Dine Around the World with NE1 Newcastle Restaurant Week

France

Let’s start our journey close to home. For a long time in this country, French food was perceived as posh – snobbish even – and there is still a place for that kind of haute cuisine, but the more casual, rustic, bistro-style fare has been gaining in popularity.

A great example of that is The French Quarter on Westgate Road, which is offering two courses for £20 and three for £25 during Restaurant Week, so you can enjoy plenty authentic and rustic French dishes like tartare de betterave (beetroot tartare with toasted pumpkin seeds and herbs) or cuisse de poulet, tagliatelle and sauce a l’estragon (herb roasted chicken leg, fresh tagliatelle and a creamy tarragon sauce).

The much-loved Hotel du Vin is offering two courses for £20 or three for £25 in its delightful dining room, where you can enjoy some bistro classics like sauteed mushrooms, steak tartare or warm sticky figgy pudding for a bargain price.

And of course, there’s Côte Brasserie, a Grainger Street staple. Their incredible £25 offer includes four courses and a drink, so why not dine on the likes of pumpkin soup, pan-fried mackerel, chocolate mousse, along with a glass of wine or beer.

Spain

A romantic train journey over the Pyrenees and it’s time to say 'hola' to some delicious Spanish food during Restaurant Week.

Both branches of Kaltur – on High Bridge and Dean Street – have been doing amazing things with tapas and small plates for a few years now, and their £15, £20 and £25 offers means unusual dishes like chickpea and red bean salad, Iberico pork cheek and Galician grilled octopus are yours to try.

Quayside restaurant El Torero has £15 and £20 offers (three tapas or three tapas and dessert) and its Leazes Park Road sister restaurant El Coto is offering the same deals too, so dishes like chorizo frito, ternera a la esonera (home-made beef stew) and Papella Valenciana can be yours for a (flamenco) song.

Perfectly situated, gorgeously decorated and full of tempting tapas, Cafe Andaluz is the final Spanish restaurant on our list. During Restaurant Week, you can enjoy two different deals three tapas at lunch for £15 or three tapas and a dessert at dinner for £20. The calamares fritos (classic crisp-fried calamari served with lime mayo) and queso de cabra al horno (grilled round of goats’ cheese with orange & chilli marmalade) both look particularly tempting.

And last, but by no means least, there’s Mediterranean wine bar and restaurant Fuego. Housed inside Fenwick, you’ll find a treasure trove of treats to enjoy here with their £15 and £20 offers – one pizza and one dessert or three tapas and one dessert – meaning you can enjoy the likes of zucca and rose harissa pizza, chocolate torta caprese, and crispy soft-shell crab.

Italy

A little further east across the Med and we’re in Italy – the birthplace of pizza, pasta and all other kinds of tasty treats. Luckily, Italian cuisine is well represented during Restaurant Week.

Dean Street mainstay Marco Polo has been cooking up delicious Italian food in Newcastle for more than fifty years and a wonderful meal is promised with their two courses for £20 or three for £25 offer. Expect dishes like mussels in saffron sauce, brie, mushroom and plum jam pizza and pear and almond frangipane with lemon mascarpone.

Zucchini Pasta Bar is a temple of pasta, a casual cavalcade of Italy’s greatest gift to the world. There’s a two dishes for £15 or three for £20 offer on during Restaurant Week and pasta lovers will be in heaven with fare like taglierini ham hock, parmesan and chicken brood and the vegan-friendly orecchiette roast red pepper sugo.

Also offering up a taste of Italy this Restaurant Week is King Street royalty Lui’s. They’ll be dishing up two courses for £20 or three for £25 with beetroot carpaccio, seabass gamberetti and panna cotta just some of the dishes to pick from.

Perhaps the highest profile Italian joint in the city is Gino D’Acampo Restaurant on the Quayside who have a trio of Restaurant Week deals - two or three courses during the day for £20 and £25 respectively. We don't know about you, but the trofie al s=almone affumicato (thin twisted pasta from Liguria with smoked salmon, asparagus, lemon and a creamy mascarpone sauce) is certainly making our mouths water.

Greece

To the far side of the Med now and to Greece. Everyone always comes back from the Greek islands raving about the food, but there’s great Greek cuisine right here on our doorstep in Newcastle.

