LDNGuide
Where To ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ When Dishoom’s Fully Booked
The government’s ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme offers diners a discount of up to £10 per person, excluding booze, when they eat out from Monday to Wednesday throughout August.
Don’t worry, Dishoom’s 50% off the entire bill offer isn’t the only thing worth going out for this month. In fact there are plenty of restaurants across London, both serving curries and not, with deals or always-reasonable prices, who are part of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme. If you’re looking for minimum spend in particular, then check out our £10 Guide.
Find all of our ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ guides, here.
The Spots
The raucous Punjabi curry house just off the Whitechapel Road is an always-reliable bet for a good time, if done the right way. That way involves a group of friends, plenty of jangling bags from the offie, and the reassuring sizzle and smell of plenty of portions of their famous lamb chops. Plus it’s BYOB, so there’s money saved there.
Rasa Sayang recently had a bit of a revamp and moved around the corner to Frith Street and the good news is that it’s still just as delicious. This Malaysian spot offers reliably tasty char kway teow and Hainanese chicken rice all for under a tenner, without discount. There are plenty of vegetarian options too, like morning glory or sambal okra, and all in all it’s a guaranteed winner.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
Another legendary Whitechapel restaurant, Lahore is an institution for excellent value, deliciously daal-filled, group meals. That isn’t to say you can’t enjoy their onion bhajis and a portion of softly spiced chicken karahi alone. But the more the merrier is the way to go at Lahore, with family, friends, and dishes on the table.
N1’s very own answer to Lazarus, the French brasserie has reopened (from August 14th) with a new remit and aesthetic after closing a year or so ago. With an intention to be priced more like its sibling Brasserie Zedel, Bellanger will more than likely have some excellent prix fixe menus and a menu of reasonably-priced brasserie classics.
Diwana is an old-school Indian restaurant in Euston with a fine menu of all-vegetarian options. We generally opt for a thali - a platter of curries, pickles, and breads - along with a bhel poori - samosas, daal, poori and other snacks. All of it, again, is priced extremely reasonably.
The Middle Eastern-influenced vegetarian spot in Spitalfields serves the perfect food for summer and, just for August, they will be opening on Mondays to serve a selection of small plates for £10, including the EOTHO discount. Their 10-course set menu will also be discounted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so be sure to book ahead.
Round the corner from Tayyabs is Needoo, another Pakistani restaurant with claims to the best lamb chops in Whitechapel. To be honest, both have their good and okay days. But if you’re looking for somewhere a little less rowdy than Tayaabs with a similar quality of curry, Needoo is a good bet.
Yipin is Islington’s go-to Chinese restaurant with a menu that spans Cantonese, Sichuan, and Hunan dishes. It’s the kind of place where you can (and we have) spent a not insignificant chunk of money, but the portions here are generous and the flavours excellent, so you don’t have to over order like we do. Twice cooked pork belly and hot and numbing beef are particular favourites.
With locations in Shoreditch and Tower Bridge, Gunpowder offers a little bit of that geographic spread that Dishoom has. It also offers things that Dishoom doesn’t, like their famous curry venison-filled doughnut, and lamb chops the size of a VHS tape. They also offer a two or three-course set lunch that comes to £10 as part of EOTHO.
A Persian deli-cum-cafe, this BYOB spot in Peckham serves fantastic mezze at fantastic prices. Their ‘tasting menu’ - a £20 series of seemingly unlimited vegetarian courses - is the best move. Though any mezze and dessert combo is a winner.
Roti King is mega-popular Malaysian restaurant in Euston that serves tasty and delicious roti canai with bowls of curry, as well as nasi lemak laksa, and more. You’re best off coming here as a couple rather than en masse because it’s walk-in only (though you can pre-queue via app), but quality and quantity of food makes it all worthwhile.
Rasa is a south Indian spot in Stoke Newington that’s been making excellent all-vegetarian Keralan food since the mid ’90s. Famous for their pink interior and exterior, and their delicious and good value food, nothing here goes over £8 - from beetroot curries, to potato and chutney filled dosas - and a lot of the menu is vegan and gluten free.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
As well as making London’s best shen jiang bao soup dumplings, Dumpling Shack are also doing some brilliant EOTHO-specific deals. Every Tuesday they’re offering special sets for £10, including: six pork soup dumplings, spicy beef noodles, and a drink, or four dumplings, prawn wontons, crispy spring onion pancake plus a drink. All for a tenner. There’s also a Sichuan hot fried chicken sandwich dinner deal.
LDN Guide
Where To Have A Great £10 Meal With The ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ Scheme
