1 on cocktails, which is good news indeed.  And these are just a few of the mighty offers on site right now.

There’s more good news: Brighton favourite Warung Tujuh has its glorious Indonesian cuisine on sale for 20% off early supper or two courses for a measly £6 at lunch. And Indian top spot India Quay in Glasgow has lunch, early supper and dinner deals that will get you booking.

Take a moment to explore our amazing array of fiery international cuisines, from Indian to Indonesian, Thai to Chinese, and grab yourself a hot deal to shake off winter’s chill.

Reach The Stars on a Special Deal

Pssst.  The secret to enjoying the glories of Michelin-starred cuisine for a lot less money is here: toptable special offers.  Right now we have seventeen Michelin-starred restaurants with special deals live on site, a total of 22 Michelin stars!

Besides the 15% off tasting menus deal we told you about in last week’s blogpost at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester (***) in Mayfair, you can also enjoy a three-course lunch with two glasses of wine for just £55, a terrific deal.

Hibiscus (**) in Mayfair has a brace of great deals: a three-course lunch with aperitif for £33.50 and an early four-course dinner with aperitif for £49.50.  Currently, Hibiscus holds one of the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants spots, one of just four in the UK.

Hot, sexy, chic l’Atelier de Joël Robuchon (**) in Covent Garden is tempting you to lunch, afternoon tea and pre-theatre supper with amazing offers like two courses for £28 for lunch or pre-theatre dining, two courses plus matching wines for £37, or a sybaritic two-course lunch plus delicate afternoon tea, the ‘Afternoon Retreat’, for £39.

Multiple award-winning Gidleigh Park (**) in Chagford, Devon, is a beautiful restaurant in a small, elegant country house hotel set in magnificent grounds on the banks of the River Teign.  The Sunday Times thinks it’s the best restaurant in Britain.  Lunch at Gidleigh Park is now £32 for two courses, £42.50 for three.  Book now.

Both Galvin restaurants have a flock of special offers to delight you: Galvin at Windows (*) overlooking, well, everything near Hyde Park Corner, offers a three-course lunch from a set menu with a glass of champagne for £29, three-course early or late supper from Le Menu du Chef for £39 and three-course lunch or supper from the Menu Prestige with a glass of champagne for £65.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Galvin La Chapelle (*) in Bishopsgate has a three-course set menu that’s £26.50 at lunch, £29.50 at early or late supper as well as a rather fabulous four-course table d’hôte menu with an aperitif for £42.50.

La Trompette (*) in Chiswick is the newest addition to the Chez Bruce family owned by Nigel Platts-Martin and Bruce Poole and offering award-winning cuisine of southwestern France. A three-course meal from a set menu is £21 at lunch and £29.50 at supper.

Over on the Kentish side of town, Chapter One (*) in Farnborough Common continues to delight its loyal clientele with top-notch European cuisine.  Right now you can throw yourself into the Chapter One experience with a three-course supper for just £29.95 from a set menu.

l’Ortolan (*) in Reading is one of Britain’s iconic great restaurants and is just as vibrant and wonderful as ever.  If you have not dined here, this is the perfect opportunity: a three-course lunch from a set menu with a glass of sparking wine is £36 right now, and the five-course tasting menu supper is £49, a perfect chance to see what this kitchen can do.

For even more great Michelin-starred dining with deals, follow the links to these stellar restaurants: Chez Bruce, Seven Park Place by William Drabble, Tamarind, Benares, Turners of Harborne, Apsleys — A Heinz Beck Restaurant, Hambleton Hall, Ristorante Semplice, maze — Gordon Ramsay, Rhodes W1, Pétrus — Gordon Ramsay and The Greenhouse.

Special Deals on Your Favourite Restaurants

‘Top diner rated’ is the highest accolade that toptable awards to only the very best restaurants.  Or should we say, that you the toptable diners give to only the very best restaurants, because top diner rating depends entirely on your experience of great food, value, service, ambience, loos and whether or not you’d recommend the establishment to other diners.  All the ‘top diner rated’ restaurants have proven time and time again that they offer the best dining experience.

The great news right now is this: some of mostly highly rated toptable restaurants are offering terrific special deals.  Happy New Year indeed!

Four of London’s grandest hotel dining rooms are offering irresistible deals to entice you to their impressive surroundings for some unforgettable cuisine and service.  Apsleys — a Heinz Beck Restaurant (8.8) at the glorious Lanesborough Hotel at Hyde Park Corner has four divine special offers, ranging from a two-course weekday lunch including coffee and water for £25 to a full four-course party supper for groups of eight to twelve diners and including a magnum of Taittinger champagne for £55 per person.