Bigg Market favourite Kafeneon is offering two courses for £15 or three for £20 and that includes dishes like keftedes, beef stifado and baklava - all hard to resist considering the restaurant's reputation for amazing Greek food.

Next up, we’re “sailing away” to Salparo! This Quayside eatery has seafood, meat and vegetarian dishes to pick from this Restaurant Week, so no-one has to miss out on their two dishes for £20 and three for £25 offers!

Over at Grainger Market, multi-award winning purveyors of Greek street food Acropolis have an equally tempting trio of offers available - a wrap and halloumi bites for £15, a platter of Greek eats plus halloumi bites for £20 or a platter and two sides for £25.

Rounding up this trio of Greek delights, you’ll find Simply Greek Brunch House, with £15, £20, and £25 offers to pick from. Feta honey, followed by mixed gyros and baklava cheesecake? Sounds delicious!

USA

Moving further afield, we’re headed to over to the U.S. of A. for some of that great food you always see in movies and want to get stuck into.

American food can feel ubiquitous but proper diner food is comfort food par excellence, and veritable institution Hard Rock Cafe has a reputation for doing things right. Offering two courses for £15 and three for £20, you can chow down on staples like pulled pork sliders, spicy diablo burger and apple pie and still have change for the jukebox.

Over at the Bigg Market, popular eatery Meat:Stack will be cooking up a burger special just for Restaurant Week with the help of North East Chef of the Year and Hjem sous chef Lawrence Norman and has £15, £20 and £25 deals offering various

And home of all things chicken - Hen & Hops on High Bridge Street - is offering two courses for £15 and three for £20, which includes some seriously finger-licking good chicken options like the Nashville chicken burger - a southern-fried chicken burger served with jalapeño ranch, gherkin relish, Nashville hot sauce, lettuce & American cheese.

Following on with the cluckin’ good chicken eateries, you’ll find FEDS Fried Chicken Shop in Grainger Market who have two mouthwatering deals going. Grab a King of the Market Box for £15, or their Big Ol’ Bucket Filler Thrilla for £25 so you’re not left winging it this Restaurant Week!

Bringing a taste of the state of Hawaii to Toon now, a trip to Hula Co this Restaurant Week is sure to brighten up your January. Dig into a main and dessert for just £15 – or head there on Sunday to pick from special Sunday roast dishes, all served with smokey lau lau greens, creamy mash, and soy-infused gravy!

The Caribbean & Latin America

Of course, the USA is surrounded on all sides by countries offering their own brilliant cuisines which you can try here in the heart of Newcastle with Restaurant Week.

Cruise on over to the Caribbean at Turtle Bay with their two courses for £20 deal offering tropical delights like garlic pit prawns and sweetcorn fritters, or salsa your way to Cuba with £15, £20 and £25 offers at Revolucion de Cuba giving you the chance to dine on fare like loaded beef nachos, Cajun cream mushrooms and vegan patatas bravas.

Head eastwards to Mexico at Motel Mexicana with three deals priced at £15, £20 and £25 offering tasty tacos, loaded nachos and tempting churros for you and your amigos to enjoy too.

Moving southwards, take a culinary trip to South America at Argentinian steakhouse Gaucho who are offering three courses for £25. With steak options like chorizo sirloin and churrasco cuadril rump, meat lovers will be in steakhouse heaven.

Middle Eastern

Moving towards West Asia now, for a taste of authentic dishes right in the heart of Newcastle.

Persia Restaurant dishes up everything you think they would! From koobideh kebab to a halloumi wrap, Restaurant Week is the ideal time to explore their menu, with two courses for £15 or three for £20.

But if you’re in the mood to try something new, why not book a table at DOOD? This Quayside eatery has become something of a hotspot since it opened late last year, and for their Restaurant Week debut, they’ll be serving kashke babdemjan (Persian aubergine dip with crispy panko coated aubergine), kabab koobideh (mangal-grilled marinated minced lamb with spices) and Persian jewelled rice as part of their £25 offer.

Japan

Let’s keep heading west ‘til we arrive in Japan, a country whose cuisine is increasingly popular in the UK, starting with the sushi boom and now taking in a wider appreciation of a fascinating range of food.

A veritable feast of Japanese delights - from chicken harumaki and vegetable gyoza to glazed salmon teriyaki and chilli beef robata - are available at Aveika with their two courses for £15 and three for £20 offers.

