Chef Gordon Ramsay is leading the pack in what might be the most expensive Christmas ever for diners in London. Photo / File; The Savoy, Instagram
Chef Gordon Ramsay is leading the pack in what might be the most expensive Christmas ever for diners in London. Photo / File; The Savoy, Instagram
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is giving the jolly man in red a run for his money this Christmas having unveiled some of the most expensive festive menus in the world.
The Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea, West London is asking up to $1300 per guest for their set festive menu.
The triple Michelin starred restaurant is asking £400 ($775) per person and for servings of Dover sole and roast Sladesdown farm duck. That's before the $533 wine pairing.
The New Year Menu featuring Orkney scallops, duck tea and veal sweetbreads isn't the only restaurant by Ramsay to have upped prices this Christmas.
The more modest, single-Michelin starred Pétrus in the City of London is charging £275 ($533) for a seven-course meal this December. This doesn't include the "discretionary"15 per cent gratuity for the meal of Cumbrian venison and lobster ravioli.
And it has only got more expensive. Back in 2015, a meal at Hospital Road, including gratuity and a house drink, cost £123 ($238). Already named as London's most expensive restaurant in 2006, prices have only gone in one direction.
Today the restaurant is charging £178.25($345) as a base price for diners on the set menu.
The Chef's restaurant label was contacted for comment regarding their festive menus, however increased prices are being reported across the city's top diners this Christmas. Trends show that having risen 3.3 per cent over the past year London in general is the second most expensive city to eat out, after Tokyo. An average meal will set you back $71 in the UK capital.
One of the top destinations for food tourism, visitors to London are having to budget more per mouthful.
The Savoy Grill by Ramsay has an equally extravagant menu for $530. Photo / The Savoy; Instagram
Astronomical Christmas prices felt lower down food chain
Restaurateurs and suppliers are saying that it is not greed that is pushing up prices but Brexit-related trade shortfalls and inflationary pressures in Europe.
"We've gone very quickly from a time five years ago when charging over £100 a head was the outlier, to now, when for the very top restaurants £200 pounds a head is becoming the norm." says Peter Harden, the editor of the London Restaurant Guide.
The price of a top Michelin-star style restaurant has doubled over the past six years since Brexit, according to Harden's restaurant guide.
The top food guide told the Daily Mail that the phenomenon is not limited to London. Ynyshir Hall in Ceredigion, Wales recently set records as the most expensive in Britain. Their 32-course taster menu now costs diners $794 a head.
The eye-watering table bills have not dented appetites just yet. Despite the grumbling, high-end diners show no signs of tightening their belts, instead it is mid-range and affordable diners which are bearing the brunt of rising food costs.
A survey of 500 public houses and hotels in the UK has shown that over a third expect to be operating at a loss by the end of 2023.
