How much do think your meal is worth?

Little Bay, Official site

171 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3AL 0207 278 1234

Price : Anything you like ( not a joke , keep reading.. )

I would like to pay £25 for a full dinner and drinks, anymore is a rip-off in these gloomy days although London restaurants are closer to the £50 mark. I suppose this question is really rather subjective in that it really depends on who you ask - and on which side of the stove. Let’s start from the simpler POV first : mine.

Long gone are the days when we can afford to keep the current account in the red; reigning in spending means cutting out the entree or worse - sharing the pud. Sometimes I cannot help but feel ripped off when restaurants charge exorbitant amounts of dosh for something you could easily whip up in the comfort of your home. Take pasta for example : I’m going to be bold and say that on average, you would expect to pay about £12 to £15  for a large plate of spag bol when you’re out and about - granted if the restaurant has some kind of secret recipe it might be worth it but seriously though I could whip up something similar ( may melt tummy linings ) for a tenth of the asking price. Sure restaurants need to pass the running costs to the customer but lately it’s just been getting a little out of hand. It gets worse when you visit chefs who’ve been on TV because they will use that as a license to overcharge you. Yes - I am well aware of the ‘maintenance costs’ in keeping marble floors in the loos shiny but £75 for a 3 course meal at a nondescript michelin restaurant is well beyond the means of more than a few. This little debate might have have carried more ompph if it were written at the height of the economic boom a couple of years ago since restaurants now seem desperate to fill the void of an empty restaurant by introducing set lunch menus which are decently priced (£25 at Hibiscus , £35 The Square & Wareings and I keep hearing £19 at Robuchons) .

For the man who’s sweating his pits off to cook your steak in good time - he would tell you that he should be appropriately rewarded for his hard work - and so he should be, kitchens are pressure cookers ( maybe I watch too much Gordon Ramsay ) , I can’t speak for London restaurants but I have witnessed first hand how a little chinese takeaway operates (struggles) on a saturday night and boy, did I think they deserve more than the slim margins they were getting.

Speaking of the f-word, the esteemed Scotsman did do something particularly intriguing (aside from the self-glorification being that the show is all about ego but that’s a rant for another day) by asking f-word diners if they would pay for the dishes after they had it. If it was well cooked and on time - people would gladly do it and if not then well no. Wouldn’t it be nice if a restaurant actually did just that…

…and sometimes it really is a case of life imitating art (um, reality tv?) as the Little Bay in Farringdon is doing just that: letting you decide exactly how much you think the meal was worth. You could put down £1000 (heck £10,000 if you wanted) or you could just pay a penny. The owner Peter Ilic (he’s holding the dishes) really wants to know what diners think his meals are worth. You can eat a full three course menu ( or more from what I can gather ) and pay whatever you like for the food - the drinks are not included in this offer. I had a look at the menu and everything looks like its all there but particularly jumping out at me are the crab tartlet and the steamed butter fish as well as the whole boned poussin.

Ok so where was I? £25 is my absolute limit, being completely ignorant about ingredients and running costs, etc if I had a choice that’s the magic number I would pick.

Would I change my mind if the food and service at the Little Bay is effing awesome - yes of course I would, would I threathen not to pay anything if the food sucked balls, probably - I’d be more narked if service was a bummer rather than food.

Ok so there you go Londoners - This ‘pay what you want offer‘ runs through the whole of February - I’m going soon but first, do join the poll and let me know what the ideal cost of a meal is to you.

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