London 'world's most expensive city for dining out'
London has overtaken Tokyo and Paris to become the world’s most expensive city for dining out, research says today.
The average cost of a three-course restaurant meal for one is up 2.9% on last year to £39.09 (€57) including one drink, tax and service.
London pushed ahead of Tokyo – which was most expensive last year but is now in third place at £35.10 (€51), according to the survey by Zagat restaurant guides.
Paris is now the second most expensive capital city at £35.37 (€52) while a meal for one in New York costs just £19.30 on average.
The findings are based on surveys of between 5,000 and 10,000 people in 45 cities around the world.
In a poll of some 5,300 London diners, Chez Bruce on Wandsworth Common was voted the best venue for food – ending Restaurant Gordon Ramsay’s seven-year reign.
Ramsay’s self-named Chelsea restaurant was named best for service while L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon was top newcomer and Wagamama was the most popular restaurant.
A survey of the 20 most expensive restaurants in London found the average price of a meal for one was £87.90 (€129) – up 6.1% on last year.
Londoners eat out on average 2.5 times per week compared to 3.4 times for New Yorkers and 3.6 times for locals in Tokyo.
Zagat survey CEO Tim Zagat said: “It’s astonishing to see how expensive the London dining scene has become but as indicated by this survey, the city still offers many great values – both in terms of quality and price.”
A meal at Chez Bruce costs on average £50 (€73) less than eating at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, he added.
The Zagat survey named Food for Thought, Leon and Books for Cooks London’s “best buys” for eating out.
Three quarters (74%) of respondents spent more when eating out in London than they did two years ago.
Poor service was named the biggest problem of the London restaurant scene by the survey respondents.
Zagat has more than 300,000 restaurant surveyors globally who rate venues online on a scale of zero to three for factors such as food, decor, service and the estimated cost.
The average number of people surveyed in each city is between 5,000 and 10,000, rising to 35,000 in New York where the Zagat survey first started.
Zagat’s 2008 London Restaurants Guide launches today.