Roux at the Landau restaurant (8.8) at the Langham Hotel in Portland Place has a three-course lunch or supper (early or late) with a glass of Roux Champagne, coffee and petits fours for £45, in a divine setting with super service.

Triple Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester (8.8) in Mayfair offers 15% off the seven-course Tasting Menu, Vegetarian Tasting Menu or Seasonal Menu, a mind-expanding experience.  One diner called it ‘stupendous’, which sums it up nicely.

We told you about this deal last week, but it deserves another mention: a three-course lunch for £30 at the glamorous Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s restaurant (8.7).

Elsewhere, The Conservatory Restaurant (rated 9.0) in Exeter brings a taste of the Mediterranean to Devon in its Med-inflected British menu.  And right now you can sample their fine cuisine and enjoy the quirky, comfortable surroundings for just £15.95 for two courses at lunch or early supper, and that’s not a typo.

The Case Restaurant With Rooms (also rated 9.0) in Assington in Sudbury, Suffolk, has been called ‘a gem’, ‘a jewel’ and ‘a perfect bolt hole for a romantic weekend’.  So their amazing offer of a three-course meal plus a night’s accommodation for a mere £49.50 is exactly what you’d be hoping to find.  The cosy, newly-refurbished rooms get rave reviews and the European menu is top-flight, according to you toptable diners.

The Restaurant at The New Ellington (8.9) in Leeds’ business district is enticing diners with a free bottle of wine when two diners order two courses each from the a la carte menu.  Not only are the food and service worth your time, but one diner said the restaurant has the best setting in Leeds.

Ambrette restaurant (8.8) in Margate has a pair of tasty special offers right now: 2-for-1 on midweek supper main courses and 50% off three course lunches from the set menu.  Ambrette combines the best of fresh local produce with authentic Indian spicing in its highly-acclaimed food.  Lucky Margate.

Back in London, Michelin-starred Chez Bruce (8.9) on Wandsworth Common has been a shining star in the capital’s culinary firmament for decades now, and has never lost one iota of its lustre.  Right now, you can enjoy this fine cooking for just £21.50 for a three-course lunch or £29.50 for a three course supper Sunday through Wednesday evenings.  This is an unbeatable offer for an excellent dining experience.

Don’t Diet Yet! Gordon Ramsay On Sale Now!

Love Gordon Ramsay restaurants? Then this is the news for you: we have seven fabulous Gordon Ramsay restaurants on sale now through the end of January starting at just £18 for two courses. What?  You say you’ve never eaten in one of the great GR’s restaurants?  Then these amazing special offers have your name all over them.  Read on.

York & Albany in Camden, Gordon Ramsay at The Narrow overlooking the Thames in the Docklands and Chelsea favourite Foxtrot Oscar are all tempting you with two courses from a set menu for a tiny £18.  The menus are all very different: York & Albany has an Italian influence while The Narrow and Foxtrot Oscar are much more classically British.  All offer super nosh in the Gordon Ramsay style.

When the Savoy Grill reopened after seismic renovation just over a year ago, the oohs and aahs of returning the returning clientele and newly-converted diners could be heard all the way to Trafalgar Square.  toptable diners adore the Savoy Grill and rank it an impressive 8.4.  Throughout January, a three course lunch from the set menu is £26 every day and pre-theatre supper is a minuscule £20 for two courses Monday through Friday.  Come revel in the beautiful Art Deco decor, slick service and terrific wintery dishes like braised beef shoulder with mashed swede and curley kale or potato and bacon pie.

For full-on glamour and fabulous high-end dining in a faultless setting, book Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s right now and tell your boss you won’t be back at your desk that afternoon.  Three courses of sublime modern European cuisine at lunch will cost you just £30 and will send you out into the world fortified with the conviction that living well — and dining well — is one of the things that makes life worth living.

So book now, enjoy a great meal at a tiny price.  Happy New Year from toptable!

January Restaurant Sales

The shops are at it, the online retailers are at it, and toptable restaurants are at it big time: January is sale season, a great month to pick up some delightful meals for very little dosh.  And if you’re out hitting the real-life sales yourself, you deserve a brilliant meal at a brilliant price to pick you right and send you back into the fray.

Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge leads the way with two irresistible offers through 19 January: a two-course lunch for £19.50 any day of the week at the Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Restaurant, or Afternoon Tea for £22.50 in the same place.  This is perfect for the sales.  Your dance card will read, ‘shop and save money, lunch and save money, shop and save money, tea and save money, shop and save money, go home in glory’.

