Students don’t get many opportunities to go for fine dining – but for the rare occasions when you do, it’s hard to say whether the experience is worth it or not. We get two students to weigh up the pros and cons.

For ÔÇô Tom Reeder

The term ÔÇÿfine diningÔÇÖ holds various connotations. It can refer to restaurants of Michelin Star status, but has been extended in modern times to somewhat arbitrarily accommodate restaurants with shared common features. Eccentric flavour combinations, beautiful presentation of dishes, and exceptional standards of service are to be expected. The term ÔÇÿfine diningÔÇÖ has allowed restaurants to operate within a certain bracket of consumer expectation. This means that restaurants can charge more for a service that imitates, but does not necessarily replicate the work of high-end competitors.

Plum Valley, a self proclaimed ÔÇÿfine diningÔÇÖ Chinese restaurant in Soho, has had food described by critics as ÔÇÿinedibleÔÇÖ. In contrast, The Waterside Inn holds three Michelin Stars, and is widely regarded as the best restaurant in the United Kingdom. Both restaurants fall into the ÔÇÿfine diningÔÇÖ bracket. Menus are generally expensive (Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester charge ┬ú125), and the portions are usually small. While it could be suggested that this approach is somewhat stingy, the law of diminishing returns must be accounted for. Chef Thomas Keller, of Per Se in New York, said ÔÇÿthe more you have of something, the less you like itÔÇÖ, and creates his dishes around this philosophy.

Many restaurants offer tasting menus which are not comprised of winter comfort food, nor are they for carb loading or intended to fulfill gluttonous desires. They focus on taste combinations, presentation; Chefs seek to achieve culinary perfection with every dish. Even though the majority of us would agree that ┬ú125 is an expensive for an evening meal, it does not necessarily make it overpriced. Burger King is overpriced. Their food is tasteless, even by the standards of fast food chains, and costs almost double competing products at McDonaldÔÇÖs. High-end fine dining restaurants compete within a narrower bracket.

Due to the capitalist society we live in, such restaurants can afford to market their food at high prices, because there are consumers happy to pay them. At the heart of restaurants like The Waterside Inn, however, there is a shared love, passion, and respect for food. An honest fine dining experience is the pinnacle of modern day cuisine. One can only hope that more people will begin to see it that way.

Against ÔÇô Sophie Lodge

In June I went for a meal at the The Clink, a charity run restaurant in Cardiff prison where the inmates cook and serve the food. While I totally agree with the intentions behind this scheme and I understand they are running what should be a 5*diner, I paid ┬ú40 for my five courses. During the main meal, I was given a single sweet potato and half a cherry tomato with my lamb, and this is something I will never understand. Even the most precious, succulent cherry tomatoes that were organically harvested on the remote plains of New Zealand under the light of a full moon cannot be so rare and expensive that after paying ┬ú40 (and that didnÔÇÖt include drinks), I was only covered for half of one with my main meal.

DonÔÇÖt get me wrong, IÔÇÖm not a NandoÔÇÖs kind of girl. I can appreciate good cooking when I experience it. But my idea of a really good meal is a good pub lunch where you can fill up your plate as much as you want, or a pizza/pasta joint where you can take your leftovers home. The problem I have with high class restaurants isnÔÇÖt so much the price of the food, itÔÇÖs the quantity. Cooking can sometimes be an art form, and yes, some ingredients are expensive, but I do not understand why I canÔÇÖt be given more than a forkful of it. If itÔÇÖs that expensive, hike up the price a lot ÔÇô just give me a little bit more! I donÔÇÖt care how good your cooking is, if I can eat it in one mouthful you are ripping me off. If I am not being rolled out of your restaurant in a wheelbarrow, you have not done enough to warrant that amount of money.