Medlar Is £57 for Three Courses. In December the Same Lunch Is £69.

Three courses at lunch at Medlar on the King’s Road are £57. In December the same lunch is £69. The restaurant prints both figures on its own site, side by side, and almost nobody notices the second one until the bill.

That is the thing to understand about eating in Chelsea. The menu price is real, but it is not fixed. In this postcode the clock and the calendar move the number more than the dish does, and the restaurants worth booking are the ones that say so in writing.

Three of them do, and each works on a different scale. At Medlar the month changes the price. At Josephine the day of the week does. At Elystan Street it comes down to a thirty minute window, and if you miss it the cheaper menu is simply gone.

Here is where the dates actually change the money, checked against each restaurant’s own pages on 27 September 2026 and rechecked in full on 28 September.

The December surcharge, and why it matters in September

Medlar publishes a full price list, which already puts it ahead of most of the street. Read it closely and there is a pattern.

Sitting	Three courses	Two courses	One course
Lunch, Monday to Saturday	£57	£48	£38.50
Dinner, Monday to Saturday	£83	£67	£49.50
Sunday, lunch and dinner	£59	£49	£44
December, lunch and Sunday	£69	Not stated	Not stated

Twelve pounds a head, decided by the calendar. A lunch booked in November costs £57 and the identical booking in December costs £69, and the Sunday price moves too, from £59 to the same £69.

This is not sharp practice. It is printed openly, which is more than most of Chelsea manages, and December is the month every kitchen in London is at its most expensive to run. But it is worth knowing in September rather than in December, because the cheapest way to eat the best value lunch in this neighbourhood is to have it before the first of the month.

The dinner price carries no December note at all. Only the lunch and Sunday figures do, which suggests dinner is already at its ceiling.

The corkage window nobody advertises

A few minutes west on the Fulham Road there is a better piece of arithmetic, and it is the single most useful thing on this page.

Josephine charges £35 plus service to open a bottle you have brought yourself. On Mondays, and on Sundays from half past five, it charges nothing.

Their own wording is that there is no corkage fee in Chelsea for lunch and dinner on Monday, and on Sunday from 5.30pm. Every other service, the bottle costs £35 to open.

Work out what that is worth before you dismiss it. In this part of London a wine list starts where a decent bottle from a merchant finishes. Bringing your own to a Monday dinner at a French bistro, with no fee at all, is the largest single saving available anywhere in this guide’s Chelsea coverage, and it is available two days out of seven.

It is also the rarest thing on the street. None of the other four restaurants whose prices were checked for this page publishes a corkage policy at all, which in practice means the answer is no.

The rooms

Medlar, 438 King’s Road

The value room, and it has been for years. A set price at every sitting, with the whole list printed.

Medlar

Address

438 Kings Road, Chelsea, SW10 0LJ

Nearest

Sloane Square or South Kensington, both a walk

Hours

Lunch every day midday to 3pm. Dinner Monday to Friday 6.30pm to 10.30pm, Saturday 6pm to 10.30pm, Sunday 6pm to 9.30pm

Price

Lunch Monday to Saturday 57 pounds for three courses, 48 for two, 38.50 for one. Dinner 83, 67 and 49.50. Sunday 59, 49 and 44. Lunch and Sunday rise to 69 in December

Standing

Set price at every sitting, published in full

How to get in

The three course lunch at 57 pounds is the best value serious cooking on the King’s Road, and it is 69 in December, which is the number to plan around. Lunch runs every day of the week, which several of its neighbours do not.

Josephine, 315 Fulham Road

A Lyonnais bouchon by Claude and Lucy Bosi, and the only kitchen here that will let you bring the wine.

Josephine Chelsea

Address

315 Fulham Road, SW10 9QH

Nearest

South Kensington or West Brompton

Hours

Lunch Monday to Friday midday to 2.30pm. Dinner Monday to Friday 5.30pm to 9.30pm. Saturday and Sunday straight through, midday to 9.30pm

Booking

Menus are published as PDF downloads rather than readable pages

Price

Corkage 35 pounds plus service per bottle, and nothing at all on Mondays or from 5.30pm on Sundays

Standing

A French bouchon focused on Lyon, with a Rhône wine list

How to get in

The free corkage window on Monday and Sunday evening is the best value in this postcode and it is stated plainly on their own site. Saturday and Sunday it serves straight through from midday, so it is the answer to a late Chelsea afternoon when the kitchens either side have shut.

The Ivy Chelsea Garden, 197 King’s Road

The one in Google’s shortlist, the one with the garden, and currently the cheapest two courses on this page by a distance.

