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Post by Patrick on Nov 18, 2008 1:17:20 GMT
Took Best Beloved and M.I.L out for 40th Birthday Big Eats at the Midland Hotel tonight (well last night if you want to nit pick). Explanation and review later - but here's the bill;  ........and here's a quick shot of one of Eric Gill's "Muriels" (God Bless Hilda Ogden!) taken on the way out.....  |
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 18, 2008 9:39:33 GMT
I hope the food was excellent Patrick, as it wasn't cheap.
(I like the 'bread please' and the zero charge for 'no starters'. How weird!)
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Post by rjpageuk on Nov 18, 2008 12:14:54 GMT
I bet the chocolate brownie was lovely  |
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 18, 2008 12:34:44 GMT
I bet the chocolate brownie was lovely At £5.95 I'd be expecting ambrosia! |
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Post by trubble on Nov 18, 2008 13:18:39 GMT
In Euros (which let's face it, are virtually the same as sterling pounds now  ) that would be a reasonably priced meal, not crazy expensive at all. More restaurants should offer bread at the start of a meal. It's so welcoming. Happy Birthday to BB. ! |
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Post by Patrick on Nov 18, 2008 22:25:54 GMT
Right. I've spent a tenner less in our (one time) favourite restaurant and been more satisfied. Sadly the main course went cold rather quickly - which meant the otherwise palatable red wine sauce (sorry "jus") started to congeal somewhat! In our favourite restaurant of old you would by brought a nice pile of freshly baked rolls about the size of a tennis ball. In this place you got one roll each the size of a golf ball  but it was surprisingly filling. The brownie came with a lump of ice cream at the top and whilst nice, (in the old fashioned way) wasn't quite as fluffy and crumbly as I would have liked. The venison was chewy-ish- but it's a long time since I've had it and I vaguely recall it being like that anyway. Have just asked how the others felt - their fish was nice and a rosti served with one too was too, but once again it was let down by losing it's heat halfway through. So, on reflection - the cost wasn't worth it really. It seems that £25-30 a head is around the norm for most middling restaurants - I'm not sure if this was quite worth that. |
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 19, 2008 9:58:08 GMT
See, I can't think of a time when I last ate in a 'middling' restaurant. I don't know if it's a Glasgow thing or a city thing, but going out for a meal (assuming one is not going to one of those hellish children-welcome-Brewers Fayre type joints) almost always means going to an ethnic restaurant. Our favourite is the local curry house, which is quite posh and is just round the corner from our block on the main street, but we might also go out for Chinese, Tapas, or even Russian or Thai. The only time we eat non-foreign-ethnic food is really pub lunch type grub . . we like a brunch sometimes at our local. SO, why is it that foreign ethnic-restaurants are so much cheaper than 'middling' ones that serve this kind of mainstream food? IS there still a market for the kind of restaurants that charge £17.95 for baked cod?  |
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Post by rjpageuk on Nov 19, 2008 11:41:09 GMT
SO, why is it that foreign ethnic-restaurants are so much cheaper than 'middling' ones that serve this kind of mainstream food? IS there still a market for the kind of restaurants that charge £17.95 for baked cod? I dont think foreign restaurants are cheaper, the cost is just proportional to the quality (or the perceived quality by the owners). I guess it is a bit different for you as being in a big city you have a massive choice compared to us stuck out in the middle of nowhere and plus restuarants tend to be a bit cheaper in the cities. |
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Post by trubble on Nov 19, 2008 13:03:19 GMT
I don't know if it's a Glasgow thing or a city thing, Our indian restaurants are expensive. Our pizza ones not so. Our chinese ones are very good value. Those all you can eat restaurants seem to do well in Scottish cities. My first time in Edinburgh, we got off the airport bus and walked straight into a pub. Our accents noted, we were asked our plans and told immediately 'you have to go to to China-China, all you can eat for £5.' We got a taxi then to the B&B and the driver said 'there's China-China, all you can eat for £5'. We arrived at the B&B and almost the first thing we were told was the directions to China-China with the caveat 'get there before 6 before it goes up to £7 after that'. Not that I had gone expecting the stereotypical frugal scot (a family joke aimed at my Grampa) but had I, I would not have been disappointed. ;D Dublin now has one, it's not China China, it's that one that got in trouble for telling an 11 year old he was too tall to eat at the child's price. They have that on the menu.  You must be under 5'2" (or summat) to qualify for a children's meal. The food was pretty bad. Seems nice at first but... |
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 19, 2008 16:10:56 GMT
I don't know if it's a Glasgow thing or a city thing, Our indian restaurants are expensive. Our pizza ones not so. Our chinese ones are very good value. Those all you can eat restaurants seem to do well in Scottish cities. My first time in Edinburgh, we got off the airport bus and walked straight into a pub. Our accents noted, we were asked our plans and told immediately 'you have to go to to China-China, all you can eat for £5.' We got a taxi then to the B&B and the driver said 'there's China-China, all you can eat for £5'. We arrived at the B&B and almost the first thing we were told was the directions to China-China with the caveat 'get there before 6 before it goes up to £7 after that'. Not that I had gone expecting the stereotypical frugal scot (a family joke aimed at my Grampa) but had I, I would not have been disappointed. ;D Dublin now has one, it's not China China, it's that one that got in trouble for telling an 11 year old he was too tall to eat at the child's price. They have that on the menu. You must be under 5'2" (or summat) to qualify for a children's meal. The food was pretty bad. Seems nice at first but... The Chinese all-you-can-eat places are a relatively new innovation I think. I first came across them in Chinatown in Manchester, from where I presume the idea originated? Or London maybe? We have Indian ones doing 'all you can eat' buffets too, but when I've been in an establishment that does this I prefer to order off the menu. You know what you're eating, and there's no risk that some unwashed lout has been digging around in the dish before you take your portion. |
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Post by trubble on Nov 19, 2008 16:40:33 GMT
I watched one of those undercover things on BBC where they checked out some all you can eat establishmnets in London. Staff were illegal and/or grossly underpaid and undertrained. The food was lethal, the storage of it very dodgy and it was old. I think the unwashed lout is probably the least of your problems.  . Still, it didn't stop me trying out our new one, well a bargain's a bargain! |
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Post by rjpageuk on Nov 19, 2008 17:56:52 GMT
About 7 years ago I went to an all you can eat in Canada which was the biggest bargain - at lunch it was 4 CAD for as much as you wanted (£2.14)!
