It can feel like so many menus are playing it safe these days, and the food just doesn’t leave a lasting impression. After cutting out alcohol myself, I’ve also started noticing how many places are focused more on the atmosphere and drinks rather than the food. But I recently had an amazing experience at restaurants Circular Quay, specifically at Pont Dining Room, where the food was anything but boring. The flavors were bold, and the presentation was unique – it felt like they really cared about making something memorable. It reminded me that when a restaurant focuses on creativity and quality, it can make a huge difference!

Especially when alcohol pairings double the price or become pricier than the menu itself; kind of changes the focus from food to beverage. We also switched to non alcoholic pairings more often, or I'll order a glass of champagne and have the non alcoholic pairing for the rest of dinner.

For my taste buds, only a couple of restaurants have left a lasting impression that I actually want to fly back to or can't wait to try again: 1. Tokyo: Narisawa. 2. Dubai: Tresind Studio.

I find the non-alcoholic pairings prices even more difficult to swallow than the alcohol with a lot of the tasting menus that offer such a thing. They've dropped the price now but at a time one restaurant not far from us were £225 for the food, £175 for the wine or £125 for the non-alcoholic.

Given we are supposed to be talking about "top restaurants", and taking that in the context of the rest of this site, then wouldn't personally say that, in London at least, all the menus are not the same. If you go down several rungs then possibly more so assuming you are sticking within a certain cuisine. At the same time, I wouldn't necessarily go to a good steakhouse and except something revolutionary on the plate but more high quality and some small twists (our previous favourite but didnt make it through Covid did a horseradish/mustard blend thing that was great with the fantastic meat they sold).

There are certainly different strategies for the restaurant trade and certainly some will make their money off the drinks (alcoholic or otherwise) rather than the food event to the extent the food is a loss leader. Obviously depending on what price point you're aiming at you may decide to invest less in the food to reduce prices further or still offer good food at a sensible price and load the drinks. There are some upper good restaurants doing good quality fare at prices that people are surprised at because they're known for being fancy but you get absolutely hammered on the drinks. Obviously some use this to their advantage as per the previous trend to got to the all you can eat buffets (some of which are reasonably high end) and just abuse the food and only drink tap water (which in the UK cannot be directly charged for if a venue serves alcohol and no one bothers with the 20p notional charge for the glass/ice)

I noticed the same thing at a couple new spots in my neighborhood—menus felt like clones of each other. I think part of it could be how digital menu board companies set templates or trends that places just go along with, especially when they're trying to look modern fast. It's easier to copy what's working elsewhere than start from scratch, and those menus kinda fit the current food scene vibe.