A Christmas stuffing

It's being called the great Christmas restaurant rip-off.

Research by the Evening Standard discloses today how top London restaurants are charging more than double their normal prices for Christmas Day lunch or dinner.

Some try to justify the extra cost by offering more courses and entertainment - but consumer watchdogs condemned the prices as "excessive".

The Dorchester Grill has added as much as £122 to the cost of a three-course set menu (and is fully booked) while Gordon Ramsay's Maze in Mayfair has raised its prices by 150 per cent.

A Maze spokesman said: "People are prepared to pay for our Christmas menu as they know that they will get the finest food in return."

At the Rib Room And Oyster Bar at the Carlton Tower Hotel prices have almost doubled. A five-course Christmas lunch costs £140 compared with £75 for lunch at other times during the year.

Spokeswoman Laura Banares Bonfanti claimed that the entertainment and decorations warranted the extra cost, adding: "Demand is high and so the price is high."

The Windows On The World restaurant at the Park Lane Hilton is offering a fourcourse meal without wine for £155, £75 more than the cost of its average three-course meal.

Spokesman Flavien Leyet said: "We are serving the best-quality food - better than usual - and there will be decorations, live music and a gift."

A four-course dinner at the Ritz on Christmas Day, with half a bottle of champagne, will set you back £200 compared with the usual price of £89, while a five-course lunch at the Savoy Grill has been increased from £77 to £175.

A spokesman for the Consumers' Association said: "There's nothing wrong with people trying to make a profit but the prices do sound somewhat excessive." Richard Harden of Harden's London Restaurants guide said consumers were prepared to pay higher prices over Christmas.

"Airlines vary their prices all the time and there's no reason why a restaurant shouldn't be able to do the same," he said. "I really am a consumer champion but nobody is being tricked into anything here - people who go to these restaurants are prepared to pay these prices. People aren't turning up under false pretences."