If, er, another part of Knightsbridge is your aim, then Shezan Indian restaurant in Cheval Place, just a moment’s stroll from the heaving pavements, is a brilliant spot for relax and recharge, especially as Shezan is offering 50% off all food, including a la carte and menus, all day every day until 28 January.  Shezan has been here for yonks, delighting the locals and visitors alike.

If Oxford Street and Regent’s Street are your objectives, there could be no better treat than a three-course lunch at Michelin-starred and top diner rated Hibiscus in Mayfair until 23 February.  Add in a complimentary aperitif and it’s amazing value for £33.50.

For a respite from the hard slog of hitting the stylish shops of Marylebone High Street, FishWorks offers 50% off the a la carte menu throughout January at lunch and at early and late supper through the week. FishWorks has the freshest, most gorgeous fish served in stylish surroundings.

In Covent Garden Kopapa has two courses for £16.95 until 19 January.  In keeping with its relaxed all-day dining vibe, the deal is on from lunch until early evening in the week and from after and into the evening at weekends.   

Down the Kings Road, the Big Easy has a two course lunch with a free beer, wine or margarita for a measly £9.95 every weekday until 5 February.  There are always loads of  evening offers in this chilled and vibrant New Orleans crab shack.

From 9th January, Le Saint Julien in the Barbican has two courses for £17.95 or three for £24.95 chosen from the lovely French a la carte menu at lunch and dinner Monday through Friday.  Perfect if you’re in the City and need sustenance.

Diner favourite York & Albany is tempting diners with two lovely courses for £18 throughout January at lunch and early supper Monday through Saturday and from noon to seven on Sundays.  The Sunday lunches are one of the glories of London.

toptable is action central when it comes to the January Restaurant Sales.  Check back frequently as there are always new offers and money-saving deals going live on the site, the very thing for the money-saving month of January.

Happy New Year!

With New Year’s Eve, the jolly old Christmas season is really done, taking its shopping and wrapping and cooking with it and leaving in its place an evening of lighthearted fun or mad partying — whatever you fancy to see in 2012.  Hadn’t thought that far ahead?  toptable is here to fill in the blanks.

If you like to be near Trafalgar Square for the madness at midnight, then Watatsumi in Northumberland Avenue has your name all over it.  With a former Nobu chef at the helm, Watatsumi offers classic and modern classic Japanese sushi, sashimi and cuisine in a grand 19th century building.  The five-course New Year’s Eve menu for £69.50 includes a glass of champagne.

The flagship Thai Square restaurant in Trafalgar Square has a delicious Thai menu that’s sure to please every palate and it puts you right in the heart of the West End action with three courses and a glass of champagne or a cocktail from £50.  The setting in the former Norwegian Embassy is impressive. Vegetarians can eat well here without no stress at all.

If you’re after a very civilised time and fine cuisine, but still want to rock up to the river for the midnight fireworks, The Northall in the new Corinithia Hotel is for you.  Top diner rated — 8.4 — The Northall celebrates the diversity and flavour of British cooking in a stunning setting.  The six course New Year’s Eve menu at £200 starts the year as you mean to go on.

For food and music, The Cinnamon Club has a five-course new Indian menu with canapes and aperitif with live entertainment and music from an in-house DJ from £75 depending at what hour you dine.  This would be a great night out in any context, but in The Cinnamon’s Club’s glorious former library surroundings, it’s one for the books. 

Sister restaurant Cinnamon Kitchen in the City has three courses, a cocktail and a DJ from £35 depending on the hour you dine. 

‘Glamorous’ is the only word to describe New Year’s Eve at Quaglino’s: this iconic restaurant tucked away in St James’s is offering a four-course meal with champagne at midnight and a live swing band so you can dance the night away, all for £125 for the main sitting.

Add the romance of international rail travel to the joys of a stylish New Year’s Eve and you’ve described St Pancras Grand restaurant in one.  This New Year’s join in the Jazz Age celebration with DJ and live band and five courses from £75 for an unforgettable journey into 2012.

Lena Italian restaurant in Shoreditch also has four courses, an aperitif and live music for £75, less if you only want the table for a couple of hours before you go on somewhere else.

And if you’re up for the ultimate New Year’s Eve treat, triple Michelin starred Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester has seven luxurious courses with matching wines from its amazing cellars for £495.  Blinding.

For these and all other New Year’s Eve plans, just click to book on toptable’s late booking Christmas and New Year’s Eve page, or ring our dedicated team on 020 7299 2949 and we’ll help you find exactly what you want.

The Week in Food

The week before Christmas is a time for last-minute shopping madness, grabbing an hour for drinks and food with friends and colleagues before the turn of the year, and not very much food festival activity at all.  Those marketeers have to get their own shopping, travelling and cooking done too, you know.  There are some bright spots though.

