Michelin-starred restaurants can often feel daunting for food lovers whose budgets don’t stretch to such elite establishments. But what if we told you it’s possible to bag a top-dollar meal for under £40 ($50) a head? Proving that fine dining doesn’t have to be prohibitive or pretentious, these 30 restaurants from around the world offer exquisite dishes at reasonable prices, all while holding one of those coveted red stars. Prices correct at the time of writing.
One of the restaurateurs behind Tail Up Goat, Jill Tyler, grew up in the US Virgin Islands. There, they had a tip for telling the difference between the fleecy locals: "Tail up goat, tail down sheep". And thus, the rest is history. Along with her business partners, Jon Sybert and Bill Jensen, Jill created this neighbourhood eatery with the intention of fostering relaxation, gatherings and good food. From £35 ($44), you can grab one of the small plates, a medium plate and dessert: the crispy salt cod with smoked cauliflower aioli sounds especially tempting.
The building that Le Pilori calls home has been a hospitality venue since 1917. Almost a century later, the restaurant gained a Michelin star under the expert gaze of chef Michel Van Cauwelaert, whose vision comprises Japanese training and precision, a love for under-used ingredients and just enough experimental flair. He devises a set three-course market menu daily which costs €40 (£34/$43) at weekday lunchtimes or €43 (£36/$46) on evenings, weekends and public holidays. Some frequently recurring ingredients include veal, langoustine and eel.
With Aussie chef David Thompson at the helm, Aaharn receives produce straight from Thailand to provide Hong Kong with authentic Thai cuisine. While a set menu is available, save yourself some pennies by opting for a la carte items with the lowest prices instead. Start with roast duck and shiitake soup before trying either grilled prawn satay or pumpkin curry, both of which come with jasmine rice. Add the steamed rice pudding with palm sugar for a sweet treat at the end of your meal and you’ll only be 334 Hong Kong dollars (£34/$43) lighter.
Housed within the COMO Metropolitan Bangkok, nahm brings a contemporary twist to the traditional dishes of Thailand while staying true to its signature flavour profiles: sweet, sour, salty, spicy and savoury. The restaurant has a curated set menu, but it’s actually more affordable to pick the cheapest options from the a la carte. Choose a soup course – either tom yum or tamarind and ginger broth with black grouper fish – and the least-expensive main, which is a vegetarian massaman curry. Finish with a coconut or pandan dessert and you’ll have spent just 1,400 Thai baht (£32/$41).
Having retained its Michelin star since 2011, Kitchen W8 proves that even restaurants outside of London’s overcrowded centre can not only survive, but thrive. Its fuss-free style is "modern English with a French soul", informed by new seasonal produce and classic cookery. Ensuring there’s something to suit every kind of diner, the restaurant provides a set menu alongside its more elaborate tasting menu and a la carte options. The set menu offers two courses for £31.50 ($40) or three courses for £34.50 ($43).
Looking more like a modern art gallery than a restaurant, Noble Kitchen was only awarded its Michelin star in 2020. All about “soul food and happy times", the fusion menu travels the world for its inspiration, featuring Dutch delicacies, like bitterballen, alongside Spanish cured meats, Indian spices and Japanese yakitori, sushi and sashimi. For €37 (£31/$40), you can tuck into a daily changing two-course lunch menu that offers a choice between starter and main or main and dessert.
Love this? Follow our Pinterest page for more food inspiration
The Woodspeen is a converted 19th-century farmhouse restaurant with an emphasis on homegrown produce. Dictated by the seasonal cycle, its dishes revolve around only what is best at that precise moment in the year, always keeping the chefs on their toes. For £30 ($38), the restaurant lays on a two-course set lunch menu from Tuesday to Friday, which can be upgraded to three courses for an extra £5 ($6). Based on what’s growing in the garden at that given time, expect plenty of fresh veg, berries and botanicals.
Set on the edge of Exmoor National Park, the Masons Arms is led by Mark and Sarah Dodson, advocates for locally sourced ingredients prepared and presented with care. The gastropub’s food is as earthy as it is elegant, with a three-course lunch served between noon and 2pm from Tuesday to Saturday for £29.50 ($37). Guests are warned the menu can change at any time to reflect the finest produce, but dishes like duck liver parfait with rhubarb chutney and butternut squash risotto with tempura vegetables have featured in the past.
Guided by its coastal postcode and ingredients sourced from its surroundings, Le Pousse-Pied specialises in seafood and in-season market produce. Dishes are updated frequently to prioritise the freshest items and are presented with a slick minimalism – everything on the plate serving a purpose. The restaurant’s menu of the day costs €35 (£29/$37) and consists of three courses which bend to the whims of the elements. They change often, but the sample menu speaks of creamy asparagus and egg yolk, followed by pollack with coffee emulsion and caramelised banana flan.
