If you are a foodie, business travel is a godsend. Not only do you get to travel around the world to experience the food offered in different cities and countries, you are more often than not freed from the responsibility of paying for it, with your company or someone else’s picking up the bill instead.

The world of business travel has a number of must-do eating experiences: grabbing a bagel and double espresso for breakfast in the Big Apple, wolfing down a Hainanese chicken rice on the street markets of Singapore or a cutting edge modern British gastro meal concocted by one of the growing number of excellent chefs happy to ply their trade from their home towns rather than in London’s West End.

There are some challenging food experiences while on the road. Airline meals, in particular, can be a minefield. Nutritional therapist Suzi Grant says: “If you want to be active when you arrive, for example you have to dash off to a meeting from an overnight flight, then you should eat more protein – meat, fish, eggs and cheese – and cut the carbohydrates – bread, pasta etc – right down.”

If you want to eat healthily, look carefully at what is on offer. “I often eat a couple of starters, something with prawns or smoked salmon rather than a sauce-laden main course,” says Grant.

The stressful nature of some business trips also means that business travellers often seek comfort in food – throwing caution and healthy eating to the winds. In a city of unknown food with the barrier of language to contend with, a burger often ends up being the meal of choice.

“Business travellers are bored, exhausted and stressed – especially these days with all the extra security. It’s very hard to stay healthy. Eating something like a cheeseburger, with its starch, protein and saturated fat, is asking your system to do a lot of work,” says Grant. “Your system closes down while your stomach tries to deal with it.”

Once at your destination, the food options tend to improve dramatically. Clients on company accounts might try to dazzle you with a reservation at that hard-to-book place in town. But what makes a good restaurant?

Peter Harden, editor of the respected Harden’s restaurant guides, says: “Choosing restaurants for business usually involves different criteria than for many other occasions. People rarely (consciously anyway) actively choose restaurants for good service, and yet having staff who understand the needs of business diners - in terms of speed of service, whether or not they want to be interrupted - is major consideration for a business meal. And if it's to be an expensive meal with a fair amount spent on wine, then choosing a restaurant that understands what it's selling on its list, serves it well, and is capable of adapting its advice and recommendations to the expertise of its guests palettes, can also help set up the right vibes for a business discussion. In fact - in similarity to restaurants which are good for a date - often the quality of food is quite far down the list of important qualities for a business meal, far below having a setting of sufficient comfort and grandeur, and in the right address, for example.”

“Of course, all the above leads to a genre of clichéd business dining experiences, from which it can be useful to break out with clients you know well, and want to have a relaxed and informal meeting. The answer then is to tear up all the rules, and to choose somewhere your knowledge of them means you know will please them. The emphasis then can be totally on the food (or the ambience if they are partying types), and to hell with the location and other considerations.”

It is hard to pin down the mysterious X factor for business dining but it can perhaps best be described by a mathematical equation:

X = L x V x B x I x P x S x J

which brings together location (L), value for money (V), buzz (B), quality of ingredients (I), presentation (P) and service (S).