Pretentious places to eat.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

We’ve all been there. The over priced menu, the superior staff, poor wine masquerading as something ’oh so special’ worth that ‘oh so special price tag ‘ without the ‘oh so special taste’ and I say let’s shame them.

Today I went to the Ethicurean (the walled garden to many) and they were always a bit sniffy on the superior front but today they outdid themselves.

Closed for refurb over Jan and back in operation Feb they now ‘feature sharing vegetables’ as their main dish. You can order a ‘side of meat’ Two choices a mini ramekin of 12hr slow cooked beef (something I often do in volume when I’m busy) or a piece of cod, less than one inch on width and two inches wide) a mere dot of flesh.

I wouldn’t mind so much if the vegan stuff they were serving up was “oh so specialle” but really being served a 1/4 of a cauliflower or a cabbage as a main course for over £12 per head for the main dish ( and the dot of meat or fish is an extra £7 and any filling veg like potatoes is the same again) is galling.

It’s somewhere I’d take a twee vegetarian relatives who’s money is dribbling out of their orrifices but couldn’t expect the average person not to feel the pee was being taken.

Let’s hear it. I have some corkers!

[Guest]

Essex is full of them. Places with Michelin pretentions but chefs of wetherspoons abilities.

[rennie]

I can't abide places like that!

I usually walk out

[Martyn850]

Anywhere where the food is served on a slate....

[S-Westerly]

Had not heard of the Ethicurean (and the name alone is a bit twee). Just had a look at their menu and speaking as a shameless carnivore they really don't appeal. I'm afraid animal based protein is the core of any meal I eat.

As to pretentious restaurants: I'm not sure if this is current as it was a couple of years ago: Beresford Arms in Northumberland was reputedly renowned for classic British food. Took my Dad for lunch and the steak and kidney pie was like school dinners from 45 years ago. So disappointing. Never been back.

[geofferz]

I don't mind paying for good food (there's a rate of diminishing returns, mind), but I can't taste the difference between a £7 bottle of wine and a £20 (supermarket prices - treble it for restaurant) and I will happily wager someone £1000 to identify a merlot vs shiraz vs cab sauv of my choosing, blind.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I dunno I have a friend (tbh she’s a bit like a nodding dog, very popular and quite mute, great sounding board but utterly useless if you want some advice) who has an amazing knack (soz dont know how to spell that at don’t care enough to look it up) of choosing great wine. She can look at an overpriced menu and get out some magic stick like a devining road, plant it down and land four square on the best thing you’ve tasted.

She’s a bit like a dog but with the the annoying side effects of being human

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

We have had so many pretentious places open and close near us over the past couple of years. Good restaurants are the ones that have been there for years so anywhere new I avoid.

Having worked a bit in flogging beer and wine I stick to family run restaurants and only ever go for the house wine - always red for me. You can bet your last dollar the owner knows the source personally and the house red will be better than everything else on their wine list.

[geofferz]

I dunno I have a friend (tbh she’s a bit like a nodding dog, very popular and quite mute, great sounding board but utterly useless if you want some advice) who has an amazing knack (soz dont know how to spell that at don’t care enough to look it up) of choosing great wine. She can look at an overpriced menu and get out some magic stick like a devining road, plant it down and land four square on the best thing you’ve tasted.

She’s a bit like a dog but with the the annoying side effects of being human

 

Anyone is welcome to take me up on my challenge!

[onesea]

Pretentious places to eat:

Oh My lord don't come to the New Forest, I came here 20 years ago there were alot of good pubs/ restaurants serving quality food at reasonable prices not cheap but fair. Now there are some:

Good over priced places,

Lots of over priced places serving mediocre food,

A fair few high priced places serving shite,

A handful of high standard places (depending who you listen to) selling food at astronomical prices,

A couple of places selling reasonable food at reasonable prices,

Several places I no longer bother going have a 3/4 year cycle:

Year 1 Ok food, at reasonable prices whilst they find out what the clients want/ put there mark on the restaurant,

Year 2 Good food reasonable price,

Year 3 Generally drop in food standards very high prices,

Year 4 brewer/ landlords again puts rent up this year through roof prices go up clientele falls and you go back to year 1 with new landlord...

If you think this is cynical there are 3 places round here I have seen happen to regularly for last 20 years...

A couple of good tripadvisor reviews and you have to book in advance, to be packed in like sardines in a can for mediocre food due to worn out "chef". I say "chef" as by the time the place has got a "name" for itself, the Chef is so knackered he does not care what he produces... The tripadvisor reviews carry on saying how good the places is because that's what they should say....

Then come here of a weekend in the summer and try and book a table in ANY of them and they are all fully booked, the good ones weeks in advance. In the holiday period even mid week we have gone out for adhoc meal to find we are unable to eat...

[Via]

Anywhere where the food is served on a slate....