The Ivy Chelsea Garden

Address

197 King’s Road, SW3 5EQ

Nearest

Sloane Square or South Kensington, fifteen minutes walk from either by their own reckoning

Hours

Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 11.30pm, Friday and Saturday 8.30am to midnight, Sunday 9am to 11.30pm

Price

The Cool Britannia menu, two courses for 19.96 per person, was still running when this page was rechecked on 28 September 2026

Standing

Al fresco terrace and a garden, with a private dining room overlooking it

How to get in

Their own accessibility note is unusually clear: the main restaurant, terrace and bathroom are fully accessible, and the private dining room is reached via the main entrance. The garden is the reason to book rather than the menu, and the cheap set menu is a promotion rather than a fixture, so check it still exists before you count on it.

Bluebird, 350 King’s Road

Bluebird Chelsea

Address

350 King’s Road, SW3 5UU

Nearest

Sloane Square or South Kensington, both a walk. Their own figure is fourteen minutes from South Kensington

Hours

Monday 9am to 11pm, Tuesday to Thursday to midnight, Friday and Saturday to 1am, Sunday to 10.30pm

Booking

020 7559 1000. Online booking covers groups up to twelve

Standing

A King’s Road institution in an art deco garage building

How to get in

The building is the draw, a 1920s motor garage turned restaurant, and it is the address most people mean when they say they are eating on the King’s Road. It publishes no prices on the page you land on, so treat it as an a la carte evening rather than a budgeted one. Beyond twelve, and for drinks in the first floor bar or the courtyard, you go through the events team rather than the website.

A café, a courtyard, a bar, a restaurant, private rooms and a members’ club in one building, open from breakfast to late. The 1am licence on Friday and Saturday makes it one of the few places on the street still serving when the rest of Chelsea has gone to bed.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, 68 Royal Hospital Road

The only three Michelin star room in the postcode, and a different journey from the King’s Road: it sits down by the river, a few doors from the Chelsea Physic Garden.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Address

68 Royal Hospital Road, SW3 4HP

Nearest

Sloane Square, about a 12 minute walk

Booking

020 7352 4441

Standing

Three Michelin stars since 2001, upheld in the 2026 guide. Opened 1998

How to get in

Book as far ahead as the diary allows. Ask about the Inspiration Table, the chef’s table in the kitchen, when you do: it is a different evening from the dining room and it is the one that goes first.

Gordon Ramsay’s first wholly owned restaurant and still the flagship, doing modern French cooking under Chef de Cuisine Kim Ratcharoen. One of only six three star rooms in London. The Chelsea guide covers what else is on Royal Hospital Road, including a free national museum next to the Royal Hospital.

The thirty minute window

Elystan Street is Phil Howard’s restaurant, a few streets north of the King’s Road, and it makes the tightest rule on this page.

Its set menu runs through every lunch service. At dinner it exists between six o’clock and half past six, and nowhere else in the evening. That is their own note, dated from Monday 21 September, and it is the single easiest saving in Chelsea to miss by fifteen minutes.

A seven o’clock booking is a full a la carte booking whether you intended one or not. A six o’clock booking is a different bill entirely, from the same kitchen, on the same night.

Elystan Street

Address

Elystan Street, SW3

Nearest

South Kensington or Sloane Square

Hours

Set menu all lunch service, and at dinner between 6pm and 6.30pm only, from 21 September. Six of the Best tasting menu Monday to Saturday, last orders 2pm and 8.30pm. Sunday lunch midday to 3pm

Price

No prices published on its own menus page

Standing

Phil Howard’s Chelsea restaurant

How to get in

The set menu at dinner is available between six and half past six and at no other time in the evening, which is the tightest window of any restaurant in this guide. Book at six or accept the a la carte. It names five separate menus, the set, the a la carte, the dessert, the tasting and the Sunday lunch, and puts a price on none of them, so ring for the figure before you commit.

Notice that it publishes the rule and not the price. Five menus are named on that page and not one of them carries a figure. You are told exactly when you may order the cheaper menu and never told what it costs, which is a strange way round and worth a telephone call before you book.

What is not there any more

The Five Fields closed on 28 February 2025, after more than twelve years. Their own notice is plain about it: last service on that Friday, and thanks to guests, suppliers and staff. It was one of the best restaurants in this part of London and it still appears on Chelsea lists as though you could book it.

The test is always the same: go to the restaurant’s own website, and if the only pages still selling it belong to somebody else, it has gone.

There is no tube on the King’s Road

This decides more Chelsea evenings than any menu does and visitors almost never allow for it.

The King’s Road runs the length of the neighbourhood and has no underground station on it anywhere. The Ivy Chelsea Garden states the position on its own page: Sloane Square or South Kensington, fifteen minutes walk from either. Medlar and Bluebird sit further west again, so the walk is longer still.

Plan for it. A table at half past seven at the far end of the King’s Road means leaving Sloane Square at a quarter past, in whatever the weather is doing, and the buses along it are the fastest thing on the road at that hour.

Practical notes

Book Medlar for lunch, not dinner. Three courses are £57 at midday and £83 in the evening from the same kitchen. That is the widest lunch to dinner gap on this page and the food does not change.

