Zagat Guide Says London Restaurants Getting Cheaper

Gastronomical prices for eating out in London have dropped slightly for the first time since 1997, according to Zagat's, which in publishing these findings is in no way trying to scrape some publicity together for its just-released London Restaurants 2010. Before you go ordering that third slice of creme puff and melon pie, be warned that the pennies knocked off your bill are meagre: the cost of an average meal is down 0.4% to £40.39, meaning the saving you make is barely enough to tip the busboy. Zagat's guide also brought a rare morsel of good news for the embattled Gordon Ramsey — his eponymous restaurant in Royal Hospital Road was voted the best in London, just days after it took a hammering in the new Harden's guide, which said it had suffered an "unprecedented slide".