London has overtaken Tokyo and Paris to become the world's most expensive city for dining out, research says today.
The average cost of a three-course restaurant meal for one is up 2.9 per cent on last year to £39.09 including one drink, tax and service.
London pushed ahead of Tokyo - which was most expensive last year but is now in third place at £35.10, according to the survey by Zagat restaurant guides.
Paris is now the second most expensive capital city at £35.37 while a meal for one in New York costs just £19.30 on average.
The findings are based on surveys of between 5,000 and 10,000 people in 45 cities around the world. In a poll of some 5,300 London diners, Chez Bruce on Wandsworth Common was voted the best venue for food - ending Restaurant Gordon Ramsay's seven-year reign.
Ramsay's self-named Chelsea restaurant was named best for service while L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon was top newcomer and Wagamama was the most popular restaurant.
A survey of the 20 most expensive restaurants in London found the average price of a meal for one was £87.90 - up 6.1 per cent on last year.
But these top-notch venues were still cheaper on average than the 20 most expensive restaurants in both Tokyo and Paris, where meals cost on average £102.86 and £101.08 respectively.