Located in the Mission district of the Golden City, it’s not difficult to spot the cobalt-blue façade of AL’s Place from a distance. Chef-patron Aaron London devised the concept around seasonality and locality, creating an energetic setting where customers can explore the distinctive flavour profiles of brine-pickled French fries with smoked apple sauce, burrata and yeasted sugar snaps, rancho guacamole pork belly and grits with goat milk curds. They don’t have a set menu, but £29 ($37) will cover a 'snackle' of your choice, the cheapest warm dish and a dessert.
Restaurants with an exclusive vibe can often feel inaccessible to those who have limited cash to splash. But EIPIC does the exact opposite, welcoming everyone from big parties to solo-diners into its sophisticated lair, regardless of whether they’re here for the extravagant tasting menu or just treating themselves to lunch. £28 ($35) will pay for two courses on Thursday to Saturday lunchtimes, with £33 ($42) stretching to three courses. Aged shorthorn beef with oyster and barbecued red mullet have both graced the menu in recent times.
Bistro Racine has coined the term 'bistronomic' to define its practice, capturing the convivial spirit and ease of authentic bistro dining while also not being afraid to push the creative envelope with its techniques and signature dishes. Based around whatever the market sells on a particular morning, a three-course weekday lunch menu is available for €33 (£28/$35). The details of what you'll be eating are kept under wraps until you take your seat at the table.
Located down a fairy light-lit side street in the Belgian city of Braine-l'Alleud, Philippe Meyers’ eponymous restaurant delivers a light touch when it comes to the dishes on offer, which have been expertly crafted to simply enhance the natural beauty of the ingredients they present. A €33 (£28/$35) set lunch menu grants diners the opportunity to try a surprise selection of appetisers, plus a starter and a main course. €41 (£35/$44) gets you a sweet or a cheese board as well.
As the name of the restaurant might suggest, Field puts natural and seasonal ingredients under the microscope, with chef Radek Kašpárek combining the essence of traditional Czech cuisine with contemporary innovation. 800 Czech koruna (£27.50/$35) gets you a two-course weekday set lunch, with the option of adding a third course for extra 150 koruna (£5/$6). Think nose-to-tail cooking here: starters like tongue with mushrooms, horseradish and black garlic and mains designed around principal characters such as pike perch and local lamb.
Bringing French flair to Bangkok, J’aime is the brainchild of Jean-Michel Lorain, whose daughter Marine also helps run the family business. A picnic lunch at the restaurant, costing 1,140 Thai baht (£26/$33), typically includes a light appetiser, an entrée, a main course and a sweet. The current menu begins with an infusion of turnip and onion, followed by root vegetable salad or smoked ricotta mousse, leading into a main of either tiger prawns with carrot mille-feuille or chicken and Champagne sauce. Dessert is flavours of corn and pomegranate.
In the hip East London neighbourhood of Shoreditch, a red neon sign with looped lettering marks the spot for Leroy, a modern British restaurant and wine bar. Open the wooden doors into its chilled interior where you’ll be met by friendly staff and menus that evolve with the seasons. A fixed-price weekday lunch menu runs at £26 ($33) for two courses or £29 ($36.50) for three and has been known to feature chicken liver parfait, lamb shoulder cannelloni and wild garlic risotto, although options change daily.
Inspired by its La Mancha setting and the natural bounties of this historic region, Trivio is all about using native products and techniques. Led by Jesús Segura, the restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2018 and has two dining areas: a more formal space reserved for epic nine and 15-course tasting menus, and Le Barra, a bistro bar mainly specialising in tapas. But Le Barra has a little something else up its sleeve, with a €30 (£25/$32) tasting menu of its own, including three starters, a main and a dessert per person.
With striking red walls and cream silk drapes, Vintage 1997 makes an elegant first impression. The restaurant’s name is derived from the year it opened its doors and a desire to honour Turin’s gastronomic past, showing how traditional dishes can still be celebrated and made relevant to modern consumers. They offer three different lunch set menus for €30 (£25/$32) that follow either a meat, fish or vegetable theme. Each of the menus includes three courses: starter, main and pudding.
A great spot for oenophiles and epicureans alike, Borkonyha Winekitchen has over 200 varieties of wine on their list. The food here is beautifully plated, incorporating complementary colours and textures which result in fantastic tastes. 10,850 Hungarian forints (£24/$30) covers the cheapest options for a three-course meal on the menu: trout and tomato soup to start, followed by a main of celery, mushrooms and elderberry before ending with the 'sliding tree' dessert, flavoured with nutty sesame seeds and sweet caramel.
