Valentine's Day in London: Best restaurants and menus for 2020

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Ailis Brennan17 February 2020

When’s the last time you had a “date night”? No, falling asleep in front of Netflix after a 30-minute pint in the pub last Friday does not count.

Valentine’s Day may come with a distinctly commercial tinge, but it’s also a prime excuse to buck up your ideas and treat your better half to a genuinely special evening.

London’s restaurants are ready and waiting to help you do something a little out of the ordinary this year. Across the bountiful special menus lined up for the big night, you’ll find a seafood feast on a moving barge, a rose-festooned private room set just for two, and even a dessert from a Michelin-starred chef that is designed to conceal an engagement ring.

If the prices may seem a little alarming – you can, after all, expect to pay a little over the odds on February 14 – don’t fret. The below menus are all in the mid-to-high price bracket, but if you’re looking for a more affordable option, you can take a look at our guide to the best Valentine’s menus under £50 per person here.

From oysters in abundance to dinners that come with breathtaking views across the capital, these are the Valentine’s Day menus to sweep your date off their feet (at last).

La Poule au Pot

Endlessly cosy Belgravia favourite La Poule au Pot is offering a three-course “Saint Valentin” menu for February 14. The farmhouse-reminiscent French restaurant’s menu includes multiple beguiling options for each course, including escargots (snails) and duck breast with foie gras, before guests can finish with the likes of creme brulee or indulgent chocolate mousse.

How much? £70 per person

Wine? House wine from £4.75 a glass.

231 Ebury Street, SW1W 8UT, pouleaupot.co.uk

Petersham Nurseries

Petersham Nurseries is hosting romantic happenings across both its Richmond and Covent Garden locations this Valentine’s Day. You can pick up dinner for £40 per person at La Goccia in its multifaceted central London hub, but south west Londoners should head to the original site to enjoy a special supper club in its florally decked glasshouse restaurant. The menu is under wraps until the day, but you can expect Italian-inspired flavours with tons of fresh produce.

How much? £80 per person

Wine? Wine pairing for an additional £45.

Off Church Lane, Petersham Road, TW10 7AB, petershamnurseries.com

London Shell Co.

Step aboard London Shell Co. and Valentine’s Day diners will be treated to a seafaring dinner, as the barge-resident restaurant sets sail along London’s canals during service. A six-course menu of sublime seafood is the order of the evening, including pink grapefruit and basil-dressed Carlingford Loch oysters with the obligatory angel hair fries, followed by the likes of a scallop and mackerel tartare and skrei cod with colcannon and parsley sauce.

How much? £75 per person

Wine? Wine pairing for an additional £55.

Sheldon Square, W2 6DL, londonshellco.com

Ella Canta

Park Lane’s Ella Canta will be drawing inspiration from Mexico’s El Dia del Amor y Amistad celebrations, during which residents quite literally paint their towns red. Throughout the six-course Mexican Seduction menu – designed by chef patron Martha Ortiz – diners will find dashes of vibrantly red and pink ingredients, with plates including oysters with pickled red onion and lime, red snapper with radicchio, and a red fruit sorbet with liqueur caramel.

How much? £70 per person

Wine? Cocktail included, wine from £7 a glass.

One Hamilton Place, Park Lane, W1J 7QY, ellacanta.com

Boundary London

Head to the very top of Shoreditch’s Boundary London hotel and you’ll hit the Rooftop Bar & Grill. Its terrace makes for an enviable spot in summertime, but in these colder months, taking a table inside its glass-walled Orangery means the views of east London and the City can be enjoyed in cosy comfort. Valentine’s Day brings with it a five-course menu including warming sharing portions of Reblochon tartiflette, robata-grilled Côte de Boeuf and passionfruit tart.

How much? £75 per person

Wine? Cocktail included, wine from £7 a glass.

2-4 Boundary Street, E2 7DD, boundary.london

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught

Hélène Darroze’s sublime dining room at The Connaught hotel has recently undergone a spruce up, its decor now glowing with rosy, earthy hues. A cosy and seriously luxurious spot for a Valentine’s Day tête-à-tête, the restaurant is serving a six-course menu on the night. You’ll need nearly £600 between the two of you to sample it, but dishes of foie gras with rose petals and sake, black truffle with polenta and egg yolk, and a pigeon Wellington with Mexican mole are an alluring prospect.

How much? £295 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included.

Carlos Place, W1K 2AL, the-connaught.co.uk

Coya Mayfair

After entering the restaurant through a specially designed rose-filled facade, Valentine’s Day diners at Coya Mayfair will be treated to a glass of Perrier-Joüet Champagne and a bountiful set menu. Luxurious highlights include wagyu beef tacos with caviar and wasabi, and the restaurant’s signature dish of papa seca cazuela, featuring Peruvian potatoes flavoured with wild mushroom and winter truffle.

