This Is What Dinner At The Most Expensive Restaurants In London Costs
The city’s most expensive restaurants now regularly charge upwards of £300 before wine, with pairings alone sometimes costing more than a weekend in Europe. But beneath the financial horror lies something genuinely fascinating: years of training, rare ingredients flown across the world, tiny dining rooms with impossible rent, and chefs obsessing over things most of us would never even notice, like rice temperature or the precise age of a fish. Some of these restaurants are pure theatre. Some are genuinely life-changing. Most are both, and all are probably some of the best restaurants in London. Here are the most expensive restaurants in London.
Sushi Kanesaka: £420
Officially London’s most expensive tasting menu. Twenty courses unfold at a nine-seat hinoki wood counter inside 45 Park Lane, where every movement feels ceremonial. The fish is exceptional, the precision extraordinary, and the atmosphere so hushed that dropping your chopsticks feels like committing a crime.
The question everyone asks is whether £420 sushi can ever be worth it. Financially? Difficult. As a pure expression of craft? Much easier to understand. Several reviewers describe it as the closest thing London has to a traditional high-end Tokyo sushi experience.
Where: 45 park lane, w1k 1pn
Website: www.dorchestercollection.com
Ikoyi: £380
Ikoyi may be one of the most famous restaurants in London right now. Chef Jeremy Chan’s cooking draws influence from West African flavours while using some of the best produce available in Britain, creating dishes that often feel completely unfamiliar despite being rooted in recognisable ingredients.
The menu changes constantly and arrives without much explanation beforehand. That’s intentional. Dining at Ikoyi feels less like ordering dinner, more like surrendering to somebody else’s very expensive vision. Think mussel custards, spice blends you’ve never encountered before, and combinations that in any other context might sound slightly unhinged.
Where: 180 Strand, Temple, London WC2R 1EA
Website: www.ikoyilondon.com
I was initially sceptical of Ikoyi, having heard that Jeremy Chan doesn’t taste his own food, which seemed wrong for a two-Michelin. But the food was exceptional, the space is stunning, and the experience more than lived up to the hype.
Caitlin, Senior Campaign Success Manager
Sushi Amamoto: £380
The arrival of Sushi Amamoto helped cement London’s current omakase obsession. Twenty-two courses cost £380, while the highest pairing pushes the experience beyond £800 per person.
Part of what you’re paying for is scarcity. Tiny counters. Extremely limited seating. Direct interaction with the chef. Unlike larger fine dining restaurants, these experiences rely on intimacy as much as ingredients. Every bite is served directly to you, often seconds after being prepared.
Where: Ground Floor, 36 Albemarle St, London W1S 4JE
Website: www.amamotolondon.com
The Araki: £310
At The Araki, there is nowhere to hide. No distractions, no elaborate interiors, no theatrical dining room flourishes. Just a tiny counter and an omakase menu that costs £310.
The restaurant was founded by legendary sushi master Mitsuhiro Araki and became the first Japanese restaurant in Europe to receive three Michelin stars. While Araki himself has since returned to Japan, the restaurant remains one of London’s defining luxury sushi experiences.
Part of what makes omakase so expensive is the relationship between chef and diner. Unlike most restaurants, every course is prepared directly in front of you and designed to be eaten almost immediately. Timing becomes part of the dish itself.
Where: Unit 4, 12 New Burlington St, London W1S 3BF
Website: www.the-araki.co.uk
The Ledbury: £295
The Ledbury is one of those restaurants chefs speak about with the sort of reverence normally reserved for musicians or athletes. Since reopening after the pandemic, Brett Graham’s Notting Hill restaurant has become one of the most admired dining rooms in Britain.
Part of the reason is Graham’s relationship with ingredients. Fine dining often gets criticised for overcomplicating food, but The Ledbury does the opposite. Dishes like Iberian nduja with green strawberry and saffron or black sesame with fig leaf and green yuzu sound elaborate, yet somehow taste focused and restrained. The technical skill is immense, but never feels showy.
Where: 127 Ledbury Rd, London W11 2AQ
Website: www.theledbury.com
Core by Clare Smyth: £275
Three Michelin stars have a habit of making restaurants feel intimidating. Core somehow doesn’t.
Clare Smyth’s cooking is rooted in British produce but executed with extraordinary precision. Dishes like Highland Wagyu beef with Porthilly oysters or the restaurant’s famous potato course have become modern classics. What’s particularly impressive is how often diners talk about warmth rather than luxury when describing Core. Even online, people seem slightly emotional discussing the potato dish.
This is perhaps the strongest argument for expensive restaurants: taking something familiar and making you experience it completely differently.
Where: 92 Kensington Park Rd, London W11 2PN
Website: www.corebyclaresmyth.com
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: £260
Long before chef’s tables, Instagram tasting menus and edible smoke, there was Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Opened in 1998, it remains one of London’s most enduring fine dining institutions and has held three Michelin stars for over two decades.