If you are going in December, get the December price first. Medlar publishes £69 for lunch and Sunday and says nothing about the two course and one course prices in that month, so ask rather than assume they hold.

Monday is the cheap night here, which is backwards. Josephine waives corkage entirely on Mondays. Most of London treats Monday as the night to stay in.

Weekend afternoons are the gap. Josephine runs straight through from midday on Saturday and Sunday. Medlar closes between three and half past six every day of the week.

Book Elystan Street at six, not at seven. Its set menu is served between six and half past six at dinner and at no other point in the evening. A quarter of an hour late and you are ordering from a different menu.

Check the promotional menus before you travel. The cheapest set menu found for this page was a themed one, and themed menus end. The prices that hold are the printed ones.

Everything here was taken from each restaurant’s own published pages, and rechecked in full on 28 September 2026, the prices, the corkage terms and the set menu window included. Set prices, corkage terms and seasonal surcharges change without notice. Confirm before you book.

Where to go next

The Chelsea guide covers what to do between meals: the Royal Hospital and its Pensioner-led tours, the free National Army Museum next door, the Physic Garden and the Saatchi Gallery.

The best restaurants in London puts these against the rest of the city, and the set menu guide covers the same lunch arithmetic everywhere else it works.

The French guide has Josephine’s competition, and the Michelin page explains why a set lunch is the cheapest way into any serious kitchen in London, not just this postcode.

Comparing neighbourhoods at the smarter end: Notting Hill, Mayfair and Marylebone, where the same group runs a second Josephine.

The Sunday roast guide is the other place the day of the week changes the price, and the wine guide is where to buy the bottle you are carrying to a Monday dinner.

Questions we get asked

What are the best restaurants in Chelsea?

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road is the three Michelin star room, the only one in the postcode. Medlar at 438 Kings Road is the value room, with three courses at lunch for 57 pounds, published in full alongside every other sitting. Josephine on the Fulham Road is a Lyonnais bouchon and the only kitchen here that waives corkage, on Mondays and from half past five on Sundays. The Ivy Chelsea Garden has the garden and the terrace. Bluebird has the art deco building and publishes no prices.

How much does dinner cost in Chelsea?

At the one restaurant on this page that prints a full list, dinner is 83 pounds for three courses, 67 for two and 49.50 for one, Monday to Saturday. Lunch at the same place is 57, 48 and 38.50. On Sunday it is 59, 49 and 44. Most of the street publishes nothing at all, so treat an unpriced menu as an a la carte evening.

Which Chelsea restaurants allow you to bring your own wine?

Josephine on the Fulham Road is the only one found for this page that publishes a corkage policy. It is 35 pounds plus service per bottle, and there is no fee at all for lunch and dinner on Monday or from 5.30pm on Sunday. None of the other four restaurants whose prices were checked publishes a corkage policy, which in practice means they do not offer one.

Does Chelsea have a Michelin starred restaurant?

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay at 68 Royal Hospital Road holds three stars, awarded in 2001 and upheld in the 2026 guide. It is one of only six three star rooms in London and the only one in this postcode. Book as far ahead as the diary allows, and ask about the Inspiration Table in the kitchen when you do.

Is The Five Fields still open?

No. It closed on 28 February 2025 after more than twelve years, and its own site carries the notice. It still appears on current Chelsea restaurant lists, which is worth knowing as a general test: when the only pages still selling a restaurant are listing sites rather than its own, it has gone.

Why do Chelsea restaurant prices go up in December?

Because several of them charge a seasonal supplement and say so. Medlar publishes 57 pounds for three courses at lunch and 69 in December, and its Sunday price moves from 59 to the same 69. Its dinner price carries no December note, which suggests dinner is already at its ceiling. Ask for the December figure when you book rather than assuming the printed one holds.

What time is the set menu at Elystan Street?

All through lunch service, and at dinner between 6pm and 6.30pm only. That is their own published note, in effect from 21 September, and it is the tightest set menu window of any restaurant in this guide. A seven o’clock table is an a la carte table. The restaurant names five menus on its site and publishes a price for none of them, so ring and ask what the set menu costs before you book.

Is there a tube station on the King's Road?

No, and this catches people out constantly. The King’s Road runs the length of Chelsea with no underground station anywhere on it. The Ivy Chelsea Garden gives the honest version on its own site: Sloane Square or South Kensington, about fifteen minutes walk from either. Restaurants further west are further still, so allow for the walk or take a bus along the road.

Do you need to book restaurants in Chelsea?

For Medlar yes, particularly for lunch, because the set price is the reason to go and the room is not large. Josephine serves straight through from midday at weekends, which makes it the more forgiving option on a Saturday afternoon. The Ivy Chelsea Garden books up around the garden in warm weather and around the Chelsea Flower Show entirely.