Restuarants normally pack up their New Year offers by Valentine’s Day – but something tells me this year might be different?

Free bottles of wine, cashback vouchers, 2 for 1′s, 3 for 2′s, loyalty cards, fixed prices, credit crunch lunches, have been everywhere and the competition for bums on seats is fierce. There are a whole lot of great deals out there and when they end another appears. One of the golden rules of marketing any offer is that it must have an end date, but the reality is offers get extended, pop up again in a month or so or are replaced by another tempting deal.

Restaurant offers are always there. It’s about knowing where to look. A good place to check out is toptable.com. It’s useful for booking online and diner reviews too – click through the offers and they send you a voucher to print out (including the likes of LSQ2). At moneysavingexpert.com navigate past acres of discount insurance offers and bargain flights and you will find more voucher-based restaurant offers, though mainly for high street chains. Nothing wrong with that.

But in the end there are some places where you could offer to pay me and I still wouldn’t want to eat. The value of an offer really depends on what you get from your meal. By taking advantage of a good offer you can enjoy Michelin starred food for less than you would pay at one of the Oracle’s bog standard chains. Why would anyone not want to do that?

Here are five offers for all price ranges that are worth looking out for:

The Vineyard at Stockcross

Seasonal Lunch Menu at £19/£24 for two/three courses fixed price.

OK, £25 per head before drinks will end up amounting to £40 plus per head. Many will consider that expensive, but to experience a restaurant with two Michelin stars £40 – about the same as a ticket to watch Chelsea – is value. It’s the difference between never being able to afford to eat in a place like this and enjoying, or giving a real treat. The seasonal menu is not a compromise with enough variety to please most tastes. They also have £100 off rooms till the end of February. Lousy architecture, fantasy food, the mother of all offers – call to book.

The Hand and Flowers at Marlow

Set Lunch £10/£13.50 for 2/3 courses.

At the top of the gastro pub league the Hand and Flowers is a delight made thoroughly affordable by this new fixed price menu of the day.  If you don’t fancy the set lunch, The Hand and Flowers fish and chips from the Bar menu not only sets the standard, but is very reasonable. Walk in offer, but booking advisable.

Forburys Forbury Square, Reading

Market menu £11.50/£15.50 2/3 courses.

Another case of the offer making dining affordable. There are two views of Forbury’s – either an aspiring restaurant delivering a quality experience, or an overpriced eatery with small portions and delusions of grandeur.  The market menu lets for judge yourself at a sensible price – for what its worth most reviewers at Top Table approve where it scores an impressive 8.3 out of 10.

Pizza Express near you

- 2 for 1 main courses/£10 meals.

Too many 2 for 1 offers are something of a con. For example the offer may only count if you order two (overpriced) starters and then you get the lower priced main course – so 2 for 1 can often boil down to £5 off! The 2 for 1 at Pizza Express, which you can pick up off and on through the year, turns the small print round offering the more expensive main without conditions on the rest of your order. £10 favorites offers galic bread, pizza and wine for a tenner. Still the original and the best of the pizza chains. Available as a voucher through www.toptable.com.

Glo St Mary’s Butts, Reading

Dim Sum – 5 for £4.95.

Having opened last summer Glo in St Mary Butts was notable for cocktails and for the very large wooden tables that sag under their own weight. Their dim sum is, however, quite passable and for £4.95 for 5 (normally around £17) makes a decent lunch. Walk in offer.