Unashamedly eavesdropping on a conversation between a group of students on Cornmarket discussing where to go for dinner, I couldn’t help but be struck by the domination of high street restaurant chains on the list of their choices. And this is without judgement: I will confess that if I want Japanese food I go to Wagamama, if I’m craving sashimi I’ll be first in line at Yo Sushi! and if I’m in the mood for pizza, pasta or a salad my choices are limited to Pizza Express, ASK or Strada. Pretty convenient, therefore, that in the 10 minute walk down Cornmarket and onto George Street I find myself passing all of the high street giants. It is only on my return from living in Paris for 6 months, eating in countless independently run brasseries, that I pause to consider going to a restaurant “off the eaten track”.

Culinary desert

Wandering around the street of the French capital, I realised the Parisian eating-out scene seems to have resisted the growth of chain restaurants that we have experienced in Britain. You will spot a couple: Hippopotamus, Bistro Romain, Leon de Bruxelles and Brioche Dorée but the number does not even compare to the list for our side of the Channel. Instead, on most Parisian street corners you will find a bistro or a brasserie, often bearing the name of ‘quartier’ or something equally charming and boasting an original menu. The food is on the whole French which shows a pride in their own cuisine. Although we laugh at how clichéd the image of a French man eating snails followed by ‘boeuf bourguignon’ would be, it actually occurs far more often than you’d find an English man eating ‘toad in the hole’. The French are proud of their food, and not afraid to boast about it either. Surely the influx into Britain of restaurants serving mainly international food only goes to show Britain’s lack of confidence in its national dishes? If more British restaurateurs promoted fish and chips, bangers and mash and Shepherd’s Pie, would we still be seeing a Starbucks on every street corner?

This brings me to the closest establishment Britain has to the brasserie: the pub. The difference here, however, is that the focus of a pub has always been the drinking. Back in the day, men used to eat their dinner at home, prepared by their wives, then mosey on down to the local and have a few pints with the lads. It is only recently that food is becoming as prominent in our pubs, especially with the rise of the ‘gastro pub’. But until the gastro pub becomes our equivalent of the French brasserie on every street corner, which it most certainly won’t with the prices as they are, in Britain we are left with the battle between the independents and the high street chains.

So who is winning the war? It is widely acknowledged that chain restaurants are cleaner as the universal health and safety regulations are stricter. And if you’ve been there before and liked it, it’s always going to be a safe bet. I know my favourite chain restaurants’ menus off by heart and can recite my order before I walk through the door, knowing it’s going to be good because I’ve had it countless times before. But what about the exciting feeling of doing something different, somewhere that not everyone you know has been? Independent restaurants tend to have fresher ingredients, more of a buzzing atmosphere and a charm that arises from the originality of the whole experience.

When it comes to customer care, you won’t find the Pizza Express owner’s son waiting on your table, will you? More likely you’ll be served by a surly teenager with an unfortunate haircut and bad manners, looking at their watch every five minutes counting down the hours til their shift ends. Even if this is a slightly unfair generalisation, the point I want to make is simple: a much larger part of independent restaurants are family owned and running on a much smaller budget. Every decision is vital and employees will be either part of the family or completely trusted by them. And due to the fact that their custom comes from word of mouth and not from billboards, customer care is of even more importance to the independents then it is to the chains. If an independent restaurant goes through a bad patch they don’t have 50ft advertisements everywhere to fall back on.

And ultimately, you can’t deny the smug feeling you get from eating in a restaurant that nobody else has heard of; it feels great to brag about discovering ‘this great new place that does the most amazing pain-au-chocolat’. To which you will undoubtedly get the put-down answer ‘do you mean one of those chocolate croissants?’