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Imagine it: You sit down at a restaurant in a foreign city, order a meal with a finger point and awkward smile, eat, get the bill and come face to face with a question mark where dollar signs should be. Must be a mistake, right?

Wrong. In pay-what-you-want restaurants, you decide how much your grub is worth. And from Vienna to London, Berlin to Melbourne, restaurateurs are using the concept to reel in customers.

"The point is to attract people and to bring back some joie de vivre to the city," said George Pappas, co-owner of Montreal's Taverne Crescent. Last week, its three owners introduced the pay-what-you-want system from Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. They got the idea from a friend who had dined at a Little Bay restaurant in London that went pay-what-you-want throughout February.

"Everyone's scared of the recession, and it's a little depressing," Pappas said. "But even if you have a mortgage payment, you can still come out and laugh. If you give a little less because you have less, it's cool, there's no pressure, enjoy your meal. But people have been very generous. Sometimes, they give more."

Little Bay, a popular London chain, served up the deal at its Central London branch for a month, attracting 10,000 customers and an international media frenzy. In an interview with the Reuters, owner Peter Ilic compared the initiative to British band Radiohead letting buyers determine what they wanted to pay for their latest CD, and said business was good because customers appreciated the opportunity to save during tough times.

The model has had similar success around the world. Vienna is home to Der Wiener Deewan, a pay-what-you-want Pakistani curry buffet. In Berlin, three restaurants known as the Berlin Weinerei go pay-what-you-want after 8 p.m.

According to the Guardian newspaper, 13 years ago, co-owner Jurgen Stumpf would invite friends to dine at his wine shop once a week. Neighbour Mariano Goni (now his business partner) would cook. Folks coughed up what they wanted for their meals, and the concept stuck.

Some long-standing pay-what-you-want restaurants are motivated by community values such as trust and respect - as opposed to economic troubles.

For example, the popular Lentil as Anything chain of organic vegetarian restaurants in Melbourne, Australia, are not-for-profit co-operatives staffed by volunteers. Diners anonymously contribute whatever cash they can. In Salt Lake City, Utah, One World Everybody Eats operates on similar principles, referring to itself as a Community Kitchen. While promoting sustainable living, One World believes in a fair exchange of work or money for gourmet organic food. While some of these more altruistic establishments are long-standing models of community responsibility, marketing professor Robert Soroka of McGill University explains that low consumer confidence is a factor in the new pay-what-you-want trend. "People spend less on what they deem to be luxuries," he said in an interview from his Montreal office. "In a recessionary period, these restaurants are eliminating what they perceive to be the critical block from getting the sale. It's basically another price-competitive approach to generating traffic, but you're going to let consumers name their own price."

More telling, Soroka said, is the media hype Taverne Crescent's policy has generated. "Any major travel destination has a nice variety of restaurants," he said, estimating that Montreal has more than 6,000. "So you have to figure out ways to differentiate yourself from someone else."

As such, the novelty factor, not the chance to save a few bucks, drew Madeline Dubé to Taverne Crescent one chilly afternoon. "I'm not affected by the recession," admitted the 25-year old, who works in advertising and read about the restaurant in a local newspaper. "I don't want to be a cheapskate, it's just a nice promotion."

Like many pay-what-you-want programs, including Little Bay's, Taverne Crescent's drinks have fixed pricing. Dubé decided to shell out $20 for her calamari appetizer and chicken Caesar salad. "I really liked it. The staff is very nice, there's a nice menu." Her friend, Gabrielle Gagné, a 20-year-old student, thought $20 was fair for her mushroom soup and pasta.

One might think granting customers the power to price is a recipe for bankruptcy, but experts say it's quite the opposite - especially since drinks are usually not included in the deal.

"All in all, this is not too risky an approach," said Jean-François Ouellet, an associate marketing professor at HEC Montréal. "Bars and restaurants don't make the bulk of their revenues from food. Beverages make up the majority of most restaurants' revenues. More importantly, research shows that consumers, when given the option of paying whatever they want for a good or service, will actually pay more than what providers would have elected to charge. This is due to social desirability: Consumers don't want to be perceived as cheap."

For travellers befuddled by foreign tongues, tipping customs and basic pricing, pay-what-you-want certainly simplifies matters. Moreover, it implies a trust in people's potential to do the right thing - in this case, not bite the hand that feeds you by lowballing the restaurant. Throw in some dessert, and that's enough sweetness to bring out the warm and fuzzy in even the most world-weary palates.

"I've really seen some good-hearted people," said Taverne Crescent server Gary Mathieu, who shares 15 per cent of the restaurant's daily take with the rest of the wait staff. "People don't take advantage. One gentleman even forgot his wallet and came back the next day to pay."

Cheap eats

Taverne Crescent

1433 Crescent St., Montreal;

514-845-1888;

http://www.tavernecrescent.com

Little Bay

171 Farringdon Rd., London,

0207-278-1234; http://www.little-bay.co.uk

Berlin Weinerei

Fra Rosa (Zionskirchstrasse 40, 49-30-4069-0951); Perlin

(Griebenowstrasse 5, 49-30-657-06756), Forum (Fehrbelliner Strasse 57, 49-30-600-53027);

http://www.weinerei.com

One World Everybody Eats 41 S. 300 East St., Salt Lake City, Utah; 801-519-2002; http://www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com

Der Wiener Deewan

Liechtensteinstrasse 10, Vienna;

011-43/1-925-1185; http://www.deewan.at

Lentil as Anything

1 St. Heliers St., Melbourne,

Australia; 011-61/3-94-196-444;

http://www.lentilasanything.com