How much? £90 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included.

118 Piccadilly, W1J 7NW, coyarestaurant.com

Corrigan’s Mayfair

Jodi Hinds Photography

Richard Corrigan’s flagship Mayfair restaurant is welcoming couples with typical Irish hospitality this Valentine’s Day, offering them not one, but two menus. Choose either a reduced a la carte selection, or plump for a six-course tasting menu, featuring Orkney scallops with black truffle, Cornish sea bass with a squid ragu and a stellar centrepiece in a fillet of Irish beef served en croute.

How much? Tasting menu for £125 per person, reduced a la carte for £95 per person.

Wine? Wine from £9.95 a glass.

28 Upper Grosvenor Street, W1K 7EH, corrigansmayfair.co.uk

Sushisamba Heron Tower

Ming Tang-Evans

Valentine’s Day is being celebrated at both locations of Sushisamba, but it is the City spot on the 40th floor of Heron Tower that comes with killer views (just be sure to ask for a seat by the window). The Japanese-Brazilian-Peruvian menu served to lovers on the evening will include the likes of crispy pork belly taquitos, a wagyu and monkfish toban, a trio of nigiri sushi and a “Blossom” dessert including coconut mousse, cherry and purple shiso.

How much? £125 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included.

110 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AY, sushisamba.com

Les 110 de Taillevent

If the wining is just as important as the dining to your other half, head to Les 110 de Taillevent, the Marylebone restaurant that offers a staggering 110 wines by the glass. You can rootle through the impressive list yourself this Valentine’s Day or opt to match your six-course dinner with one of their wine pairing selections. Dishes ripe for being set up include lobster risotto and a whole roasted Creedy Carver duck.

How much? £75 per person

Wine? Discovery wine pairing for an additional £55, Prestige wine pairing for an additional £90.

16 Cavendish Square, W1G 9DD, les-110-taillevent-london.com

Kanishka

Come hungry to Atul Kochhar’s Kanishka this Valentine’s Day, where the Michelin-starred chef will serve couples an eight-course feast. Starting with Champagne and bites of crab momo, lobster tikka and an oyster pakora, the night will go on to feature a shellfish kuzhambu curry with cauliflower quinoa, a spice-rubbed roasted steak of venison with a keema pie and much more. For those looking to pop the question on the big day, Kanishka has also devised a chocolate sphere dessert, designed so that guests can arrange to hide the engagement ring inside.

How much? £78 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included. Premium wine pairing for an additional £60, Deluxe wine pairing for an additional £85.

17-19 Maddox Street, W1S 2QH, kanishkarestaurant.co.uk

Sam’s Riverside

Can’t decide between dinner and a film? You don’t have to in Hammersmith, where neighbours Sam’s Riverside and Riverside Cinema make a convenient duo for a two-stage date. The cinema is selling tickets for just £6.50 for the month of February, while the restaurant is putting on a three-course menu on the night, with choices including the likes of diver-caught scallop with fennel and russet apple, as well as roasted halibut with leek, kale and Champagne sauce. Dinner also comes with an impressively romantic view of the Thames.

How much? £75 per person (cinema ticket for £6.50)

Wine? Cocktail included, wine from £6 a glass.

1 Crisp Walk, W6 9DN, samsriverside.co.uk

Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester

Star-cross’d lovers deserve a three Michelin-starred dinner (if they can afford it of course). Acclaimed restaurant Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester will be serving just that for £235 a head on February 14 – five courses of dinner, to be precise. Plates include a fillet of turbot served with samphire, celeriac and pistachios, and finish with a “Heart for Two” dessert featuring two artful quenelles, one flavoured with rose and almond, the other with chocolate and caramel.

How much? £235 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included.

53 Park Lane, W1K 1QA, alainducasse-dorchester.com

Kutir

Rohit Ghai’s intimate townhouse restaurant in Chelsea is a homely spot for a boldly flavoured Valentine’s Day menu. The five-course feast will feature a whole soft shell crab with shallots, aubergine and lemongrass, as well as a luxurious coconut mapas curry with pan-seared sea bass, and slow-cooked venison stewed with piquant green peppercorns and served with paratha.

How much? £65 per person

Wine? Wine pairing for an additional £50.

