Up-market restaurants are introducing cut-price menus to beat the credit crunch.

Recession-busting measures from restaurateurs across Leicestershire include "Lunch For Less" menus, loyalty cards and two-for-one offers.

Some of the venues that would normally have you thinking about taking out a second mortgage to eat there may now be more within your price range.

Sarah Poli owns Italian restaurant Firenze, in Kibworth, and its sister restaurant Boboli, in Kibworth Harcourt.

She said: "We have to do things that will encourage people to come, and offer good value, but will not cheapen what we do.

"People expect certain standards and a restaurant has to look at its market before it opts for something like this.

"You have to choose something that will be consistent with your brand.

"Our Friday night trade specifically has gone down. So as a result we have done different things to encourage people in.

"We are in difficult times. I think in the past I have stayed away from doing offers, but now we are doing more."

The restaurants have introduced cheaper lunch menus, as well as mix and match Italian tapas, at £2 a bowl.

Boboli has also started a "coffee club" card, the equivalent of a loyalty card.

And at Firenze, special evenings are being run where customers can enjoy a five-course meal and a glass of wine for £55.

Owen Bolton, general manager at the Red Lion, at Stathern, said his restaurant had launched several value menus.

He said: "We have a Lunch For Less menu and an early-door evening menu, when people can eat from 6pm.

"We are aware that these are difficult times. People are going out less and are being careful.

"But with these menus we are very, very busy. In fact, we are busier than we were this time last year."

Hambleton Hall, in Oakham, started a Lunch For Less menu several years ago – but general manager Chris Hurst said it is now more popular than ever.

The menu gives people the choice of two courses for £20 – compared to the evening prices when a set menu starts at £37 and just one main course can cost as much as £36.

Mr Hurst said: "The Lunch For Less menu is incredibly popular. We have waiting lists of several weeks.

"I think it is great value. We started it years ago and it has been a great success.

"During the summer, people want to eat at a beautiful setting like this, and we are filling up even more quickly."

Tracey Walker, 32, of Leicester's West End, said she had started ringing around restaurants to see if they had cheaper deals.

She said: "It's a great way of finding a bargain in some great restaurants."

A survey by market research company Mintel earlier this year found 66% of people are spending less at restaurants during the recession.