As of 2023, there are 206 Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK and Ireland – but, more often than not, dining on Michelin-tipped dishes can cost a pretty penny. Still, there are ways to try the best restaurants in the UK without breaking the bank. Some restaurants in the guide offer surprisingly affordable a la carte options, while others have tasting menus that creep in under the £100 mark.
If you want a Michelin-starred experience for less, we recommend seeing if the restaurant runs a lunch menu as a first port of call. Many restaurants serve lunchtime specials that are much cheaper than the team's evening service. Secondly, note that the more stars a restaurant has won, the more expensive it likely is – Heston Blumenthal's three Michelin-starred Fat Duck, for example, costs almost £400 per person. That's not to say it's not worth it – just that a visit might be best for a (very) special occasion.
Below, we've chosen 11 of our favourite Michelin-starred meals in the UK and Ireland where you can eat for less than £100.
Grace and Savour, Birmingham
Birmingham is not the first place that springs to mind when plotting a weekend away – and I say this as a proud born-and-bred Brummie. I have long sung the praises of my home city, but it's always been a difficult sell. The fact that there have been no smart hotels within touching distance of the city has not helped my case. But Hampton Manor, which firmly put itself on the map in the last few years, has changed that. Strictly speaking, this spot is in Solihull, just outside Birmingham proper. It's a gorgeous country-house estate where you can attend cooking classes and wine tastings. In 2022, the team opened Grace and Savour and in 2023, chef David Taylor lead the restaurant to its first Michelin star. The 15-course tasting menu is only available for dinner Wednesday-Sunday and costs £155. But on Saturdays, you can book a less intimidating eight-course lunch for £90 per person. You might dine on grass-fed beef brisket smoked over pine or creel-caught red prawns. The wine list here is also well thought of – in 2019, Hampton Manor won the AA Wine List of the Year.
Address: Hampton Manor, Shadowbrook Ln, Hampton in Arden, Solihull B92 0EN
Price: £90 on Saturday lunchtime
Website: hamptonmanor.com
Eipic, Belfast
Local ingredients are in the spotlight at this Belfast address, awarded a Michelin star in 2016. Northern Irish chef Alex Greene, who cut his teeth working with Gordon Ramsey, oversees the kitchen. All the menus here are £100 or less. The best value option is lunch, where two courses cost £38.50, and three courses cost £45 (lunch is served Thursday-Saturday). Dishes might include cheddar dumplings and barbecue chicken. The traditional and vegetarian tasting menus served in the evening cost £100 on the nose. Veggie options might include tangy cucumber, chilli, wasabi, sesame, or soy and honey-roasted celeriac. Finally – and most intriguingly – the ‘Menu Surprise’ costs £70. Greene will dish up a menu based on the day's best local produce – it's available during lunch service and on Thursday evenings.
Address: Eipic, 28-40 Howard St, Belfast BT1 6PF
Price: lunch £38.50-£45 (Thursday-Saturday); tasting menu £100; surprise menu £70
Website: deaneseipic.com
Heft, Newton in Cartmel
Heft is another Michelin guide newcomer. You'll find it in Cumbria – one of the UK's foodiest corners, where you'll also find Simon Rogan's restaurants. Owners Kevin and Nicola Tickle are both Cumbria-reared and took over this 17th-century inn a few years ago, opening a handful of bedrooms, a bar and a restaurant onsite. Lunch and dinner can be yours for less than £100 – just. Supper is £99.50 for a whopping 10 courses. So you might tuck into oxtail and thyme custard with bone marrow or scorched monkfish served with Jersey Royals, plus hunks of sourdough and lashings of butter. Lunch is even better value – for £39.50, chefs cook up four courses, including beef shin cooked low and slow or mussels with chip shop curry sauce.
Address: Heft, High Newton, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6JH
Price: lunch £39.50; dinner £99.50
Website: hefthighnewton.co.uk
Timberyard, Edinburgh
Timberyard might be locals' favourite restaurant in Edinburgh. Set in a 19th-century warehouse, Scottish produce and ingredients are put to good use. The five-course supper menu is £85 per person; expect a menu that changes seasonally and could include scallops with lobster butter or quail with greens. You can order from a concise a la carte menu at lunch – three courses cost £55. Think asparagus with chopped egg followed by celeriac and almond butter. The drinks list is as considered as the food. Kick things off with a Flying Scotsman cocktail, made with whisky, vermouth and pineapple weed (£14) or a Scottish Black Isle Organic Blonde (£7).
Address: Timberyard, 10 Lady Lawson St, Edinburgh EH3 9DS
Price: lunch £55; dinner £85
Website: timberyard.co
Restaurant 22, Cambridge
Husband and wife team Sam Carter and Alex Olivier revamped a Victorian townhouse in Cambridge to create Restaurant 22. It won its first Michelin star in 2023, a testament to the seasonally-led cooking here. The most affordable way to try the team's excellent food is on a Wednesday or Thursday lunchtime – a set lunch costs £55 per person. Three courses use British produce – think Newlyn cod and dry-aged pork. The short tasting menu during lunch service on other days costs £95 – note that the whole table must take the same menu.