10 Lincoln Street, SW3 2TS, kutir.co.uk

Julie’s

David Cotsworth

In its 50-year history, Julie’s has inspired infamous passions among its dating diners – one particularly private table has even earned the nickname the “The G Spot”. On Valentine’s Day, praised head chef Shay Cooper will serve respectably amorous couples a four-course menu, including a sea bass tartare with pink grapefruit and beef fillet with lobster bearnaise, finishing with an invigorating dessert of clotted cream mousse, poached rhubarb and ginger.

How much? £75 per person

Wine? Wine from £5.50 a glass.

135 Portland Road, W11 4LW, juliesrestaurant.com

Hide

Ollie Dabbous’s architecturally beguiling, Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant makes for a magical date spot. Head up the fairytale staircase to the more formal restaurant – named Above – and diners will find a seven-course menu designed by Dabbous for Valentine’s Day. The meal includes black truffle pasta parcels swimming in a celeriac broth, followed by tempura lobster and a charcoal-grilled, seven-year beef fillet served with foie gras parfait and a buckwheat waffle.

How much? £175 per person

Wine? Wine from £10 a glass.

85 Piccadilly, W1J 7NB, hide.co.uk

Seabird

The world really is your oyster at Seabird. Alongside spectacular views of London, the rooftop restaurant at the top of Southwark’s Hoxton hotel boasts the largest selection of oysters in the capital. Curiously, they don’t actually feature on the restaurant’s Valentine’s Day menu, but guests can request them. Dishes of Devonshire crab with saffron aioli, Iberico pork with celeriac puree and the restaurant’s signature manchego cheesecake are among the suitably blissful selection.

How much? £85 per person

Wine? Wine pairing for an additional £50.

40 Blackfriars Road, SE1 8PB, seabirdlondon.com

Akira

Keep it light and bright at Kensington’s Akira, where a five-course, sensual sushi dinner comes with luxury touches this Valentine’s Day. Starting with a Champagne cocktail, guests will then move onto a dish of seared wagyu sirloin and sea urchin – a renowned aphrodisiac – served with yuzu rice. The following salmon dish has been kombu-pressed and marinated in soy sauce and is served with truffle and matured cheese, before guests finish with a fragrant matcha roll cake.

How much? £100 per person

Wine? A Champagne cocktail included.

101-111 Kensington High Street, W8 5SA, japanhouselondon.uk

Kaspar’s at the Savoy

Elegance is always in order at The Savoy. The glittering surroundings of its Art Deco-style seafood restaurant Kaspar’s make for a dazzling date spot, with its Valentine’s Day menu offering a generous taste of its luxurious leanings. On the eight-course sharing menu, couples can tuck into duos of dishes with names like “Best of Both Worlds” (half a native lobster and a lamb Wellington), before finishing with a raspberry souffle “You Raise Me Up” dessert.

How much? £105 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included.

Strand, WC2R 0EY, thesavoylondon.com

Dalloway Terrace

Go al fresco this Valentine’s Day on the romantic surrounds of Dalloway Terrace. The floral phantasia has this season been transformed into a pine cone-strewn Alpine hideaway, and will serve couples a four-course menu on February 14, featuring sharing starters including truffle baked camembert and mains of beef fillet and blue cheese gnocchi with chestnut. The terrace is heated, of course, but the residual chill in the air makes a convenient excuse for cuddling up close.

How much? £75 per person

Wine? A glass of Champagne included.

16-22 Great Russell Street, WC1B 3NN, dallowayterrace.com

Flemings Mayfair

Why just book a table this Valentine’s Day, when you can book a whole private hideaway at a top Mayfair hotel restaurant? Flemings Mayfair is offering just that with its Secret Snug (i.e. the Barrel Room), which is available to book for couples looking for a little alone time over dinner. The experience comes with a five-course meal from Ormer Mayfair’s head chef, a bouquet of red roses, and your own personal waiter. The price might be the only thing stopping you – the whole night comes in at just under £500.

How much? Private dining room for the night for £495

Wine? A bottle of Champagne included.

7-12 Half Moon Street, W1J 7BH, flemings-mayfair.co.uk

Nobu Berkeley Street

Get in before it goes: on March 23, celebrity favourite Nobu is closing its Berkeley St outpost after 15 years feeding the A-list. It's undoubtedly a glamorous spot to spend Friday in: this Valentine's they're plating up a seven-course menu with the likes of spicy salmon caviar with scallop and maui salsa alongside Wagyu katsu – pictured above – which sounds utterly mad and utterly delicious. Coming in at £120 or £190, you're paying Hollywood prices, but there's a low lit glamour here that feels worth it. Vegetarians do better, too, with a meat-free menu only £70.

15 Berkeley St, W1J 8DY, noburestaurants.com

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