In fact that’s being polite, because ‘mediocre’ implies that London’s food is ‘average’. It’s not. It is clearly below average. I think the typical London meal you get is a 3/10, and when you get a 6/10 you should feel very lucky indeed. The places my friends take me to in order to proudly show off ‘London’s best’ is usually decidedly 5/10 (though the price is not!). The best meal I have ever had in London was about a 7/10, and that was the only meal I have ever had in the capital that I found sufficiently good to return for.

When I compare that to what I get when travelling! Even most places in America have a higher standard. Making the obvious comparison that is so often made, I think New York wins comprehensively as a culinary city. The quality of steak for one thing is far higher. South American beef is lovely too. I would say that as a traveller South Africa had the most consistently high quality food I’ve ever eaten. I did have some poor meals there when off the beaten track, but as an average there is an exceptionally high quality of meat, fruit, vegetables – all produce in fact. In the cities the standard of meals if you are even slightly discerning is quite exceptional. The steak is the best I’ve ever had by far, and at least a dozen of the best meals I have ever had have been on Holiday in South Africa. If you are prepared to spend even half what you’d spend on a bad ‘cheap’ meal in London, you can eat like a king in a Gourmet restaurant throughout the Cape, or in Johannesburg. Italy is not very far behind South Africa as a gastronomic delight, despite the fact that it tends to be expensive. What is great in Italy is that though you pay, you pay for something good – and I do find that it’s difficult to get a genuinely poor meal there. Steak and meat in general in Tuscany is very good, and of course Italian pasta is simply superb. I’ve also had wonderful food in several countries throughout Asia, and Sydney’s food tends to be of a high standard and very cosmopolitan.

Anyway, let the advertisements scattered throughout London do the talking for the city. ‘Food Poisoning. Word gets out… for free advice on how to avoid food poisoning in your restaurant blah blah blah’. What other city actually has to advertise that at its bus stops for the many restaurateurs? And certainly what other so called ‘global city’? Sorry, but the capital’s cuisine is by and large a national disgrace.