I’m sure it’s true that some places are outrageously priced, but my spouse and I visited El Celler de Can Roca in Girona when we were on our honeymoon, and it was priced rather lower than some places I could name at home in San Francisco that are both less prestigious and less actually-good. (While we each had one dish that we found disappointing, we disagreed on which it was, so that was mostly just a matter of taste. Overall, it was fantastic, and well worth the price.)

The best meals I’ve had were set menus with matched wine and food. The single best, coq au vin with an excellent Burgundy.

One of the worst, in terms of tastiness for money spent, was a tasting menu at Nuno Mendes’ Viajante in London. The amuse-bouches at the start were the best bits; it was mostly downhill thereafter, with a few exceptions. The very worst was some kind of concentrated fishy substance served on a stone with a hollow in it. My girlfriend nearly threw up; it stank. Most especially, the novelty of things that subvert expectations by tasting different to what they look like – whether it’s fake olives or oddball icecream – is really wearing off.