The cut-price west end restaurant offering has until recently been the domain of two-for-one curries and Chinese buffets for a fiver (of all the cuisines that are least suited to buffets, Chinese must be the biggest contender).

But now the clever people behind The Wolseley have taken over the old Atlantic Bar and Grill, which brims for people of my age with many hedonistic memories. Brasserie Zedel is notable instantly for being different from its sister restaurants with their Manhattan power-house dark wood finishes and opting instead, and refreshingly, for colour.  

The food, I would say, is better than the others in the stable though I haven’t been back to The Wolseley since our former head chef at Roast took over there, so Lawrence – don’t take offence at that remark! The prices though are much lower. Soups are £2-3, ranking on a par with the Won Ton and Wong Kei and you can get two courses off the set menu for £8.75.

Owners Jeremy King and Chris Corbyn know that in recessionary times we still nowadays eat out but prefer to stick to the places we know and trust. These prices release new monies in customers’ minds for a further dining venture.

Clever stuff, grounded also in the reality that round the corner the old Cafe Royal is soon to re-open with much fanfare and their arch-foe Richard Caring is soon to open a London outpost of the famed Gotham Bar and Grill.

An extra thousand-odd covers are to be unleashed in the smart middle market west end sector. If they all compete on price rather than posture, it will be to the benefit of the London restaurant diner.