I was in London about two years ago and decided to eat at one of the World's 50 Best Restaurants for that year (#33) I booked and paid an advance 100£ / pp on the meal.

Ordered the 130£/pp 10 course chef’s tasting menu. After offered champagne and then the pre-menu snacks started to come out. They weren't great but not a bad start. I ordered cocktails instead of the wine pairing since I didn't want to drink 8–10 glasses of wine that night.

First course: raw mackerel with smoked sauce and dashi - pretty good.

Second course: smoked trout tartare, caviar and potato broth. This was a revolting pairing of raw fish with hot bland potato puree.

I must add the service was amazing, I was dining alone and my server and the barman were both polite, engaging and helpful - both coming over to check up and make conversation at different points in the meal.

Third course again was average again.

4 bread course: homemade coppa and pancetta tasted like supermarket cured meats that I ate a lot of in Italy.

5. Fish with hazelnut foam and leeks tasted like hospital food so bland and the leeks were raw.

At this point I politely informed them I didn’t like the dish and immediately I was offered complimentary raw fish on cracker. A complimentary sake tray was brought to me to choose my favourite — I declined so they offered more cocktails instead.

6. 100-day-old farmed chicken came with again a tasteless watered-down sauce and tasted of nothing.

I asked for my check at this point and mentioned I want no more food. The manager came over gave me some spiel about how good food is like good music and everyone has different preferences.

He asked me if there was anything else I would like to eat but I declined as it was getting awkward with the uneaten plates of food leaving my table.. They charged me the remaining amount for the food but comped the beverages.

I later wrote them reviews online and also wrote an email to world’s 50 best about my horrid experience and the standards being set by this restaurant.