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 19, 2008 18:53:59 GMT
About 7 years ago I went to an all you can eat in Canada which was the biggest bargain - at lunch it was 4 CAD for as much as you wanted (£2.14)! Chinese food? |
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Post by rjpageuk on Nov 20, 2008 11:53:01 GMT
About 7 years ago I went to an all you can eat in Canada which was the biggest bargain - at lunch it was 4 CAD for as much as you wanted (£2.14)! Chinese food? No, it was a bit of everything but mostly American. Carved meats, pizzas, seafood etc. I think it had an ice cream machine too  |
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 20, 2008 18:07:55 GMT
No, it was a bit of everything but mostly American. Carved meats, pizzas, seafood etc. I think it had an ice cream machine too Not wishing to be pedantic Rob, but in what way are carved meats, pizzas and seafood 'American' ?  |
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Post by Patrick on Nov 20, 2008 21:47:38 GMT
The Chinese ones are specially designed for "the drinker" methinks - Used to occasionally pop into "Mr Wu's" (Quelle Surprise!) in Leicester Square when I'd been out with friend consuming alcohol - and also there's a "Mr Aw's" on Tottenham Court Road. They are - despite the white table cloths of the former - a pretty disgusting affair - it's not for the faint hearted when you see a waiter dump a load of hot somethings on top of a bowl of cold somethings already "in situ" So H&S raids and bad results don't surprise me! In Tunbridge Wells (wouldn't it be!?) A place opened with an attempt to "poshify" that sort of thing - yes there are the trays of food for an Eat what you want for...." etc, but the bowls are smaller, empty faster and are replaced when needed rather than topped up. the whole thing a far "airier" and polished experience - and of course, slightly more expensive. A couple of months back, I stumbled upon a web page on my local Council's site where they helpfully publish the results of the Food Inspectors visits to the various establishments locally - it makes for interesting reading! |
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Post by rjpageuk on Nov 20, 2008 22:59:43 GMT
Not wishing to be pedantic Rob, but in what way are carved meats, pizzas and seafood 'American' ? I dont really know what to call it, it was typical American restuarant stuff. |
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 20, 2008 23:45:51 GMT
We had kho tonight. It's a vietnamese dish. How cosmopolitan am I?
(OK, it's from the Ainsley Harriot range, but it tastes brilliant and there is definitely an element of real cooking involved.)
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Post by housesparrow on Nov 21, 2008 9:21:30 GMT
Chinese and Thai are great fun if there is a group of you to share all the different dishes, but not my choice for two. Curries give me indigestion (an age thing - my former next door neighbour couldn't eat them at all, and she WAS Indian). Jack Sparrow won't eat anything out that we can't cook at home - so we don't go out that much. When we do it is usually Italian.
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Post by riotgrrl on Nov 21, 2008 11:21:54 GMT
Chinese and Thai are great fun if there is a group of you to share all the different dishes, but not my choice for two. Curries give me indigestion (an age thing - my former next door neighbour couldn't eat them at all, and she WAS Indian). Jack Sparrow won't eat anything out that we can't cook at home - so we don't go out that much. When we do it is usually Italian. I sort of see where Jack Sparrow is coming from. I try not to order (when I'm out) something I can cook myself . . I have broken my rule and ordered macaroni cheese in pubs, which is ridiculuos as I not only make it myself, it's one of the things I'm good at!!! Pub lunches are easy on that rule, as I don't have a deep fat fryer at home and never deep fry anything . . so if I'm out for lunch anything deep fried will be something I don't make at home!!!! Does anyone else have that thing where, when you've cooked a meal adn everyone is tucking in saying how good it is, you just don't fancy it at all? But if someone else in the family cooks, even if it's oven chips and corned beef, it still tastes BRILLIANT? |
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A.P.P.S
) that would be a reasonably priced meal, not crazy expensive at all.
S C 
but it was surprisingly filling.
. Still, it didn't stop me trying out our new one, well a bargain's a bargain!
