How London surpassed Paris as Europe's dining capital

If you visited a restaurant in London in the mid-1980s, you were unlikely to be in for a culinary tour de force. A regular three-course set menu was likely to comprise a "prawn cocktail," an offal-filled pie and a nondescript gelatinous dessert; along with a wine list that boasted "red or white." Yet today, London is commonly considered to be the culinary capital of Europe – even surpassing its cross-channel rival Paris.