Le Gavroche

Le Gavroche's set lunch is famously good value - the £51 charge includes a half bottle of wine, coffee and petits fours - and you'll need to book well ahead to snag a table. Come for dinner, however, and you can expect to pay around £230 for two, much more if you don't keep an eye on the drinks and opt for dishes of luxury ingredients (the fillet of beef is £42.40, and a strawberry tasting dessert is more expensive than some mains).

Still, it's not just the prices that add a sense of grandeur. The basement dining room with its green fabric walls, original Picasso's, flashing cloches and air of exclusivity is a great choice for special occasions, and not entirely populated by royalty or the super-rich. Uniformed staff work in hierarchy, but can still be chatty, particularly the knowledgeable sommelier (Gavroche buys all its wines direct from producers), who confidently offered several different recommendations of wine for our disparate choice of dishes. We opted, in the end, for a slightly sparkling white from Corsica.

Light, creamy gratin of langoustines and snails made a heavenly start, while salad of roast bone marrow with air-dried ham, croutons and piccalilli dressing proved the kitchen has a grasp of current food trends. Equally modern, yet original, was a pleasing main of john dory with chorizo, wild rice and pickled red pepper. To finish, we returned to the old school for a heady dessert of omelette rothschild with apricot and cointreau compote. In all, a great pleasure, if and when you can afford it.