Address: Restaurant 22, 2 Chesterton Rd, Cambridge CB4 3AX
Price: set lunch £55 (Wednesday and Thursday only); short tasting menu £95
Website: restaurant22.co.uk
Luca, London
London has more Michelin stars than any other city in the UK and Ireland, with 74 to its name. But this freshly-tipped restaurant in Islington might just be our favourite. Luca has long been on the hungry Londoner's foodie map. Here, chefs serve Italian classics in one of the prettiest dining rooms in London. At lunch, two courses from a cleverly edited menu cost £26, while taking three courses bumps the price up to £30 per person. Dine on Italian courgettes doused in stracciatella, pici with smoked mussels or a zesty salad of asparagus and pecorino – and that's just the starters. During dinner service, you can try the chef's menu for £95 per person in the restaurant. Based on what's good that day, the kitchen team will cook up antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci course.
Address: Luca, 88 St John St, London EC1M 4EH
Price: lunch £26-30; chef's menu £95
Website: luca.restaurant
Roots, York
Tommy Banks was the youngest chef to ever win a Michelin star at just 24 years old when he took over The Black Swan in Oldstead. In 2018, he opened his second restaurant – Roots – on the River Ouse in York, and these days runs the joint in partnership with head chef Will Lockwood, who started his career with Banks at The Black Swan in 2014. The £90 lunch menu here is only available on Fridays and Saturdays but is worth clearing a spot in your diary for. Eat plates of Oldstead charcuterie, aged beef with asparagus and lovage and broccoli with hazelnut (there's a £19 supplement for the cheese plate if you're feeling a little more spendy).
Address: Roots, 68 Marygate, York YO30 7BH
Price: lunch £90
Website: rootsyork.com
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The Coach, Marlow
You'd be one of a tiny number if you've yet to hear of The Coach. It's the sister spot to Tom Kerridge's Marlow pub, The Hand & Flowers, the first pub in the UK to win two Michelin stars. Its sister spot, The Coach, opened in 2014 and followed suit by winning one Michelin star in 2018. Head chef Sarah Hayward works in an open kitchen, where diners can spy on their dishes being created. And this restaurant might just have the best-value set lunch of any on this list – two courses are just £15. Menus change weekly and are available on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; at the time of writing, the team was cooking up roasted tomato soup and honey-glazed rotisserie bacon with fried Cacklebean egg and chips.
Address: The Coach, 3 West St, Marlow SL7 2LS
Price: two-course lunch £15; three-course lunch £22
Website: thecoachmarlow.co.uk
The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny
Many of the restaurants on this list are relative newcomers, headed by hungry young chefs doing something different. The Walnut Tree bucks that trend. It's been a food-lovers hotspot since the early 1960s. After a rough patch in the early 2000s when the restaurant closed for a period, it regained its Michelin star in 2010 under the leadership of chef Shaun Hill. It's set in Monmouthshire in Wales and menus change daily based on what's available. The set lunch menu is £40 for two courses and £45 for three courses (Lancashire bomb cheese soufflé and confit duck leg, perhaps).
Address: The Walnut Tree, Llanddewi Skirrid, Abergavenny NP7 8AW
Price: two-course lunch £40; three-course lunch £45
Website: thewalnuttreeinn.com
Chapter One, Dublin
Scandi chef Mickael Viljanen is in charge at this Dublin restaurant. He's no fresh arrival in Ireland, though – Viljanen moved here in 2000 and has spent the last 20 years cooking in restaurants around Dublin such as Greenhouse. These days, his restaurant Chapter One holds two Michelin stars – but you can still eat here for less than £100. The lunch menu is €75 (about £65) and offers diners a choice of two starters, mains and puddings (we like the sound of the wild and cultivated strawberries, elderflower and vanilla mouselline with Lampong pepper).
Address: Chapter One, 18-19 Parnell Square N, Rotunda, Dublin 1, D01 T3V8, Ireland
Price: about £65 at lunch
Website: chapteronerestaurant.com
Adam’s, Birmingham
I might be biased, but for my money, Birmingham has some of the best-value Michelin-starred meals in the country. Enter Adam's, which has long been a mainstay of the Midlands' food scene. Adam Stokes and his wife Natasha led the team here to a Michelin star just six months after opening in 2013 and have held onto it ever since. A three-course lunch menu is £55, while five courses cost £75. At suppertime, meanwhile, you can order from an a la carte menu for £80 per person. Try Wye Valley asparagus, wild turbot or crown of quail.
Address: Adam's, New Oxford House, 16 Waterloo St, Birmingham B2 5UG
Website: adamsrestaurant.co.uk