As a restaurant reviewer, I try to look for the good, rather than actively seek out the bad, but I have to tell you that the saying: 'The British know the cost of everything and the value of nothing' is rather pertinent regarding the majority of our eating establishments.
In the press this week, much has been made of the fact that high street restaurant chains are serving up ready meals. Many restaurants buy in from catering companies where the dishes are mass produced in Central kitchens, be it ready made omelettes, pies, curries, lasagne and desserts, these are then shipped out to a range of restaurants who appear to be 'cooking' the food on the premises, whilst in fact, much of it is simply microwaved. Even Gordon Ramsay was purported to be serving precooked, prepacked lamb shanks in mint gravy in one of his top restaurants.
Last weekend, we went to our local Beefeater pub/restaurant for a meal simply because we had accrued lots of points on our reward card and they were offering a main meal free for every main meal purchased. Things got off to a bad start when Glenn's pulled beef with Yorkshire pudding starter (clearly the beef was of the processed variety) came out stone cold, apparently the 'chef' had forgotten to microwave it. My prawn cocktail came without lemon, the devil is in the detail! And the flaccid slice of bread was obviously frozen and pre sliced (whatever happened to the baskets of warm bread rolls we used to be offered in restaurants?)
My sirloin was fatty, the chips were frozen oven chips, (which I don't even eat at home unless I'm really pushed,) and the salad was bagged. The meal for two of us with wine cost eighty pounds........EIGHTY POUNDS! (Fortunately we had our reward coupons and only had to pay twenty pounds, which I still begruged.)
But hey, the restaurant was jam-packed with happy punters having a gay old time, plates were cleared with gusto and lips smacked in well fed delight! I guess this is indicative of how we're eating in our own homes, if we are prepared to pay through the nose for shoddy ingredients when eating out, what are we cooking in our own kitchens?
No one likes eating out more than myself, I love the whole ritual, however, I want the food I'm paying for to at least be up to my own cooking standards, I want real ingredients, prepared and cooked by a chef on the premises. I don't want food that was made in a factory and has been reheated in a microwave.
Therefore, this weekend, much as I would love to sit in a restaurant and be waited on, I'm buying some delicious ingredients, battening down the hatches, lighting my Jo Malone pomegranate candles and leisurely preparing a lovely dinner to the strains of George Michael's symphonica album. I shall uncork a nice bottle of châteauneuf-du-pape, which I shall sip as I'm preparing my meal, and relish in the fact that I shan't be paying eighty quid for factory food.
Given that one of the things I abhor most in restaurants is oven chips, I do make the effort at home to cook 'proper' chips, however, it is a time consuming process. Quite often I make much simpler sweet potato chips.
Sweet potato chips
Recipe
2 large sweet potatoes, washed and peeled
1/4 cup of olive oil or melted coconut oil
A sprinkling of sea salt
1-2 teaspoons of sugar, this helps them to caramelise but is entirely optional
1-2 teaspoons of spice ie smoked paprika or cayenne pepper, again, entirely optional
Preheat oven 200c/gas 6
Cut potatoes into wedges or thin chips
Place in a large bowl and add oil
Mix the potatoes with your hands to ensure they are evenly coated
Sprinkle with salt (and sugar and spice if using)
Place chips on a preheated non stick baking sheet in a single layer
Bake for 25 minutes, turning after 15 minutes
Once browned serve immediately
'I had a missed call. It's probably the all-you-can-eat buffet calling to say, 'come back! We know you can eat just a little bit more!'
- Jarod Kintz.
Love Donna xxxxxxx
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