With the ever evolving requirements of groups firmly on our radar, this week we turn our gaze to the increasingly popular "sharing" menus. Allowing greater flexibility and choice for the group whether it’s a seated meal with food to share at the table or a more traditional style buffet, more and more groups are opting for this relaxed and informal dining style. As a result, we thought we would share the best that we have to offer.
Rail House Café - Victoria
Dining Style: Brasserie
Sharing menu: £48.50 for 3 courses
This modern, stylish restaurant offers fabulous and eclectic sharing dishes for groups such as Chermoula king prawn skewers, crispy pork belly with roast peach and Mead Cheesecake. The location in the Nova development is tip top, as is the food.
The Cherwell Boathouse - Oxford
Dining Style: Casual Dining
Sharing menu: £ 20.50 for 2 courses
The restaurant was started in an authentic Victorian working Boathouse on the banks of the river Cherwell by a connoisseur of food and wine. It is still run by the same family who deliver professional, warm and welcoming service passed through the generations. The marquee on the terrace overlooking the river is wonderful for groups. Expect British fayre with sausages, salads and bread to share.
Grosvenor Arms – Victoria
Dining Style: Casual Dining, Gastropub
Buffet Menu: £ 33.00
The Grosvenor Arms is a great little gastropub in the heart of Victoria offering traditional British classics alongside fresh new ideas. Their buffet menu offers something for everyone from Pan seared cod & lemon salsa, Sweet & sour turkey, Smoked mackerel & prawns and to finish a quintessentially British Victoria Sponge cake.
Urban Meadow
Dining Style: Bistro / Brasserie
Buffet Menu: £ 26.50
Urban Meadow is proud to serve great fresh food in a fantastic location near to Kensington Gardens. Their buffet serves a wide range of dishes from healthy salads to an oven baked salmon with lemon butter sauce and minted new potatoes and delicious baked cheesecake.
American
Chakra - Kensington
Dining Style: Casual Dining
Sharing Menu: £ 30.00 for 3 course sharing
Chakra’s take is on authentic Indian cuisine with a contemporary twist. Using fresh, seasonal ingredients that are as nutritious as they taste Chakra’s sharing menu includes dishes that are well composed, finely spiced and bursting with flavour. A great private room in their basement seats up to 40 guests ideal for groups.
Cafe Spice Namaste - Tower Hill
Dining Style: Casual Dining
Starting From: £ 30.00 for 2 course sharing
From TV chef Cyrus Todiwala and his wife Pervin, Café Spice Namasté is a family-run Indian restaurant in historic East London, and proud holder of a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Committed to using fresh ingredients and local British produce, their sharing menu includes both classic and contemporary Indian dishes.
Farzi Cafe - St James's
Dining Style: Casual Dining
From £24.00 for 3 course sharing
Best described as a gourmet experience, it amalgamates traditional global and Indian classics. It is quirky and chic, where guests enjoy a sensory experience through the finest modern Indian cuisine, with a high-energy ambiance. Their sharing menu features various types of Tikka Masala along with arancini and Indian desserts.
Crazy Bear - Fitzrovia
Dining Style: Casual Dining
£40.00 sharing menu of 10 plates
Crazy Bear Fitzrovia offer plates to share showcasing their contemporary Thai cuisine. Their décor is dark and seductive featuring an Art Deco chandelier and leather walls. Trademark dishes on the exotic Crazy Bear menu include the irresistible mixed dim sum, salt and pepper baby squid, Gressingham Duck Red Curry to Har Gau Dumplings. After dinner enjoy a drink in their award-winning basement bar.
Hakkasan – Hanway Place
Dining Style: Casual Dining
£42.00 for 3 course sharing menu with arrival drink
Hanway Place embodies the design ethos now found in Hakkasan restaurants globally. Their open-plan kitchen is visible from the restaurant, making the activity in the kitchen part of the restaurant’s theatre. Expect their Dim Sum to share, stir-fry rib eye beef or prawns and to finish the Chef’s dessert selection.
Yauatcha - Soho
Dining Style : Casual Dining
Sharing menu: £38.50 for 3 courses including an arrival drink
Yauatcha is a slick Soho hideaway serving a sharing menu of modern Chinese delicacies and dim sum classics. The dining room features an open kitchen for views of the chefs. Great for groups up to 70 guests.
Imperial Palace - Edinburgh
Dining Style: Casual Dining
£ 20.00 sharing menu of 6 dishes
A specialist in traditional Cantonese and Szechuan dim sum, in surroundings as you would expect from a spacious, authentic Chinese restaurant. Expect classics such as chicken and sweetcorn soup to sweet and sour chicken.
Levant - Marylebone
Dining Style : Casual Dining
Sharing menu: from £45.00 for 3 courses
Levant is a Lebanese and Middle-Eastern restaurant serving authentic, home-style food made with recipes passed down from generations. With Levant’s entertainment and relaxed atmosphere they aim to create an authentic, fun ambience so that eating out is much more than just great food. Expect Mezze to start, followed by Farouj Meshwi a chargrilled chicken dish to finish Halawiyat – Arabic sweet with mint tea.
Roka - Aldwych
Dining Style : Casual Dining
Starting From : £ 45.00 for 6 dishes plus dessert
The heart of ROKA is the Robata grill, which originates from the fishermen of the northern coastal waters off Japan, who would cook the fish on the boats with different charcoals and share the bounty with one another using their oars. This active grill creates a vibrant ambience where you can enjoy your sharing menu of Chef's sashimi selection, to tiger prawn tempura and finish with Chef’s dessert platter.
Some more venues that offer a buffet on request:
Browns restaurants
O’Neill’s
Youngs
