Our top 4 pre-theatre gems
Seated, fed and back out before the overture
Pre-theatre dinner is one of London's great unsung set-menu categories. The whole format exists because curtain-up is at 7:30pm and you can't show up to a play hangry, so restaurants in the West End learned to feed people three quick courses and get them out the door.
The dirty secret: pre-theatre menus are often the best value the kitchen offers all week. Same kitchen, same suppliers, half the bill, finished in 90 minutes. Whether you're seeing something at the Old Vic or you just want to eat well and bail before 7:30, these four are our favourites.
01 · Brasserie Zédel
Soho
Two courses for £16.95 in a gilded Parisian basement.
Zédel is the great London illusion: you descend a staircase off Piccadilly Circus and emerge in a 1930s Parisian brasserie. The set menu is borderline absurd value (French onion soup, steak haché, crème caramel) for the price of a couple of cocktails next door.
02 · The Palomar
Soho
Soho counter seating, sharp Mediterranean cooking, £28 for two courses.
The Palomar's bar is theatre on its own. You sit shoulder to shoulder with the kitchen as they fire kubaneh bread and shakshuka. The Weekday Prix Fixe runs at lunch and from 5pm, so you can grab the 6pm show across the road and still eat properly first.
03 · Bocca di Lupo
Soho
Regional Italian cooking at the marble counter, £18 for two courses.
Bocca di Lupo cooks across the Italian regions, and the lunch and pre-theatre menu distils that into a set starter, main and dessert, each drawn from a different part of the country and changed regularly, with the pasta made in house. Seats at the marble counter look directly onto the open kitchen, so the cooking happens in front of you. Two courses are £18, dessert £8, Monday to Friday until 6.30pm, which suits an early dinner before curtain up.
04 · Wild Honey St James
St James's
Michelin-star pre-theatre supper for £45.
The Pre-Theatre Supper (Tue to Sat, 5 to 6:15pm) is the move when you want to feel slightly fancy before a play but don't want to spend £200 doing it. Three courses, properly cooked, 90 minutes turn-around. Add £15 for a glass of Laurent Perrier if you're celebrating.
Book the 5pm sitting. Thank us at the interval.