For Wagamama’s first Restaurant Week menu, they’ll be treating diners to three courses for £25, with beef donburi, wok fried greens and white choc and ginger cheesecake amongst the choices! There’s even a whole plant-based menu too, so no one has to miss out.

Aiming for something a little more pan-Asian, The Muddler has two offers happening during Restaurant Week with a £15 and £20 deals that get you two lots of four-piece sushi portions and three of their tasty small plates and a side, respectively. Their must-try adobo crispy pork is included too!

At fellow Grey Street eatery Sushi Me Rollin', their £25 offer gets you a choice of two packed-to-the-brim sushi platters - choose from the 'SMR Starter Pack' of the 'Something Fishy' platter.

Thailand

Heading deeper into South-East Asia, Thailand is another national cuisine that’s seen a growth in popularity in the last twenty years or so, and Newcastle has some fine examples.

Take Chaophraya, the Eldon Square restaurant whose food is as impressive as its location and rooftop terrace. Enjoy two courses for £20 or three for £25 during Restaurant Week, including such must-try dishes as sweetcorn cakes, Thai red curry and cashew nut stir fry.

Mantra Thai Dining is another tempting Thai restaurant with a menu that mixes the familiar and the more unusual with £20 two-course and £25 three-course deals that offers dishes like chicken stay and panang pork curry.

And of course, just down Mosely Street, you’ll also find Nadon Thai. This year, they’re offering two courses for £15 or three for £20, so you can dine on the likes of prawn sesame toast, drunken udon with duck and pandan pancake roll.

India

And then on to India, of course, home to one of the UK's most popular cuisines. Newcastle has a wealth of great Indian restaurants, so spice-lovers are in for a treat this Restaurant Week.

Khai Khai styles its menu as ‘Indian retro comfort food’ which means dishes like onion and samphire bhaji, Old Delhi butter chicken and their signature tandoori broccoli. This Restaurant Week, their £25 offer gets you a pre-starter, small/smoke plate and a heritage dish at the popular Queen Street venue.

Indian street food institution My Delhi have two Restaurant Week deals – a £15 lunch offer and a £20 dinner offer. The lunchtime deal gets guests nibbles and a drink plus a choice of two street plates or one canteen plate, while the dinner deal includes nibbles and a choice of three small plates or one street plate and a roadside curry served with rice.

Long-running and much-loved Newcastle restaurant Sachins are taking part again this year too with a oh-so-tempting £20 offer that gets you three courses including the likes of parsi lamb kebab, maa di daal with Raajma (black lentils cooked with kidney beans with Punjabi spices) and vegetable tikka.

Meanwhile, there's a great £15 deal on at Dakwala offering two courses with dishes like onion-beet bhaji, fenugreek chicken tikka and canteen vegetable curry. Delicious or what?

And how could we mention Indian restaurants without featuring Thali Tray? Their unique menu – inspired, as you might’ve guessed, by traditional thali trays – means your curry, sides and naan all arrive on a silver platter together! This Restaurant, you’ll be able to enjoy some titbits, a thali taster, a thali tray and thali treat for just £20.

Britain

Of course, one of the best things about travelling abroad is coming home, and with British food in something of a golden period at the moment, there’s no better time to dine on our own dishes - especially here in Newcastle.

Redhouse keeps things simple - they sell good old British pies - and their Restaurant Week offer is perfect for people dining in pairs with a deal that get you two pies, and a choice of potatoes, peas and sauce each all for only £20!

Set in a Dominican friary that dates back to 1239, Blackfriars’ Restaurant Week menu isn’t the only impressive thing about the beloved city centre venue! This January, their £25 offer means you can enjoy three courses at lunch, or two courses at dinner, so make sure you get that table booked.

And last, but by no means least, there’s The Broad Chare. Friendly and non-fussy, their Restaurant Week menu means you can dig into two courses for £15 or three for £20 at lunchtime – including the likes of smoked haddock croquettes, treacle-glazed bacon, and whisky marmalade sponge pudding. Delicious!

That’s just a fraction of the many countries and cuisines represented in the January 2025 edition of NE1 Newcastle Restaurant Week and with offers this good you could visit a different nation every night and not break the bank… or need a passport!

Main image: Dakwala

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