Diners in France can expect a little less pain when the bill arrives, under a deal in which restaurant owners promise to cut menu prices in return for a big drop in valued-added tax.

The move, expected to be agreed today, could reduce the cost of a plat du jour by 10 per cent and will soften the blow for visitors who are feeling the pinch because of the strong euro. The pound’s 30 per cent slump over the past 18 months is making Britons pause before even the humblest French menus.

President Sarkozy told the country’s 200,000 restaurant owners to pass on part of the drop in restaurant VAT from 19.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent, which is expected to take effect from July 1.

He secured agreement from the European Union after Germany lifted a seven-year veto against the pledge, originally made to the restaurant industry by President Chirac.

Under pressure from the Government, the catering trade will come up with a list of a dozen everyday items that will benefit from the full reduction in VAT. This should include the plat du jour, basic entrées and desserts, plus coffee. “A customer should be able to order a meal which is entirely subject to the full VAT reduction,” Hervé Novelli, the Trade Minister, said.

The price of an ordinary Parisian dish of the day such as a steak-frites or pavé de saumon should drop from about €15 (£13) to €13.20. Restaurant owners are also expected to use the tax benefit to recruit more staff and invest in their establishments.

Cheap eating across the board is unlikely, with the cut largely expected to affect set menus rather than the more expensive à la carte dishes. Restaurateurs say that they need the £2 billion tax break to balance losses from the slump in eating out since the recession took hold.

Restaurants and bistros lost between 20 and 50 per cent of their income from January to March and many have introduced more modest “crisis menus” to lure back patrons. The tax bonus does not cover wine – which accounts for 20 per cent of restaurant income – and the universal 15 per cent service charge will continue to be applied, with the usual expectation of a tip beyond that.

At the small Bistrot d’Henri in the fashionable Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, David Poulat, the owner, said that he expected to cut his plats du jour from €14 to €12. “But at the same time I might reduce the portions a little,” he told The Times.

Lowering the price of à la carte items would be difficult, he said. “I am not sure that it would attract customers anyway. People will not be swayed much by a difference of one or two euros.”

At Taillevent, a temple of Parisien gastronomie, they are refusing any drop in the charge for their langoustine royales, golden frogs’ legs and other items on their Michelin-starred menu. “I’m not dropping my prices because that would imply that they were not right to begin with, which is not the case, and because the cost of the ingredients has risen steeply,” Valérie Vrinat, the owner, told The Times.

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