Michelin meals compare well to seat at the opera

The not very surprising claim revealed in the Zagat Survey 2008 that London is the world's most expensive city for eating out has guaranteed coverage in every national newspaper.

London is probably the most expensive city in many other respects, such as Tube fares, Levi jeans and property prices, but paying for food has always stuck in the craw of the British. There is a lingering feeling that food should really be on the NHS.

Running a London restaurant is by not a sure-fire way to make a fortune, or even a living.

Rents, rates and staff costs are high - as they are for all businesses - and a restaurant deals in a perishable product with a volatile customer base. In a small establishment a no-show of a table booked for six can make the difference between profit and loss.

Tim and Nina Zagat, creators of the Zagat Surveys, come at the subject from an American perspective, with a weak dollar.

There were 5,336 respondents to the survey in a city of about eight million, many Americans. This puts a certain spin on the outcome. As Zagat himself concedes, there is good value to be found in London if you explore family-run places, gastropubs and ethnic restaurants.

These fall into a category that he calls Better Alternative To Home, where, he adds, rather disingenuously, preparing a meal is "an inefficient way of eating". Well, only if you have a retinue of staff and always factor in fresh flowers and laundry costs.

Good value can come at any price. If you want a three-star Michelin meal with all the bells and whistles and you like ingredients such as foie gras, truffles, lobster and turbot - and respond well to unctuous service - then dinner at Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road at £107 seems a pretty fair deal. This price compares well with a good seat at the opera.

If the thought of that doesn't float your boat, there are plenty of alternatives. There is a new style of restaurant, exemplified by Great Queen Street in Covent Garden, where the chefs butcher their own meat, change the menu at each meal, cook only seasonal and preferably local ingredients and the owners haven't spent a fortune on interior design.

I know which experience I prefer and it comes at about £36. It would be less if the Zagat definition of the average cost a meal - with one drink and service - was adhered to. Whoever has only one drink?