Art à la carte: Quaglino's is set to serve up an exhibition of racy portraits

Will its diners want second helpings?

The fashion at venues such as the Box nightclub in London's Soho or the Supperclub restaurant and bar in Notting Hill, is to give guests more than just a night out or dinner, they are also entertained with live perfor-mances that range from the shocking to the acrobatic to the, er, stomach-turning.

A new photographic exhibition takes the fashion for provocative shows to the walls of Quaglino's restaurant in Mayfair.

"People who come to these restaurants like to be stimulated in other ways," says Roger Mavity, the man behind the exhibition. "They don't come only for the food, but for the experience, the surroundings and the people-watching."

Mavity lives a dual life, one as the photographer, the other as the CEO of Conran Holdings (Quaglino's is part of the group). A former advertising executive, he decided to explore his own creativity after a lifetime of "interfering with other people's creative work".

Mavity's photographs play with the concepts of imagination, appearance and reality: nude women merge into mannequins, a man engages a mannequin in a game of chess, elsewhere clothed figures meet their naked selves in the same frame. The effect is both striking and surreal.

"People say that my work is obsessed with women," he says. "But I would prefer to look at a beautiful woman than at a tax return."

His photograph Mirror Image, which features a fully clothed woman looking at her topless reflection, finds its influences in paintings such as Réné Magritte's La Reproduction Interdite and Francisco Goya's celebrated pair, La maja vestida and La maja desnuda. Mavity, who studied at Central St Martins and the University of Westminster, sets out to create art for himself rather than others, but he doesn't believe his work is "particularly provocative". "It's central London in 2011," he says. "We're not talking Tunbridge Wells in Victorian times."

Quaglino's itself is modelled on the sort of grand brasseries such as La Coupole or Bofinger that have long been popular in Paris, and its use of art on the walls is another piece of cross-channel inspiration. "The restaurant is the best it has ever been," he says. "And it's always had a glamorous atmosphere."

Plus, for those seeking value in these economically straitened times, if you go there for dinner, you get an art show for free.

Roger Mavity's photographs are on show from 22 September at Quaglino's, London SW1Y 6AJ