 

Or a chopping board

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

[mention]onesea[/mention] I had no idea the New Forest was so popular. It is just a Forest isn’t it? Round here there isn’t anywhere good to eat. It’s all very poor quality so you have to drive to Bristol or Bath. The southwest is relatively poor area and nearby Weston Super Mud is racked out with elderly care homes and drug rehab folk. The tourists that come this way are after an icecream or candy floss on the pier, maybe some fish n chips so there’s lots of sticky vinyl seat cafes selling whatever Booker has on offer cos it’s past it’s sell by date.

[mention]S-Westerly[/mention] It’s gone onto my avoid list. It did taste good, they know how to cook but they’ve moved from thinking they’re superior to demonstrating by giving you no choice but to choose from cabbage, cauliflower or carrots as a main course.

I’ve just looked at the menu and yesterday there was no quail on offer it was a small ramekin of strings of beef or the dot of cod. Today I have stomach ache, unsurprising given eating large quantities of cauliflower isn’t my thing

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Anywhere where the food is served on a slate....

 

Or a chopping board

 

Or those slanted bowls that the food can fall out of (they had those yesterday)

[Tiggie]

I follow a page called We want plates on facebook. Never fails to make me rant at the utter ludicrousy of how food gets served in " exclusive establishments"

 

[Six30]

Don't go out on a ride with Hoggs then , she took us to some pub for some grub , they had a barby in the garden .. £10 for a fooking burger , no chips just the burger , at least Dick Turpin wore a mask .

[Via]

Don't go out on a ride with Hoggs then , she took us to some pub for some grub , they had a barby in the garden .. £10 for a fooking burger , no chips just the burger , at least Dick Turpin wore a mask .

 

That's what happens when someone used to London prices picks where to eat

[JRH]

I follow a page called We want plates on facebook. Never fails to make me rant at the utter ludicrousy of how food gets served in " exclusive establishments"

14355121_1128290470549981_7925584810727961714_n.jpg

 

That’s OK.............. if you are on the footplate of a steam locomotive.

[JRH]

Don't go out on a ride with Hoggs then , she took us to some pub for some grub , they had a barby in the garden .. £10 for a fooking burger , no chips just the burger , at least Dick Turpin wore a mask .

 

It was cheaper inside ordering at the bar.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I follow a page called We want plates on facebook. Never fails to make me rant at the utter ludicrousy of how food gets served in " exclusive establishments"

14355121_1128290470549981_7925584810727961714_n.jpg

 

It even looks like it was dropped and has been scooped up off the floor!

[Hoggs]

Don't blame me! I didn't know

Proper pretentious is Groucho at Tower Bridge. Awful staff, ok food but ridiculously over priced.

[NeilM]

I was on nights other week.

Lisa phoned me to inform me she had just ate at a Michelin star restaurant in Leeds...

What!!!

Friend of a friend had booked n paid deposit etc but then became ill the day of the meal.

Her n her mate went instead.

Bloody awful she reckoned

£90 each should have been.

Now we will pay decent brass for decent food but she reckoned it was overpriced nonsense

[Six30]

Don't go out on a ride with Hoggs then , she took us to some pub for some grub , they had a barby in the garden .. £10 for a fooking burger , no chips just the burger , at least Dick Turpin wore a mask .

 

It was cheaper inside ordering at the bar.

 

I know , that’s what I might of done , can’t remember now .

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I like good food and I don’t mind paying for it. It’s this mentality that seems to have crept back into restaurants recently that winds me up-

">

[onesea]

@onesea I had no idea the New Forest was so popular. It is just a Forest isn’t it? Round here there isn’t anywhere good to eat. It’s all very poor quality so you have to drive to Bristol or Bath. The southwest is relatively poor area and nearby Weston Super Mud is racked out with elderly care homes and drug rehab folk. The tourists that come this way are after an icecream or candy floss on the pier, maybe some fish n chips so there’s lots of sticky vinyl seat cafes selling whatever Booker has on offer cos it’s past it’s sell by date.

 

Were in "day trip" reach of London and people expect it to be an expensive holiday destination and those that don't learn that it is!.

"The New Forest is enjoyed by millions of people every year, the majority of visits (13.5 million) are by day trip visitors, including those who live within the forest.

Almost 1 million visits include an overnight stay (3 million nights) and the majority of those are by UK residents. Tourism creates over 7980 jobs in the forest and generates nearly £400 million in tourism expenditure. The quality of life in the forest is the primary reason for visits and people come to enjoy the clean air, recreation and tranquillity."

Its pretty its got animals that walk on the road (that can cause some cracking traffic jams), there are only a handful of main roads in lots of campsites for Caravans and motorhomes and related traffic jams... Its a National Park lots of reasons for people to come and sit in traffic

http://www.newforest.gov.uk/article/5197/Tourism-and-Travel

[Martyn850]

Anywhere where the food is served on a slate....

 

Or a chopping board

 

Or those slanted bowls that the food can fall out of (they had those yesterday)

 

Chips that come in a little fry basket or a cone.

Cones are fine for chips at the seaside, but not my steak!!