Is Pied a terre going down?

[PhilD]

(as an aside, I wonder why * and ** here charge so little compared to their French counterparts, considering London's main industry and its players...)

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Roger, not certain I agree. We lived in Paris 18 months ago and found * restaurants to be similar in price to London ones. In fact because the £/€ was better back then I thought they were a bit cheaper. But, I agree that *** in Paris are far more expensive (not that we have many in the UK to compare).

As to feeling comfortable in restaurants and having fun, I find it takes a little time to settle into the culture of a city. When we first arrived in Paris we did find it stiff and formal. But once we understood the culture we found it very relaxing and good fun. I think there as many stiff and formal British places as there are casual and fun - my experience last weekend at the Yorke Arms is a good example.

However, I believe Gill was talking about the food on the plate rather than the ambiance of the restaurant. I would love to argue his point but I don't think I really understand it. Is it a new anthropomorphic style of food criticism?