Set menus for BFI London Film Festival 2026, from £21.95
Six pre-screening set menus between Covent Garden and Soho, from £21.95 beside the piazza
A festival screening begins when the ticket says it does. The BFI has its London Film Festival running from Wednesday 7 October to Sunday 18 October 2026, with seats to fill at the BFI on the South Bank, the Royal Festival Hall and Leicester Square, and a fixed hour beforehand in which somebody has to eat. London's set menus have been answering that exact problem for the theatres for over a century, so the machinery is already in place.
What the kitchens around the festival show is how differently the same short window can be used. The Delaunay times three courses and a drink to the two theatres across the street, then opens a second sitting for anyone eating once the show is over, while Sussex puts its lunch through inside an hour. Both are answers to a start time printed on a ticket.
01 | The Delaunay
Covent Garden
a 3 + drink menu £29.50, Mon to Fri, 4.30pm to 6.30pm & 9pm to close
Across the street from The Delaunay stand the Aldwych and the Novello, and the Full Haus menu is timed to both, with a second sitting held back for anyone eating after the show. The kitchen at 55 Aldwych works the Viennese repertoire straight through the day, from tartes flambées and Wiener Schnitzel to a Baked Alaska flambéed with kirsch at the table. Time Out describes green leather banquettes, brass rails, antique mirrors and a black and white marble floor.
02 | Savoy Grill by Gordon Ramsay
Strand
two or three courses £59 to £66, Mon to Fri, 12pm to 5.45pm
Savoy Grill by Gordon Ramsay once kept a separate street entrance so that figures from the film industry could come and go unnoticed, a detail its own history still records. It opened in 1889 beside the hotel and the Savoy Theatre, moved to the front of the building in 1904, and had its dining room refurbished again in 2023. Beef Wellington and joints carved from the trolley come out of the art-deco grill room.
03 | Sussex
Soho
two or three courses £22 to £25, Tue to Fri, 12pm to 4.30pm
An hour is all the Farm-to-Fork lunch at Sussex asks for, which counts for something when the seat has a number and a time. British food comes off a BBQ grill on Frith Street, and Hot Dinners reports that the ingredients arrive directly from the family farm, organic for both produce and meat. A section of the wine list is given to the family vineyard, a 10 hectare plot turning out 40,000 bottles a year.
04 | 75 at Liberty
Soho
two or three courses £29 to £35, Mon to Sat, 4pm to 6.30pm
Supper before a screening does not usually begin by walking through a department store. 75 at Liberty sits on the second floor of the Grade II listed Liberty building, and it opened in 2025 for the store's 150th anniversary, taking its name from the founding year of 1875. Two AA Rosettes arrived within three months. The kitchen works with seasonal and own-grown produce, and the plates are made to share.
05 | Boulevard Brasserie
Covent Garden
two or three courses £21.95 to £26.90, Mon to Sun, 12pm to 6.30pm
Steak tartare, boeuf bourguignon and moules marinière have been going out at Boulevard Brasserie since 1991, across three floors dressed after 1960s Paris Theatreland. More than 20 theatres stand within ten minutes' walk of the door, just off the Covent Garden Piazza.
06 | Palm Court Brasserie
Covent Garden
two or three courses £21.95 to £25.95, Mon to Sun, 12pm to 6.30pm
A classical 1920s art nouveau setting, recreated on King Street: Palm Court Brasserie looks straight out over the piazza. Moules marinières, steak frites and duck confit are cooked by traditional methods. Tatler put it among its best restaurants in Covent Garden and the West End.
A ticket time is not negotiable, and nor is the walk to the seat. The question worth settling early is whether the meal ends before the lights go down or waits until they come back up, and The Delaunay will take it either way. Every London lunch set menu is there for the matinees.