Meaning of a sentence in "Ind Aff or Out of Love in Sarajevo"

Question

In Fay Weldon's short story "Ind Aff or Out of Love in Sarajevo" I found the following passage:

We went to a restaurant for lunch, since it was too wet to do what we loved to do: that is, buy bread, cheese, sausage, wine, and go off somewhere in our hired car, into the woods or the hills, and picnic and make love. It was a private restaurant — Yugoslavia went over to a mixed capitalist-communist economy years back, so you get either the best or worst of both systems, depending on your mood - that is to say, we knew we would pay more but be given a choice.
We chose the wild boar.

Does anyone know the meaning of the part in bold?

we knew we would pay more but be given a choice

Answer 1

In a state restaurant, the food would have been less expensive but the choice would have been limited.

In a private restaurant, there was a choice of dishes, but the food was more expensive.