What you’re paying for here is consistency. Michelin inspectors famously value consistency above almost everything else, and maintaining that level for more than twenty years is extraordinarily difficult. The dining room leans classic rather than trendy: immaculate service, French technique and a level of polish that feels increasingly rare in modern restaurants. No projections on the table. Just extremely good food executed almost flawlessly.
Where: 68 Royal Hospital Rd, London SW3 4HP
Website: www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com
UMU: £260
If sushi is about precision, kaiseki is about harmony. UMU specialises in Kyoto-style kaiseki, one of Japan’s most refined culinary traditions and arguably one of the most complex forms of dining in the world.
Traditionally, kaiseki evolved from Japanese tea ceremonies and is built around seasonality, balance and progression. Every course is designed to flow naturally into the next, highlighting texture, temperature and ingredients at their seasonal peak. At UMU, dishes might include red seabream with mountain vegetables, Wagyu beef with bamboo shoots, scallops with caviar or sakura mousse. Nothing screams for attention. Instead, luxury here is restraint.
Where: 14-16 Bruton Pl, London W1J 6LX
Website: www.umurestaurant.com
Row on 5: £250
Spencer Metzger’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant stretches across three different spaces, turning dinner into something closer to a first-class travel day.
Fifteen courses move guests through different rooms while showcasing ingredients like Cornish bluefin tuna and wild Málaga strawberries. It’s luxurious without being stiff, theatrical without becoming cringey, and proof that modern fine dining increasingly cares about atmosphere as much as food.
Where: 5 Savile Row, London W1S 3PB
Website: www.rowon5london.com
The Ritz Restaurant: £235
The Ritz remains one of the last great monuments to traditional luxury dining in London.
While many fine dining restaurants now favour minimalism and casual service, The Ritz doubles down on grandeur. The seven-course Epicurean Journey celebrates British produce sourced from farms, fisheries and suppliers around the UK, while the prestige wine pairing costs an additional £750. The whole experience feels delightfully out of step with modern life. In the best possible way.
Where: 150 Piccadilly, London W1J 9BR
Website: www.theritzlondon.com
You’d be hard pushed to find a more opulent setting in London. The Ritz is one of those super special occasion, remember-for-ever restaurants.
Astrid, Contributing Fashion & Lifestyle Editor
A. Wong: £235
Andrew Wong’s tasting menu may be one of the most educational meals in London. Not in a boring museum way, but in a way that makes you realise how narrow most people’s understanding of Chinese food actually is.
His “Taste of China” menu draws inspiration from dozens of regions across the country, moving far beyond the Cantonese dishes that have historically dominated British Chinese restaurant culture. One course might reference Sichuan street food, another Anhui cooking, another Imperial Beijing cuisine. At two Michelin stars, Wong has essentially turned dinner into edible cultural storytelling. This is one of the few expensive tasting menus where you genuinely leave feeling like you learned something.
Where: 70 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, London SW1V 1DE
Website: www.awong.co.uk
Humble Chicken: £235
Perhaps the most dramatic glow-up in London dining history. Humble Chicken began life as a yakitori restaurant and has somehow evolved into one of the city’s most sought-after tasting menu experiences, earning two Michelin stars in the process.
Chef Angelo Sato’s background includes time at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Ryugin in Tokyo, and that influence shows. The menu still revolves around Japanese techniques, smoke and grilling, but now operates at an extraordinary level of precision. Part of what makes Humble Chicken fascinating is that it represents a broader trend in fine dining: restaurants becoming smaller, more intimate and more chef-driven. Less dining room, more obsession. Reservations remain notoriously difficult to get.
Where: 54 Frith St, London W1D 4SJ
Website: www.humblechickenuk.com
Hélène Darroze at The Connaught: £225
Hélène Darroze’s dining room sits in that sweet spot where luxury becomes almost invisible. Nothing feels flashy, but everything feels expensive.
Some supplements reach £120. One wine pairing costs £665. Yet this remains one of London’s most admired restaurants because every detail feels meticulous rather than extravagant for the sake of it. French technique, exceptional produce and some of the best hospitality in the city.
Where: The Connaught, Carlos Pl, London W1K 2AL
Website: www.maybourne.com
Frog by Adam Handling: £199
Adam Handling has built much of Frog’s identity around reducing waste, using overlooked ingredients and finding ways to make fine dining less environmentally ridiculous without sacrificing luxury.
The tasting menu currently sits at £199 and takes diners on what the restaurant describes as a journey around the British Isles. But unlike some tasting menus that feel designed primarily to impress Michelin inspectors, Frog retains a sense of fun. There are dishes built around chicken butter, beef tea, trimmings and scraps transformed into something elegant. The cooking is technical, but there’s a warmth to it that stops it becoming self-important. Online, diners consistently talk about how engaged and friendly the team are, which sounds simple until you realise how rare that can be at this level.
Where: 34-35 Southampton St, London WC2E 7HG
Website: www.frogbyadamhandling.com
