, she points out. “One of my husband and mine’s greatest luxuries is to go to an amazing BYO Punjabi restaurant in Tooting Bec, and have a nice bottle of wine and some kebabs,” she says. “It’s a date night for us – and the bill is £30.”; you just need a book and a tenner. A glass of wine and a bar snack on your way home from work provides much of the feeling of having been “out” at a fraction of the cost. Like getting your nails done, says Sabrina, it’s “an independent act of self-love”.
If wine is your poison of choice, then look for places with corkage, which is different to BYO. “You bring your own nice bottle of wine, then pay a small fee to cover the loss the restaurant makes from you not drinking theirs,” he says. Another good tip: avoid carafes. “I’ve never ordered a carafe and not ended up ordering one more glass, by which point you might as well have ordered a bottle.”
Do consider choosing one blindingly great glass of wine over several good ones, too. “If you’re a wine lover, having one nice glass is a good way of cutting down spending,” says Rosie Birkett, the food writer and author behind the popularnewsletter. And if you simply must order a bottle? Go New World rather than Old World, advises Dan O’Regan of BANK in Bristol – or opt for the house wine, says Gavin Rankin, whose restaurant Bellamy’s has been showing how hospitality is done for almost 20 years.
Yeah, go to fast food restaurant or ordre in pizza!