Restaurant guide says £100 per head ‘no longer enough’ for a top tier meal

A London restaurant guide has raised the threshold for venues listed in its top price band to £130 per head to reflect “record” menu price rises.

Harden's, which reviews 1,675 sites annually, said the cost of eating out had increased at a rate only seen once before in the past 20 years.

It said average restaurant prices had risen 8.1% over in the year to August 2022 while the 58 restaurants which charge over £130 a head had increased their prices by an average of 11.7%.

This had led the guide to raise its top price category by £30, with those charging £100 a head for a meal now in a lower tier.

Editor Peter Harden said: “It was the post-Brexit, 2017 edition in which we first introduced a £100-plus top price band at the front of the book. At that time, there were 37 such entries, of which just one had a formula price over £150 per head.

“Now, there are 154 entries in the guide above the £100 level… and 37 restaurants with a formula price over £150 per head. In fact, there are 17 entries now over £200 per head and six above £250.”

Openings and closures

The guide reported just 136 new London openings in the past year, the lowest level since 2011, and 85 closures.

This produced a net growth of 51 new openings, which Hardens said was well below the 100-plus new openings recorded in a “golden era” of 2014-2018.

Closures this year included Flor in London Bridge, Ceviche Old Street and Davies and Brook at Claridge’s hotel.

Harden added: “It is not a good sign that our data precedes the most recent spike in prices, and yet diners in our poll were already expressing concerns related to these never-before-seen levels of expense.”

There were 26 new restaurant openings specialising in modern British cuisine, 18 serving Italian food and nine offering Japanese dishes.

Some 57 restaurants opened in central London, beating east London (25 openings), south London (23 openings), west London (16 openings) and north London (15 openings).

Harden said it showed working from home “hasn’t yet inspired” a rush to invest in suburban areas.

Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill topped Harden's diner’s poll as the best gastronomic experience of the year, while Evelyn’s Table in Soho had the highest average food rating for restaurants charging over £130 a head.

Chez Bruce in Wandsworth had the most nominations as diner’s favourite for the 17th year in a row.

The guide said diners voted the Oxo Tower restaurant the most disappointing, while the River Café was voted the most ‘overpriced', with Hardens noting that despite the quality of the food the “gobsmacking prices” were “hard to justify”.