Perhaps restaurant dining was much more expensive back then than it is today. Perhaps it was only an upper-class thing, and members of the lower classes simply couldn’t do it.
True that, but a 118 pound meal where the average wage was almost that per year and only for professionals like engineers - would have needed a lot of people with salaries higher than that. I bet it was shillings not Pounds.
“Perhaps it was only an upper-class thing, and members of the lower classes simply couldn’t do it.”
A sit down restaurant today is out of reach for the majority in the US. At least if it has steak on the menu.
And I’m not talking about Fridays or Dennys.
Expect to spend at least $80 for two, without wine.
I once spent $250 at Mortons for two with wine. Of course it was a very good meal.
But it was one I could have replicated at home for about $100.