Have you ever struggled to make (0) of a vast restaurant menu? You're (1) hungry, trying to exchange pleasantries with friends and sipping a drink while your eyes (2) about between the menu options.

Will your (3) be to go for something familiar or something different? Will you end up staring jealously at everyone else's meals while forcing yourself to eat your own misguided selection, as so often (4) to be the case?

Why is it so hard to decide? We want choice, but menus (5) in far more dishes than most people want to have to choose from.

A study suggests the optimum number of menu items is between six and ten per (6) (starters, main courses and desserts) depending on the restaurant.

Below this number, diners feel there's too little choice and above it, deciding becomes too much of a (7) .

So next time you eat out, choose the restaurant according to the number of items on the menu and the dilemma of choice will be solved. (8) , there's always the option of set menus or tapas-style sharing plates; their popularity is on the increase, probably for the reasons above.