Special menu

• Benares launches regional Indian street food menu

  

  Benares is paying homage to the diverse culture and heritage of Indian street food with a new menu set to launch this month at the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant and bar.

  Available from next Monday until Christmas, the street food menu features five dishes, each of which have been designed by a chef from the Benares kitchen.

  The menu is made up of dishes from every corner of India and pays homage to the diverse cuisines of each

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• Test Driving 34's Champagne Lover's Lunch

  Unlimited champagne makes this Mayfair spot suddenly very affordable this summer.

• Where to watch, eat and drink the Rio Olympics in London this summer

  We've handed over the baton to Rio, so it's time to sit back and enjoy the Olympics from a restaurant beside the Olympic stadium rather than in it. Here's what London's restaurants and bars are doing for it

• Head to CAUnival this August for a special charity DJ BBQ burger

  

  We love a good cause here at Hot Dinners and no cause is closer to our hearts than Action Against Hunger. So we're right behind an initiative from CAU Restaurants which is supporting the charity with all manner of BBQ food and fun. This is the second year the restaurant group's put on its #CAUnival festival and this year they're teaming up with barbecue top dog DJ BBQ.

  DJ BBQ kicks off the month long festival with an evening of food, drink and music at CAU St

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• Notting Hill's Little Yellow Door launches an emoji-only menu

  

  Another day, another London restaurant with a crazy, headline-seeking story. Hot on the heels of World Emoji Day - Notting Hill restaurant The Little Yellow Door has launched what they say is the world's first emoji-only menu.

  The summer special, illustrated by the cartoon-style graphics, is on offer every Wednesday and Thursday throughout July and August, at £15 for two courses.

  We won't attempt to translate the dishes into emojis here, but you can

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• ROKA Charlotte Street launches a kaiseki cocktail pairing menu

  

  We've long had wine pairing and then there was beer pairing - now London is seeing a new-ish trend for restaurants to pair food with cocktails. We recently tried the cocktail pairing menu at the Clove Club Bar. And now there's another intriguing combination in Fitzrovia with Rokas Shochu launching a Kaiseki Cocktail Pairing Menu next week.

  The seven course menu of small dishes has been worked on by the ches in conjunction with the bar team. Diners

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• Salon Brixton launches an extended experience at dinner

  

  Chef Nicholas Balfe has been turning out some stunning food at his Salon restaurant in Brixton since opening in 2012 - and we're excited to hear about the new 'extended experience' he's come up with for the dinner service.

  The six course set menu, with some very inventive snacks thrown in too, will change frequently: on the night we went it was full of truly

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• MASH London launches a wagyu steak tasting menu

  

  For one month only, Soho steakhouse Mash is putting on a wagyu tasting plate allowing diners to try three different Wagyu meats – Kobe XO, Wagyu XO and Australian AACo Wagyu – for £80.

  TasteWagyu starts Sunday 5 June 2016 and is available Sun - Thursday until 5 July 2016. It'll be served at lunch and dinner and you have to say you're looking to try it when booking.

  Mashis at 77

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• Royal Garden Hotel brings out 1966 anniversary Bobby Moore menu

  

  It's been fifty long years since England lifted up the World Cup. But rather than dwell on how many opportunities we've had (and failed) to recapture the cup, how about eating out to commemorate the glorious game instead?

  Back in 1966 The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington was the official host of Bobby Moore's winning World Cup team. Google it and you'll see some frankly amazing shots of the hotel completely mobbed as the team come out to show off

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• Galvin at Windows introduces new fast food bar menu

  

  The bar at Galvin at Windows right at the top of the Hilton Park Lane was always a pretty sweet spot to drink, but the addition of a new gourmet fast food menu has it back at the top of our must-visit list.

  Head Chef Joo Won has come up with all manner of enticing bar food for his La Nuit menu. So there's a Dirty Smoked Bacon Burger (£14), the Galvin's Dog Deluxe - both £14, there's a Dirty Portobello Mushroom Cheese Burger (£12) and Joo's also putting on his

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• The Diner puts on two burgers for its Beeferendum

  

  While we feel sure that this isn't the last European referendum-themed resturant story we'll get, it has the big advantage of being the first. For the next 3 months The Diner will be embarking on Beef-erendum. They've come up with two burgers to help you choose whether or not the UK should remain in the European Union.

  ‘Le Dave’ Burger (above, right) features a French Charolais beef patty, topped with Swiss cheese and caramelised onions, scattered with

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• Helene Darroze launches a special chicken dinner for two on Sundays

  

  There's roast chicken and then there's Hélène Darroze's roast chicken. The Michelin-starred chef has just launched a six-course roast chicken menu for two, Le Poulet du Dimanche, to be served in her restaurant at the Connaught on Sundays.

  And it sounds like a cracking menu. You begin with an amuse bouche of confit egg yolk served with leek and smoked bacon, brioche croutons and parmigiano reggiano emulsion, served in a golden egg. This is followed by chicken

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• See the Vogue 100 exhibition and enjoy a bargain lunch at Le Caprice

  

  It only opened a week or so ago, but the Vogue exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - Vogue 100: a century of style - is already drawing huge crowds. The good news is there's an altogether more pleasant way to enjoy the show than joining the scrum for tickets each day.

  Le Caprice in St James is running an absolutely fabulous (reference intended) offer alongside the exhibition. For £38 per person you get two courses from a special three course

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