Tatsuso
City, London

London is a fabulously expensive city. I don't think I had appreciated it before, because I had always lived right on the edge of respectability when I visited - exotically crappy B&B's near Victoria, food from suppliers rather than restaurants, and so on. As I get more experience eating in London restuarants, however, the sad truth of London pricing is becoming more clear to me.

In case you don't believe it, Tatsuso is a bracing slap in the face. The least expensive menu at the Broadgate Japanese restaurant is a completely startling 48 pounds, almost $90 at current exchange rates. The menus only ascend from there, up all the way to a terrifying 97 pounds. And for what? Fancy barbecue and some decent, though not stellar, sushi. The starters in our menu, for example, were large tiger prawns and salmon, grilled on a fierce steel griddle - fine - they tasted good. But there was no skill to them at all. A third grader with some supervision to make sure he didn't burn himself would have done as well. The salad with Japanese flavoured mayonnaise was adequate, but no more, and the main course, some unctuous grilled duck with a sort of hoisin sauce, was delightful but standard. As for dessert, the less said about it the better. There's nothing wrong with chocolate chip ice cream, but for the kind of money involved here, anyone could do better.

So why is this place so expensive? I thought, perhaps, that it might have to do with the chef who grills the food for you. But that can't be it - he can't be all that much more expensive than a waiter, especially in a city like London where tipping is so minimal. And it certainly isn't the ingredients. I mean, meat is both expensive and a low profit item, but other people manage it for less. The truth, sadly, is that the owners of Tatsuso know that its clients are expense accounters, and couldn't care less. That might be true, but it doesn't really excuse this restaurant's outrageous excesses. Or maybe, it's really London I ought to blame.