Fay Maschler's 50 favourite restaurants in London

Please note the word “Favourite”. This is not a list of my idea of the 50 Best Restaurants in London; it is rather an alphabetically structured answer to the little voice in my head as I pay the bill, get my coat and leave, that asks would I go back, would I eat here on my own dime, was that fun?

Over the 45 years I have been doing this enviable job — since winning it in a competition in 1972 — it is revealing how relatively seldom the answer was yes, but how that is changing as indeed the practitioners of what we can call “restauration” are changing.

Mercifully, the concept of “fayne dining” is taking a backseat. Even classically trained chefs who have worked their way through the ranks in regimented kitchens are seeing that there is a gentler, wittier, healthier way of delivering what can be a consummate skill. And front-of-house staff take their cue from that.

At the other end of the spectrum, chefs realise that what you put on to a flatbread and slam into a wood-fired oven or place between the soft cheeks of a bun can be just as interesting, inventive and rewarding as more conventional cooking.

These are happy times for those who love to eat out — and I still do.