Philip Howard started at the Roux restaurants and was at the helm of Michelin-starred The Square for 25 years. While it remains a lauded fine-dining restaurant, necessarily losing its two Michelin stars in the 2017 Guide because of the change of ownership (it may go up again this year), you’re looking at £105 for four courses or £125 for the seven-course tasting menu (though a set three-course lunch is £40). However, Kitchen W8, which Howard has co-owned since 2009, unintentionally winning a Michelin star two years later, has a reasonably priced a la carte menu and a set lunch of two courses for £25 or three courses for £28 from Monday to Saturday. A two-course dinner is £26.50 and three courses £29.50 Monday to Friday, which is amazing value. Even the six-course tasting menu is £65, or £105 with matching wines. Kitchen W8 sets out to have a neighbourhood feel – the whole experience is relaxed yet stylish, the wine list carefully chosen and affordable, and ingredients top notch and beautifully handled and presented. They even allow BYO on Sunday nights. Note, however, Howard is not based there, rather at the more recently opened Elystan Street, which has its own charms. Kitchen W8, 11-13 Abingdon Road, Kensington, W8 6AH; 020 7937 0120

Heston Blumenthal has become an international star. He is now back at his renovated The Fat Duck, which regained its three Michelin stars (having lost them due to closure and relocation to Melbourne for six months). While you can book way in advance if you are lucky, it is around £265-£275 per person for food only with reservations for 2-6 guests. It is actually a lot of fun, and the gastronomic experience is designed to be a nostalgic trip full of playful childhood memories and adventure. However, far more accessible and affordable is Dinner by Heston, still British and still fun with a nod to historic gastronomy. Meat Fruit (c1500) at £21 is the go-to dish. It looks for all the world like a mandarin, but is in fact the most superb chicken liver parfait. Still not cheap, with mains from £30-£49, but it’s a great way to try Heston’s food. There are plenty of wines by the glass, with sherry and Madeira, too. Bottle prices start at £35, but there is more choice at £49. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA; 0207 201 3833

Portland Restaurant opened in January 2015 to great acclaim, winning a Michelin star the same year. However, you can order similar set menus at sister restaurant Clipstone, around the corner, with the same focus on high-quality cooking, wine and service, but in a more informal setting. And rather than a £65 evening tasting menu at Portland, the feasting menu at Clipstone is £49. When it comes to a la carte, the latter has more choices at lower prices and the wine list is also reasonably priced. It was also named Restaurant of the Year at the GQ Food and Drink Awards in April 2017. Both are owned by Will Lander (son of restaurant writer and consultant Nick Lander and well-known wine scribe Jancis Robinson), co-owner of the Quality Chop House, and Daniel Morgenthau who was most recently involved with another lovely restaurant, 10 Greek Street, in Soho. Currently, summer plates are £8-£17, larger plates £19-£29. Think homemade pickles, crudo, rillettes, flat bread from the pizza oven, English seafood, fabulous game and French-influenced desserts. The drinks list includes wines from £4.50 a glass. Clipstone Restaurant, 5 Clipstone St, Fitzrovia, W1W 6BB; 0207 637 0871

London does Spanish really well. While Barrafina takes top prize with three London locations, it has queues to match and won’t take groups of more than four. Another option is the unrelated but more quietly located Lurra Basque Grill featuring the traditional charcoal and wood grills – ‘erretegia’ – found all over the Basque Country. Lurra means ‘land’ in Basque, and it’s all about serving authentic, well-sourced produce with a focus on Galician beef, which comes from cows that live until they are at least eight, often 10 and sometimes 14. These cows are fatter, which leads to more marbling in the meat and a lot more flavour. Here, a set lunch from Tuesday to Friday will set you back £20, or enjoy three courses for £25. But the main attraction is in the a la carte offering with large sharing plates. They have a second restaurant across the road, Donostia, that, while only marginally cheaper for tapas, vegetables and salad, also offers pintxo (Basque for the Spanish pinchos and always on bread), as well cold plates and some much more reasonably priced meat dishes. They have a stylish way of serving gin and tonic in a frosted glass fish bowl with juniper berries and lime zest. This restaurant began as an adjunct to a wine importer, so the list has an emphasis on Basque wines, with lots by the glass, and well-priced wines you may not find elsewhere. Lurra Basque Grill, Seymour Place, Marylebone, W1H 5BA; 0207 724 4545 Donostia, 10 Seymour Place, Marylebone W1H 7ND; 0203 6201 845

French restaurants are perennially popular. Much as The Ritz has finally got its well-deserved Michelin star, with Escoffier-inspired food using the best of British produce, the prices could make your eyes water. There’s also an L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Covent Garden with L’Unch offering three courses, served all at once on a specially designed plate for £29. However, more economic options are to be had at traditional French restaurants. Brasserie Zédel offers the most extraordinary value. Both a la carte and prix fixe menus, starting at £9.75 for two courses and £12.75 for three courses, are available from 11.30am to midnight (11pm on Sundays). Established by Christopher Corbin and Jeremy King (also of The Wolseley and The Delaunay), it could be a Parisienne brasserie, the large Art Deco space decorated with marble columns, brass rails, mirrors and salmon-pink-draped tables. The prix fixe menu doesn’t seem to vary, but with carottes rapées, steak haché and gâteau Opéra on offer, why should it? Plats du jour also remain the same, one for each day of the week, or choose the Formule menu of three courses with water, glass of wine and coffee for £19.95. As if that’s not value enough, you can also enjoy an evening of cabaret across the hall. The wine list also has the French offering of wines by the small or large glass, carafes of either 250ml or 500ml, or full bottles. Brasserie Zédel, 20 Sherwood Street, near Picadilly Circus, W1F 7ED; 0207 734 4888