I'm going to have a whinge about this as I feel so cross. We went to a local hotel to get dinner last night. I'm vegetarian and OH is not so there's usually a problem. We have stayed there and eaten there twice and the food was lovely. We ate there as a non-resident and it was fine and then one more and it was inedible as they had changed chefs. Some time has passed so we thought we'd give it another try.
The difficulty in eating out in a small fishing town is obviously that it majors on fish and also there are none of the chains of restaurants that there are in most towns. OK, I totally get that I chose to be a vegetarian but I mantain that a chef out to be able to produce an edible meal for anyone.
After a horrible experience last night in a restaurant where, trying to get sme vegetarian food and politely asking what there was (following their instructions on the menu) I was told to suggestion. I said pasta with veg and sauce? No, that will take too long! What then? I could have veg lasagne (which is pasta with veg in a sauce, isn't it?) but experience tells me it's usually frozen and flabby and I get charged £13 for something I could have got in Iceland for 99p. The bar manager then tells me I'm the one who wanted to eat there, with a shrug of his shoulders (not my problem, mate, kind of thing)! It's a proper hotel so they ought to be able to produce something? "OK then, we do have vegetarian chilli nachos" so I decided to try those.
Well, what a disgusting mess in a bowl appeared after an hour's wait. Basically it was shop-bought tortilla chips with a few slices of raw chilli hiding below with a dollop of mayo on one side of the plate and guacamole on the other. It was topped by a slab of cheese and the the whole lot had been stuck under a grill for a few minuted till it was warm and half-melted but the tortillas on the top had burnt black. I felt my stomach heave but dug my fork in just to see what was underneath and it was just more of the same.
OH called the bar-manager over and asked to see the chef. The BM looked at my food as asked me if I would like a fresh portion of food as it was burned so then OH got louder and said I did not want a second bowl of food we wouldn't give a dog and could we see the chef. Some other people who hadn't got what they ordered and didn't rate their food were watching all this with interest. He came back 10 minutes later full of apologies by now and saying that chef couldn't come as he was too busy cooking to leave the kitchen and we would be refunded every penny, including the wine, so that's what we had to do. And the biggest irony was that OH's fish had been served with a beautifully cooked pea and mint risotto which wasn't on the menu and it was not suggested I could have had a bigger portion of that without the fish!
Veggies are in the minority, I know, but still a sizeable minority nontheless and my general experience when eating out is very poor. OH dreads it-even he looks at my dinner and says I would have done much better than that. I cooked a leg of lamb for my guests at Easter and they said it was delicious and it every bit vanished, so why can't a real cook produce something edible forme and others in my position. I usually feel bloated and heavy when I've been away as I have had to fill up on cargs like chips and bread and there is no low-cal protein meal to be found.
I just wonder how others cope with the whole situation? Stay home and cook all the time when you are on holiday? Next time, we are going to have to get in the car and go to another town, which is such a shame as a nice stoll down to the front and amble back could be a great way to go and eat out-if the food was there. Also means you can't drink if you have to drive (and that means OH as my vision is too poor for night driving)
Who would be a vegetarian trying to eat out?
The difficulty in eating out in a small fishing town is obviously that it majors on fish and also there are none of the chains of restaurants that there are in most towns. OK, I totally get that I chose to be a vegetarian but I mantain that a chef out to be able to produce an edible meal for anyone.
After a horrible experience last night in a restaurant where, trying to get sme vegetarian food and politely asking what there was (following their instructions on the menu) I was told to suggestion. I said pasta with veg and sauce? No, that will take too long! What then? I could have veg lasagne (which is pasta with veg in a sauce, isn't it?) but experience tells me it's usually frozen and flabby and I get charged £13 for something I could have got in Iceland for 99p. The bar manager then tells me I'm the one who wanted to eat there, with a shrug of his shoulders (not my problem, mate, kind of thing)! It's a proper hotel so they ought to be able to produce something? "OK then, we do have vegetarian chilli nachos" so I decided to try those.
Well, what a disgusting mess in a bowl appeared after an hour's wait. Basically it was shop-bought tortilla chips with a few slices of raw chilli hiding below with a dollop of mayo on one side of the plate and guacamole on the other. It was topped by a slab of cheese and the the whole lot had been stuck under a grill for a few minuted till it was warm and half-melted but the tortillas on the top had burnt black. I felt my stomach heave but dug my fork in just to see what was underneath and it was just more of the same.
OH called the bar-manager over and asked to see the chef. The BM looked at my food as asked me if I would like a fresh portion of food as it was burned so then OH got louder and said I did not want a second bowl of food we wouldn't give a dog and could we see the chef. Some other people who hadn't got what they ordered and didn't rate their food were watching all this with interest. He came back 10 minutes later full of apologies by now and saying that chef couldn't come as he was too busy cooking to leave the kitchen and we would be refunded every penny, including the wine, so that's what we had to do. And the biggest irony was that OH's fish had been served with a beautifully cooked pea and mint risotto which wasn't on the menu and it was not suggested I could have had a bigger portion of that without the fish!
Veggies are in the minority, I know, but still a sizeable minority nontheless and my general experience when eating out is very poor. OH dreads it-even he looks at my dinner and says I would have done much better than that. I cooked a leg of lamb for my guests at Easter and they said it was delicious and it every bit vanished, so why can't a real cook produce something edible forme and others in my position. I usually feel bloated and heavy when I've been away as I have had to fill up on cargs like chips and bread and there is no low-cal protein meal to be found.
I just wonder how others cope with the whole situation? Stay home and cook all the time when you are on holiday? Next time, we are going to have to get in the car and go to another town, which is such a shame as a nice stoll down to the front and amble back could be a great way to go and eat out-if the food was there. Also means you can't drink if you have to drive (and that means OH as my vision is too poor for night driving)
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire