Six Proms set menus within a walk of the Royal Albert Hall
From £17 on Exhibition Road to two Michelin stars in Knightsbridge, none more than twenty minutes on foot
The Proms are into their final week. The season runs to Saturday 12 September at the Royal Albert Hall, and a Prom is an early evening. The museums along Exhibition Road empty out, the park goes gold, and the streets between Kensington and Knightsbridge fill with people looking for somewhere to eat first. The six set menus below are all within a twenty-minute walk of the hall, nearest first.
The entry point is two courses for £17 at Lina Stores South Kensington on Exhibition Road, twelve minutes from the doors. The occasion is three courses for £75 at Dinner by Heston in Knightsbridge. In between sit a pre-theatre sitting opposite Kensington Gardens, The Lavery in the Cromwell Place galleries, a Brompton Road Italian and a Japanese set that runs until 7pm.
01 · Cheneston's at The Milestone Hotel & Residences
Kensington
Set lunch two or three courses £45 to £55, 12.30pm to 2.30pm, and pre-theatre two or three courses £65 to £75, 5.30pm to 6.30pm, Monday to Sunday.
Eleven minutes from the hall, in the five-star Victorian hotel opposite Kensington Gardens. The pre-theatre sitting runs 5.30pm to 6.30pm every day of the week. That is the one built for a concert night: a table at half past five and a walk along the park afterwards. Lunch is the gentler price, £45 for two courses or £55 for three, seven days a week, with High Street Kensington seven minutes away.
View Cheneston's at The Milestone Hotel & Residences on All Set →
02 · The Lavery
South Kensington
Three courses £36 at lunch, 12pm to 2pm, and at pre-theatre, 5pm to 6pm, Wednesday to Friday.
A first-floor dining room inside the Cromwell Place galleries, in the Grade II-listed townhouse a celebrated Anglo-Irish painter once worked in. It is three minutes from South Kensington station and eleven from the hall. The set runs to Sorrento tomato tonnato, linguine with artichoke pesto and Amalfi lemon, and a Lavery mess. The 5pm to 6pm sitting is the concert-night one, and it runs Wednesday to Friday only, so it suits a Thursday or Friday Prom.
03 · Lina Stores South Kensington
Kensington
Two courses £17 or three £20, Monday to Friday, 12pm to 5pm.
Lina Stores on Exhibition Road, opposite the museums, twelve minutes from the hall. Two courses is antipasto and pasta or pasta and dolce; three courses takes one dish from each. The window runs to 5pm on weekdays. That makes it the late lunch before an evening Prom, or the table after a morning at the V&A. It is the one for a table of students, cousins or anyone who wants the Proms without a Knightsbridge bill.
04 · San Carlo Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
The Menu di Pranzo: two courses £26.95 or three £31.95, Monday to Friday, 12pm to 5pm.
Glamorous Italian just off Brompton Road, a short walk from Harrods, two minutes from Knightsbridge station and fifteen from the hall through the park. The Menu di Pranzo runs to 5pm on weekdays, later than a standard set lunch. A 3pm table still leaves time to cross Hyde Park before the doors. Knightsbridge is the station for the way home, two minutes from the door.
05 · CLAP
Knightsbridge
Two courses £29, Tuesday to Sunday, 12pm to 7pm.
Japanese fine dining on the sixth and seventh floors of the Knightsbridge Estate, two minutes from Knightsbridge station and eighteen from the hall. The weekday set menu is two courses for £29 or three for £34. The sitting runs all the way to 7pm, Tuesday to Sunday, which makes it the natural choice for a 5pm or 6pm table on a concert night. Sloane Square is sixteen minutes on foot if the Piccadilly line is busy.
06 · Dinner by Heston
Knightsbridge
The Luncheon Menu: three courses £75, Monday and Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm to 2pm.
Two Michelin stars in Knightsbridge, two minutes from the station and nineteen from the hall along the edge of Hyde Park. The Luncheon Menu is built on historical recipes, the pig's ear and the pineapple tart among them. It runs 12pm to 2pm on every day except Tuesday, which puts it before a matinee Prom or a long afternoon in the park before an evening one. It is the one to book first.
The Proms finish on Saturday 12 September. All six are on All Set with the full menu, the hours and a direct booking link, and there are more in every London lunch set menu. The Lavery and Dinner by Heston are the two to book ahead.