How much could a side order of chips cost? It had never occurred to us that such a dish based on the humble tuber – however grand the setting in which it was served – could ever, conceivably, cost more than a fiver.
At a chippy you’d be unlikely to pay more than a couple of quid (maximum). Even at Gordon Ramsay’s well-regarded Maze steakhouse – in the heart of Mayfair – a portion is only £3.50. All credit, then, to the shortly-to-open Palm steakhouse in Belgravia – offshoot of an outfit in New York – where we see on the newly-posted menu that a portion* of “hand cut French fried chips” is… £7.50.
The rule of thumb in catering is that you mark ingredients up to at least three times cost. Inexpensive items – such as coffee and spuds – are always marked up more. We reckon that the basic ingredient, the potatoes, for a portion of chips would be of the order of 25p, so £7.50 is a mark up somewhere round 30 times.
Respect.
Oh, and you’d like a steak to go with ’em? A USDA 10 oz job will set you back £35.
(If you know anywhere that charges more for a portion of fries, please let us know at mail@hardens.com.)
*PS We are grateful to Palm’s PR company for pointing out that “this is for a family style portion which feeds 3+ people.” Which is fine so far as it goes. Only very rich families, however, are ever going to be able to afford to eat here at all at these sorts of prices, so we’re not convinced that “family-style” portions are terribly relevant.
We’re also told, subsequently, that the menu points out (which we’d missed) that half portions of veg are available at half price. But what sort of marketing is that? People don’t read menus like life assurance documents, small print and all. Why, especially in the current market, is a new restaurant wilfully giving the impression that it’s (even) pricier than it actually is?
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