Borough Market is open every day this week and there are Christmas cooking demonstrations today, tomorrow and Thursday, 22 December, around midday.  The toptable restaurants nearby are brilliant, if you need sustenance.

The Real Food Market at Covent Garden will appear again once more before Christmas on 22 December, so you can come along to see the reindeer, check out the Martha Fiennes Nativity, have a bite at one of the toptable Covent Garden restaurants (see how cleverly we slipped that in?) and pick up some great foodie gifts and ingredients at the market.

The Cabbages & Frocks Market in the grounds of St Marylebone Parish Church Grounds will be open this Thursday, 22 December, to offer you a splendid array of vintage frockery and food specialties, both for noshing right away and for wrapping up and putting under the tree.  As ever, toptable has a plethora of brilliant restaurants nearby.

We’re frequent visitors to the Pimlico Road Farmers’ Market which will make one more appearance this year on Saturday morning, 24 December, and can particularly recommend Linda the apple lady and James the egg and chicken man on the Pimlico Road side.  There are some super restaurants nearby, including The Orange, The Ebury, Roussillon, Il Convivio and The Thomas Cubitt.  Best of all, it’s a five minute walk from Sloane Square, so you can do a last-minute dash around Peter Jones before retiring for the season.

We’re here every day through the season to help you with your restaurant needs, and hope that, whether Christmas is your holiday or not, you enjoy the change of the year from the darkest time to the beginning of the light.

Wow Factor Christmas Gift Dining

For last-minute Christmas gifts, particularly for the food-lover in your life, a reservation at a top toptable restaurant wrapped up with a promise to take the recipient there — well, what could top it?  Be sure you choose a spot that will totally wow them.   Like these!

Le Gavroche — Michel Roux Jr has bags of wow factor not because it’s glitzy or grand, but rather because it does everything to perfection.  The  Michelin-starred cuisine, the effortless service, the charming and luxurious dining room, the superb wines all conspire to create one of life’s memorable dining experiences.  And if you’re feeling naughty, bunk off work, bring your co-conspirator and throw yourself into the £40 lunch menu, one of London’s greatest culinary bargains.

For opulence on a grand scale, nothing beats The Criterion in Piccadilly Circus.  Serving food and wine to London’s dining elite since 1873, The Criterion was relaunched not long ago under new ownership, bringing renewed decor and a thrill of excitement.  The soaring gilt ceiling and the plush red velvet bar create a fine backdrop for the classic European menu made from the best seasonal ingredients.  For all this style, the menu is moderately priced and there is a super selection of wines by the glass.

Galvin La Chapelle is a terrific choice when you’re seeking superlative food and magnificent style, though in a somewhat groovier vein.  Galvin La Chapelle grabbed a clutch of ‘best restaurant’ awards last year and was awarded a Michelin star in 2011 for its modern French cuisine.  The dining room is a soaring space created from a former chapel (hence the name), now transformed into a fabulous space for dining and drinking, seeing and being seen. 

A glamorous crowd peoples sketch Gallery in Mayfair, which is a favourite with the fashion and media crowds.  The space is a video gallery during the day, then is transformed in the evenings into one of the glossiest spots in town.  The French-based menu was created by the great Pierre Gagnaire and Mourad Mazouz, and diners are encouraged to enjoy the seasonal cuisine and terrific wines and drinks until closing at 2am.

Finally, if your idea of wow requires history, carving trolleys and neckties, then Simpson’s in the Strand is for you.  This is quintessential British dining at its best: chandeliers, thick white table linens, leather chairs, views over the Strand and an absolute chariot of a carving trolley that can be parked beside your table for the finest in rare British roast beef served with all the trimmings.  It’s been this way for more than 150 years and, heaven willing, Simpson’s will be here for a few more centuries.

For those who have only experienced Jun Tanaka’s cuisine when he takes to the streets with the Streetfood van during London Restaurant Week, the first visit to Pearl, his properly indoor restaurant, must come as something of a shock, followed quickly by delight.  The decor includes curtains of pearls, breathtaking chandeliers, leather seating, impressive pillars creating a sense of occasion which the food meets and surpasses.  The cuisine is French and it is among the best in the capital.

