Gordon Ramsay explained the ‘red flag’ you need to be aware of when choosing what meal to tuck into at a restaurant.

Going out for food can be an expensive business so you absolutely don’t want to experience that disappointment when you make the wrong decision and end up having forked out a fortune on something rubbish.

But luckily, the chef and restaurant extraordinaire has a pretty good idea of how these things work – even if we weren’t that impressed by some of his own offerings.

Now, we’ve all walked past our fair share of establishments that boast to have the ‘best in the country’ of something, or perhaps ‘world’s best’ at some brave spots.

Gordon Ramsay doesn’t mince his words (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

And sure, while that might be true at the odd spot, plenty of us are left suspicious by these claims, just as Ramsay suggests we should be.

The Hell’s Kitchen star told Town and Country that while he’ll often avoid the ‘soup of the day’ and regularly asks the servers what their favourite items are, there are clear red flags to look for.

Ramsay says that if you do fancy the soup, it’s worth asking what soup they were serving up the day before as it could be more of a ‘soup of the month’ type of situation.

He warned against establishments that ‘boast’ about their dishes, claiming them to be the ‘world’s best’, ‘famous’ or the ‘best in the country’.

Of course though, it’s worth a check – the place might actually have won the award for it. But as Ramsay suggests, the likelihood is the restaurant owners have decided on that title themselves.

“Who said that? Who named that?” he said.

You don’t want a special if it’s not ‘special’. (Getty stock)

Chatting to the Daily Mail, the 58-year-old also says a lengthy list of specials on the menu is a red flag for a spot.

“Specials are there to disappear throughout the evening. When they list 10 specials that’s not special,” he explained.

Basically, if the specials board is so big, it’s basically just another menu, nothing special about it.

The TV chef also has some advice if you’re planning on going out for a little cutesy romantic dinner any time soon.

If you’re heading out with you’re significant other, Ramsay says to book a table for three for the two of you, rather than just the seats you need.

That way, he says you’ll reduce your chances of ‘getting stuck in the corner like a doorstop’.