In Perpignan, where the Pyrenean Mountains meet the sea, La Galinette’s dishes are fine-tuned to nature’s seasonal rhythms. Dedicated to highlighting the wealth of products harvested from his kitchen garden, orchards and olive groves, chef Christophe Comes builds his daily menu around vegetables, herbs and fruits that are most fresh, abundant and exciting. For €28 (£24/$30) from Wednesday to Friday, you can indulge in a three-course lunch sitting which places you entirely at the mercy of the elements and the chef’s artistry.
Not only does this restaurant hold a Michelin star, but it also boasts a prestigious green star for its commitment to sustainability. Chef Clément Guillemot sources his ingredients from as near as possible, championing those that are organic and biodynamic, as well as from his on-site vegetable garden. Meaning ‘the good corner’ in the Basque language, Choko Ona guides visitors on a culinary journey through the diverse landscapes of the region, with a €28 (£24/$30) three-course lunch served every day but Saturday.
Serving modern American sharing plates such as cumin lamb dumplings, squid with crispy chickpeas, green garlic pancakes and quail in various ways, State Bird Provisions often has hungry customers queuing around the block. The cost of £24 ($30) per head is based off the cheapest snack, a 'commendable' and dessert on the menu, but the non-traditional nature of the dining experience might mean you’ve got room in your belly (and on your bill) for more. The good news is that it’s still great value for money if you do.
The only pan-Asian restaurant in Rio to be awarded with such an eminent accolade, Mee is one of two Michelin-starred gaffs at the Belmond Copacabana Palace (Ristorante Hotel Cipriani being the other). Coming in at 145 Brazilian Real (£23/$29) for the least-expensive starter, main and dessert, this dinner gets you a steamed pork bun with wasabi mayonnaise, soba noodles with tempura prawns and a bowl of ice cream or sorbet. If your budget can stretch to it, sample some sake and nibbles from the sushi bar too.
Auberge du Cep’s three-course daytime market menu is an absolute steal at €27 (£23/$29). Expect everything from roast chicken and hearty stews punchy with local wine to sweetbreads and Burgundian snails at this quaint French inn, where it’s all about the fruits of the earth. Chef Aurélien Merot is particularly passionate about the depth of his sauces, which will come as a great relief to anyone who loves just as gravy much.
Taking their lead from seasonal produce found within France’s Ardèche department, chef Richard Rocle and his wife Angèle (who oversees front-of-house) make a formidable team. A gourmet getaway at Auberge de Montfleury is characterised by the warmth of its hospitality and creative food that really tells a story. Local game, fresh fish and vibrant veggies appear often on the menu; the cheapest of which is a two-course weekday market lunch for €27 (£23/$29). Guests can upgrade to three courses for €30 (£25/$32).
Silabario sits within the port city of Vigo, just north of the Portuguese border. Its geographical location – between land, sea and river – informs its recipes, which have been known to showcase lamprey (an eel-like jawless fish), Galician beef, scallops and venison. The restaurant’s Berbés menu is offered for lunch from Monday to Friday and Monday to Thursday for dinner at €27 (£23/$29). It is influenced by the local market’s daily wares and includes an appetiser, starter, main, dessert and an accompanying side of bread.
Housed within an old mill, Moulin de la Tardoire puts sustainable gastronomy front and centre. It utilises short supply chains wherever possible and sources from thoughtfully selected producers, resulting in seasonal dishes that combine flavours of the French countryside with contemporary cooking techniques. Menu of the Day is served at weekday lunchtimes, offering a starter, main course and dessert that varies daily for the cost of €25.50 (£21/$27). A tasting menu and three to four-course meals can also be arranged, however, these carry a bigger price tag.
Bringing a taste of home to the streets of Tokyo’s Kagurazaka district, chef Christophe Paucod opened his traditional Lyonnaise bistro in 2007, having left France in 1998 to work in Japan at Le Cordon Bleu. Named after Lyon's Roman title, Lugdunum serves the authentic cuisine of this French region, incorporating produce like pig’s ears, foie gras, blood sausage and pink praline. The weekday lunch menu includes an appetiser, main and dessert for 2,950 Japanese yen (£18/$23).
Neighbouring its own hotel, Hostellerie la Montagne brings together the regional fare of Burgundy, Champagne and Tuscany to create a culinary experience rooted in nature and the seasons. Located in the pretty village where former French president Charles de Gaulle is buried, it has three dining rooms that overlook surrounding parkland and charges €20 (£17/$21) for a simple two-course meal, which can include either a starter and main or main and dessert. There is also a local menu available for €23.50 (£20/$25).
PUTIEN may now have built up a chain of restaurants spanning the Asian continent, but it is only the Kitchener Road flagship that holds a Michelin star. Specialising in Fujian cuisine, the concept is inspired by fresh seafood and other ingredients found on China’s southeastern coast. Occasionally, there are good-value set meals available, otherwise, 18.60 Singaporean dollars (£11/$14) will get you a two-course meal of bien rou soup (broth with dumplings) and their signature noodles with pork, prawns, clams and vegetables.