Cheap as chips – but not any more

Let’s be honest – eating out is a luxury. But the same inflation that has seen your food and energy bills increase dramatically has sent menu prices soaring, making even meeting a friend for coffee something that many of us now have to think carefully about. And yet, recent research shows that 40 per cent of us eat out every week, while many members of my Facebook group The Restaurant Club eat out even more frequently than that.

Simon Wood, the Masterchef winner who pipped our very own Emma Spitzer to the post in 2015, runs WOOD restaurant in Manchester. He told The Times last week that “the oil in my fryer is more expensive than unleaded Shell”.

Recently a member of The Restaurant Club posted on the group to say a café in Mill Hill charged her for butter and jam to accompany her toast. Another said that a local café charged hot water refills when serving a pot of tea. Yet another was appalled to see a charge on her bill of £2 for parmesan grated over her pasta dish. A few weeks ago a customer at WOOD was charged £2.50 for butter and her complaint on social media went viral. However, Simon vehemently defends his stance: “Food is not free, labour is not free, dishwashers are not free, butter is not free.” Indeed at the beginning of this year he was buying 25 packs of butter for £36 – now he pays £84.

There are restaurants where you can still have a treat night out and sometimes you find the rarest of gems in the unlikeliest of places. Family-run Rara’s Corner in Edgware ticks all the boxes of what I call a ‘good local Italian’, with fresh pasta, pizza cooked in a proper pizza oven, a range of non-carb dishes, decent wines and a cosy, rustic interior. I started with cheesy arancini at £4.50, and then had poussin marinated in lemon, garlic and herbs at £16.50  (cue memories of the long-gone and much- missed La Sorpresa in Hampstead, whose signature dish this was). Slightly crispy, wonderfully tasty skin, under which lay beautifully tender and succulent chicken, and it comes with piping hot fries.

New for summer is a superfood salad with chicken/salmon or grilled halloumi for just £14.50, while desserts are around the £7 mark and include a deliciously sweet-and-sharp passion fruit mousse and an authentic tiramisu.

Further up the road in Edgware is the well-established Turkish restaurant Izgara, with starters from around £7 and mains from around £18 this is another keenly priced option. The much-loved award-winning Melissa in Canon’s Park has always been tremendous value for money for really fresh, tasty grilled food and has opened a second branch in Harrow.

In Golders Green, Jami’s Head Room café has expanded into the unit next door, doubling your chances of getting a table to enjoy all-day brunch with dishes from £5, superb pasta with creamy mushrooms (£11), and extremely good coffee. It’s open on Sunday evenings too. With bifold doors opening at the front this is a great summer option and you’ll be supporting a superb social enterprise initiative at the same time.

At The Plough in Sleapshyde, owner Rob Laub has invested hugely in a refurb and a spectacular garden, plus some seriously high-level expertise in the kitchen. These things don’t come cheap, but Rob is doing his best mitigate the increases. Summer Sundays in the garden come with live music and food cooked in the outdoor kitchen. If you want to keep costs down go for the burger at £18 or share the spatchcock chicken which is £40 but for two people. “One of the biggest challenges we have faced is the uncertainty – not just of price but of availability,” says Rob. “We have seen the price of ingredients rise by over four times at points in the past year. Luckily ours is a business that can change dishes and items at will but for non-independents that are locked into menus the challenge must be enormous.”

Shiru Kraus and Amir Battito, who own the popular middle eastern steakhouse restaurant The Black Cow in Hawley Wharf, Camden, have just opened a second restaurant, Epicurus, in The Stables. This is a middle eastern twist on the American Diner, where you can feast on food with oodles of flavour at reasonably low prices. The signature burger, a meal in itself, is just £11.50 while Sloppy Yosef – a Tel Aviv-style sloppy Joe with burik pastry and beef will set you back £13.

Chicken shawarma pancakes with harissa jam and spiced quince are £12 and wings with amba mango and Scotch bonnet are £10. Finish with Messy-bamba, an icecream, praline brownie, chocolate caramel sauce and peanut bamba concoction (£8) and you’ll have a terrific meal for just over £50. Shiri says it’s becoming more and more of a challenge to keep process low. “Vegetable prices have increased by at least one and half times, oil has more than doubled, meat has gone up by 75%. We do everything we can to not let that affect our clientele – we cut back on wastage and shop around for the best suppliers but because the price rises are so high it leaves us with little option but to pass on a small part of that increase.”

You could be forgiven for staying home and not spending the money. But if we don’t support our local restaurants then they won’t be there when we do want to treat ourselves.