Good fare for the common man

To listen to some people in the media you'd be forgiven for thinking that Britain – and in particular London -- was now the best place in the world to eat. Why, with its Gordon Ramsays and Heston Blumenthals, its legions of foodies (more on this ridiculous term in a minute) and its gastropubs, it’s obviously without equal, in Europe or anywhere else.

I beg to differ.

Every sane person’s conviction that most gastropubs – talked up in London anyway by gullibly gushing publications like Time Out - are overrated and overpriced was given credence by the publishers of the Good Pub Guide this week.

And the Times restaurant critic AA Gill in an interview with the Evening Standard this week rightly asserted that London restaurants are gimmicky, pretentious and overpriced, and generally compare poorly – on value particularly -- with their Continental counterparts. And, perhaps a little uncharacteristically, he struck this note for the common man: "One of the things I love about Italy is that you know that the waiters could afford to eat the incredible food they serve. I feel very uncomfortable in restaurants that are just too expensive for the staff ever to eat in."

And he's right. Although he must spend most of his working life feeling very uncomfortable. It must be tough.

The big difference is that, except in the most touristed corners of continental Europe, you can largely wander into a decent-looking brasserie or trattoria and get a good two-or-three-course meal with good table wine for what? 20 euros? Less? If you know where to go, you'll get a great meal for that.

It’s expected that people go out to eat – it’s not an 'event' thing, an occasion that you have to consult the restaurant reviews for and phone up and book. Of course there are plenty of 'occasion restaurants' over there too; but there are many more good local eateries with good local food and wine that anyone but the poorest sections of society can afford to eat in.

And that is where we come to that dread word 'foodie'. Only in Britain would we give a name to some privileged cabal of citizens who 'like good food'. It rankles with me that the word seems smugly to adopt the practice of buying nice food and eating at restaurants as the preserve of a monied middle class.

Well of course, it largely is the monied middle class who do these things here: they are the ones who can afford to shop at Waitrose and Borough Market, and eat where the Times food supplement tells them to.

- Adrian Lowery, News editor, This is Money

Comments

[Paul Smith]

Are you still drinking Cotes De Roussillon with your chilli con carne?

[Rob]

I completely agree with this article. I love eating out in places like Greece but rarely do so here (except the occasional cheaper Indian restaurants) as I cannot afford the ridiculous prices. I love the UK but retaurants are overpriced.

[Robert]

I agree, all part of the rip off Britain thing.
Mainland europe, especially the Mediterranean countries abound with excellent, unpretentious, normally family owner and run restaurants, where the owner stands by his house wine selection, as opposed to selling the least expensive palatable plonk he thinks he can get away with.
I have always believed that the prices over here bear no relationship to costs, but rather are pitched at what the particular establishment believes his clientele will stump up for.
That's all well and good but if you are charging way over the top for the food you should be way over the top on quality and service. again this is not the case. There are very few (particularly pub restaurants) where the customer facing staff are actually involved in and even care about the reputation of the establishment. They will happily take their money and run.
That much I'm sure is a result of the job of waiter/waitress being considered a menial job, whereas in Spain, for example, it's considered more a career or profession.

[Kenn Coates]

Yes, my wife and I recently moved out to Kuala Lumpur and we just cannot believe the food we get here, never mind that a decent meal with wine for 2 costs about £10.

It will be very difficult to come back to the UK and eat out.

The tastes, even of fruit and vegetables is so different - presumably because everything is so fresh.

Mind you, the comment about staff wages is probably as true here as it is in the UK.