Why are good, usually expensive, meals often refered to as "slap up" meals?

Answer 1

To have a slap up meal means to eat well. The expression originates from the time of Charles Dickens, when it was a "slap-bang" meal, derived from cheap eating houses, where one's money was slapped down as the food was banged on the table. Probably to emphasise the difference in food quality in better class establishments, "down" became "up". However, the change may be just another example of language evolution

Quote: Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 3, 36. "They lived in the same street, walked to town every morning at the same hour, dined at the same slap-bang every day."

Answer 2

Well, the sensible answer has been given so I'll just be silly here...it's because after spending that much money, you'd want to slap up the chef if it's crap food!!

Answer 3

The price