Ramsay's restaurant among world's most expensive

Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Royal Hospital Road in west London has been rated the third most expensive in the world.

A meal at the Chelsea eaterie, including tip and one alcoholic drink, costs £108 per person - making the restaurant, which has three Michelin stars, the most expensive in London.

But the price of dining at one of the restaurants 13 tables is modest compared with those who eat at the Tokyo steakhouse Aragawa. With only the choice of steak as an entrée on the menu, each diner can expect to pay £199 for their meal.

And Paris can compete with the Ramsay's restaurant in terms of cost. Dinner for one at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athinie in Paris will set customers back about £125, a report for Forbes found. The restaurant, which has seating for 50 people, has a staff of 55.

The list was compiled by Forbes.com in association with Zagat restaurant guides, yet excluded restaurants in the US.

Publisher Tim Zagat said: "The audience for dining is increasingly sophisticated - someone from Dubuque knows what food in New York, London and Paris restaurants is supposed to look like."

But while tastes may be becoming more sophisticated, booking a table at Ramsay's Chelsea restaurant remains ever competitive with booking only possible two months in advance.

Zagat guides say the average cost of a meal in a London restaurants has risen 3.3 per cent in the past year, making it the second most expensive city in the world for eating out - after Tokyo - with an average meal costing £37.

The cost of dining in one of the capital's top 20 restaurants, is up 7.1 per cent over the past year, with the average meal costing £81.