Five to try: Off-peak or off-piste

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Go up here before the prices do: York & Albany

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• Best French Food
• Hi-tech dining

YORK & ALBANY
127-129 Parkway, NW1 (020 7388 3344) £26.
The lunch menu at £15, which included chicken liver and foie gras mousse and caramelised popcorn topping and tailing the meal, is real value. Rigatoni with tomatoes and spicy sausages was perhaps too dainty but left room for braised pork belly with black pudding and gnocchi and then profiteroles. Go up there before the prices do.

MALMAISON BRASSERIE
18-21 Charterhouse Street, EC1 (020 7012 3700) £32.
A menu entitled Home-grown and Local featuring produce of named suppliers is offered. Local to London would seem to include the shires. The menu is £15.50/£17.50 for two/three courses. Side orders at £3.75 trash the deal so don't bother. However, a £2 supplement for artisan cheeses is money well spent.

IKEDA
30 Brook Street, W1 (020 7629 2730) £28 (lunch).
In no other cuisine is the price gap between lunch and dinner so marked as in Japanese restaurants. This long-established, family-owned restaurant is praised by those in the know. Sit at the counter and understand the Zen of slicing and of pot washing.

SCOTT'S OYSTER BAR
20 Mount Street, W1 (020 7495 7309) £30.
Chatter about Scott's frequently centres on who rather than what is on the menu, but with the recent return of the natives it is time to book a seat at the Oyster Bar. Choose from as many as six varieties of rocks and natives or just have a main course like deep-fried haddock with mushy peas for £17.50.

SONNY'S
94 Church Road, SW13 (020 8 748 0393) £28.
A revamp at this trusted local restaurant includes a welcoming new bar area with an enterprising menu. Foie gras schnitzel with fried quails egg is a rich, small plate for £7.50. Large plates include No-Carb Benedict (£6.50) and salt beef hash with poached duck egg (£12.50). Wines from £11.95; drinking in the well-chosen art is free.

*Prices estimate a set-price or bar meal with wine for one.

 

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