The Week in Food

Taste of London Advance Tix — Christmas Gift for Foodies

Remember how amazing Taste of London was this year, with the glorious rain, the more-than-glorious cuisines and tasting dishes, the fabulous cookery demonstrations and all the intriguings samples and products to get stuck into?  Taste of London 2012 will be every bit as brilliant, so if you’re looking for last-minute gifties for the food-worshippers in your life, a pair of tickets would be perfect.  Here’s the link.  Currently the list of restaurants includes lots of the  toptable diners’ hit parade: Asia de Cuba, Benares, Bocca di Lupo, Club Gascon, Coq D’Argent ,Gauthier Soho, Gaucho, L’Anima, Launceston Place, Le Gavroche, Rhodes 24, The Ritz Restaurant, Tamarind, Theo Randall at The Intercontinental and many more to come.

Shakes-beer

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London closes its doors every winter and reopens in June.  First production of 2012 will be Henry V, which is absolutely perfect for this paragraph, because in that play, Shakespeare wrote, ‘I would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.’  As it happens, The Swan at the Globe Theatre restaurant has just launched a limited edition, exclusive range of three beers to tempt you over the dreary, Shakespeareless months.  The organic range created from barley grown at Goodwood in Sussex and created by brewer Andrew Hepworth in Horsham includes a Globe Ale (see previous quotation), Globe Stout and Globe Blonde.  All three are available to enjoy with your meal or to take away for Christmas giving. 

Blumenthal Christmas Pudding Update

You may remember that last Christmas season, Heston Blumenthal created a hidden orange Christmas pudding for Waitrose which sold out right away and then showed up on ebay, attracting silly money and lots of attention.  The superchef has done it again, this year adding a hidden clementine small-sized pudding to the range.  These puddings, too, have apparently sold out from Waitrose and have again hit ebay, demonstrating the laws of scarcity and demand and also human frailty.  Some folks have cleared out their local Waitrose just for the purpose of flogging them on ebay, people The Sunday Times has tagged ‘pudding touts’.  However, we hear word that the Waitrose stores are expecting another shipment before Christmas, so if you have a mate who stacks the shelves or feel able to ingratiate yourself with your local Waitrose staff, there is still hope.  While we’ve been blogging, one sold for about £15 with postage and another failed to attract any buyers.  The most outrageous listing we’ve seen is for £1,000.  For that amount of money, you could take a couple of friends to Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and have the memories to keep, rather than the pudding, which will certainly disappear.

Christmas Drinking

Now that the weather’s wintry, we’ve said goodbye to G&T’s and frothy, fruity drinks and are turning our tastebuds to seasonal drinking of the very best sort.

The Cinnamon Club , Anise and the Cinnamon Kitchen have got the drop on fabulous seasonal cocktails with their cinnamon bellini, a fluted drink of cinnamon tea, goldschlager and cinnamon syrup, as well as their gorgeous spiced kir royale, made with saffron-infused Bulldog gin, their winter martini and a host of other season concoctions.

This is the time of year when the big, beefy red wines come into their own as well, to go with the terrific comfort food and traditional lunches that match the weather.  Look no farther than Le Pont de la Tour, whose wine list and sommelier have been bagging awards from big names like  Tatler and Wine Spectator this year and last.  The wine list is superb, though it is easy to stick to page one, ‘The Icons’, especially with the boldly-flavoured Barolo and St Emilion lurking there by the glass.  Pétrus – Gordon Ramsay, Launceston Place, Club Gascon and the 28-50 Wine Workshop and Kitchen are all fully stocked and waiting to satisfy these dark red urges.

Right now the manly brown drinks are exactly the right thing to sip by a fire as you wait for your table or share with mates on a lowering afternoon.  The Boisdale restaurants in Belgravia and Bishopsgate have amazing lists of blended and single malt Scotch to sample.  There are three different types of Boisdale’s own limited edition whiskies and the whisky list is so long that you may have to order a dram to sip — perhaps a Balvenie Signature 12 year old — while you leaf through it.  And ever since Mad Men, whenever we drink whisky, we feel just like Don Draper.

If you’re enjoying a classic English lunch with carving trolleys and Yorkshire puds, you absolutely must finish the experience with a splash of port to savour and extend the experience.  Top of the list is The Goring Dining Room — yes, that Goring, where Pippa Middleton’s sister stayed the night before she got married — which has a carte of ports that would bring tears to the eyes of Bertie Wooster.  The dining room is elegant and entirely civilised, a perfect setting for a proper English meal.

Finally, if champagne is your drink in this season, that season and every season, you should not miss a meal at Gauthier Soho this month.  Somehow the sommelier has laid hands on a supply of stunning Gosset Celebris  1998 Vintage Extra Brut champagne, a prestige cuvée from the oldest wine house in Champagne, est 1584.  This vintage release has the critics gasping for superlatives, and Gauthier are magically offering it for less-than-retail price.  Happy Christmas, indeed.