Rip-off
Anthony Demetre, chef and co-owner of the Michelin-starred Arbutus in Soho, and the newly opened Wild Honey in Mayfair

I think London is a huge rip-off. What's so surprising is that Londoners fall for it. Even I, a huge foodie who has been in the restaurant business for 25 years, am loth to spend £100-£150 a head just for a meal.

Some restaurants justify their prices by blaming increasing rents and food costs going up, but I think that's a smokescreen. There's too much added snob value with chefs, who wouldn't dream of putting cheap cuts on the menu. They go for top end luxury ingredients, like wild turbot, scallops and foie gras. At Arbutus our ethos is to resurrect all the forgotten pieces of meat we remember from childhood, and we try to get two people out for under £100 between them. Instead of expensive fish, we use sustainable, cheap fish such as pollock and mackerel. People can be so snobby: when they saw the menu at Wild Honey they said they couldn't believe we were selling gurnard in Mayfair. It makes my blood boil.

Worth it
Eddie Hart, co-owner of Spanish restaurants Fino in Fitzrovia and Barrafina in Soho (average meal cost £47 and £34, according to Zagat)

London is a terrifically expensive place to run a restaurant - our rent is colossal, and we spend £67,000 each month on our 40 staff alone. Then there are the rates, which are £30/40/50,000, and of course you then have laundry and china.

But if restaurants have become more expensive, it is largely, I think, because London foodies have become more discerning. They won't settle for any old cut of meat any more. Perhaps they want a rare breed, or something organic or free range; they're interested in sourdough and spankingly fresh seafood. If Londoners go out for Italian food, they don't want any old spag bol, they want the real deal. Good ingredients cost more. For example one length of lomo, a cured Iberian pork, costs us £120.

I'm long overdue a foodie world tour, but it is my gut feeling that London is now probably one of the most exciting cities to eat in. There's huge diversity you don't get elsewhere.