A dramatic change in Londoner's eating habits has changed the face of the capital's eateries, according to the latest edition of Harden's London Restaurants guide.

Small is beautiful in today's restaurant world as the big London restaurants, such as the offerings from Sir Terence Conran, failed to make it into the annual guide's top 20.

Conran restaurants dominated the table in 1999 with Bluebird, Quaglino's, Pont de la Tour, Bibendum and Mezzo. This year however, the smaller, independent restaurants reign with the likes of The Ivy, Le Caprice and Nobu.

The survey also found the average size of this year's top hotels to have shrunk by more than a third. The guide is due to be published this week.