London is the most expensive city in the world for dining out. But chef Shaun Hill argues that the best restaurants are worth it.
Rich pickings ... London is now more expensive than Tokyo for diners Photograph: C Fleurent/photocuisine/Corbis
Statistics are misleading. Does London's average restaurant spend cover the spectrum of good eating from Lisle Street's Chinese cafes though to Gordon Ramsay, or does it just reflect the price differentials separating the very top end of ambitious eateries? If the yen or euro strengthens next week will that make London a bit cheaper by comparison? Paris restaurants at the top end are just as costly as London's. Maybe there are just more mid-range and mid-price eateries there to lower the average.
That said, nobody who eats regularly in London will disagree with the headline's general thrust. Very few of my meals this year have cost less than £30 a head for the food alone and most have cost double, plus of course the vino. What irks is not price but value and integrity and this covers the medium and low price eating every bit as much as the ambitious. Especially irritating is "menu creep", where the main course reads as £20 but with a couple of necessary and gently suggested veg, bottled water and optional service the credit card is likely to be hit for double.
I don't object to £100 for the capital's top spots. Why should the skill and talent of a top chef not cost more than something bog standard? Why should it be thought of differently from a night at the opera , a pop concert or a major football game? We are talking entertainment here after all, not nourishment. Restaurant meals aren't compulsory like the rates. Especially as all this craftsmanship and taste comes at no extra charge somewhere good.
Restaurant economics are based on a simple arithmetical mark up -- usually the food costing a third of the total price -- so the lobster you buy at a rubbish restaurant will cost as much as if somebody clever had spent hours on the case. A meal chez Ramsay is not a rip off, it's just that a meal Chez Bruce (the Wandsworth restaurant that rated best for food) is a bargain.
The trick, of course, is to avoid the impostors. Here we are well served for there is an industry of critics and writers to give guidance. How much better off is the putative diner than any poor bugger with a toothache or legal problem for there's nobody to compare dentists or solicitors, or to award points out of 10 for plumbing and electrical work?
The reality at the core of any dining in London is the price of property not the cost of raw ingredients. The space your bottom occupies in Knightsbridge or Kensington comes at quite a price. Most every restaurant in town will be relatively recent and will have been built, designed and furnished with borrowed money. These businesses -- which is what they are folks -- need to be profitable fast. Anyone who reads restaurant review columns on a regular basis will notice the same addresses reappearing every two years or so as the latest opening. The prices may be sky high but not necessarily the bottom lines.
Unpopular restaurants just do not survive. If there are too many places trying to draw in those with big bucks to spend, then most will be up for sale soon enough. The magic of the marketplace I believe the late president Reagan called it. So anyone with a sheath of recipes and the ability to borrow large sums can show us how it's done. Good luck.
Could it possibly be a little harder than you think?
