Restaurants with best value wine lists

From the prosaic name to the determinedly plain decor, everything about this pint-sized Soho favourite is purely functional – apart from the food and wine, that is. The short, daily changing menu “always pleases”, pulling in ideas from Western Europe to point up its larder of British ingredients. You might find chicken hearts and livers with Brussels sprouts, Marsala and sage, Tamworth pork partnered with savoy cabbage and a scattering of soft pancetta or plump hake and spinach given extra bite with some dense chorizo. An all-day selection of smaller plates keeps things simple (think salted Padrón peppers, crumbed pig’s trotters or smoked mackerel with fennel), while adding some flashes of colour to the black-and-white room. You can reserve a table for lunch (“perfect”, says one fan), but dinner is no-bookings only: if you’re willing to queue, however, the wine list helps to spin out an evening with its brilliantly affordable selection from across the globe.

Set in the picturesque surroundings of the wonderful Warwickshire countryside, just minutes from the NEC, Solihull and Warwick the Punchbowl in Lapworth is the perfect place to either pop in for that impromptu lunch with friends and colleagues right through to relaxing over a candlelit dinner with loved ones. With a modern slant on an otherwise traditional English country pub that encompasses a real log fire, oak beams, candelabras and leather sofas. The Punchbowl Lapworth is a unique dining and drinking experience that people from all walks of life can meet up at and enjoy one another’s company in stylish and friendly surroundings. We have a range of dishes that will stimulate and excite the taste buds as well as traditional dishes just as your Mum made them.

This smart little metropolitan bistro is a real draw for wine lovers, thanks to a policy of fair mark-ups that even extends to fine wines and fizz: £37 for a bottle of Moët is the cheapest we’ve found among the tourist traps of Covent Garden. What’s more, the restaurant stocks only 10 cases of the 10 reds and 10 whites on its list – before moving on to 10 new options. With everything available by the glass, why not indulge in a spot of food matching: the day’s chalked-up menu features unpretentious, well-sourced choices along the lines of snails on toast, full-flavoured goats’ cheese and red onion tart (served warm with an oven-roasted fig), or juicy Barnsley lamb chop with a side of buttery cavolo nero. Readers also appreciate the ‘fun atmosphere’ and ‘extremely efficient service’.

Proving that chain restaurants don’t have all the fun on Piccadilly Circus’s tourist highway, this archetypal brasserie provides Gallic staples at low prices in the glitzy surrounds of a cavernous former ballroom dripping with marble-clad charm. Start with a hefty bowl of soupe à l’oignon or a clutch of escargots slathered in parsley butter, ahead of baked trout with almonds, smoked pork belly or something more exotic such as spicy merguez sausage with couscous. Steaks are also perennially popular, from good-value haché with pepper sauce all the way up to a luxe rib-eye with Café de Paris sauce. The separate gluten-free menu’s “wonderful choice” gets a special mention, while over 30 selections from the all-French wine list are sold in five measures. Accusations of “unexciting” dishes are not unfounded but, for those who want a good French meal in the West End at a reasonable price, Zédel is hard to beat – especially when you factor in surefooted service and the festive atmosphere.

Have you ever wondered what an unscripted episode of Made in Chelsea would look like? We reckon it would be pretty close to the scenes played out at this perennial local hangout on a nightly basis. Brinkley’s offer hasn’t changed in years, but its tried-and-tested formula of matching crowd-pleasing food with cut-price fine wines still attracts the well-groomed Chelsea set, who throw generous helpings of buzz and glamour into the mix. The food isn’t particularly refined, but when the people-watching is as rewarding as it is here, you won’t spend much time looking at your plate anyway. Avocado, mozzarella and tomato salad, chicken satay, merguez sausages with couscous, Brinkley burgers and seared tuna niçoise typify the classic menu, which is handled with due professionalism and skill. On balmy evenings, check out Brinkley’s Garden in what was the Wine Gallery next door.