Restaurant experiences

From "Down and Out in Paris and London" by George Orwell (1933), writing the Paris part:

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(About "Hotel X")

"Roughly speaking, the more one pays for food, the more sweat and spittle one is obliged to eat with it. ... Dirtiness is inherent in hotels and restaurants, because sound food is sacrificed to punctuality and smartness... The only food at the Hotel X which was ever prepared cleanly was the staff's.

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(On the state of the kitchen at the newly opened Auberge):

"Looking round that filthy room, with raw meat lying among the refuse on the floor, and cold, clotted saucepans sprawling everywhere, and the sink blocked and coated with grease, I used to wonder whether there could be a restaurant in the world as bad as ours. But the other three all said they had been in dirtier places."

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I had excellent rack of ribs in an Argentinian restaurant in Amsterdam.  Reasonably priced, too.

I can't remember what it was called, though!

Mr Puffy wrote (see)

And Duffy the singer was a waitress in Chester, she completely forgot to pass our lunch order to the kitchen in the restaurant she worked in before becoming famous. We sat there for forty minutes and then had to go.

Maybe this job was just a stepping stone in to her musical career ! 

Went to the restaurant in Westminster Abbey - admittedly because we happened to be there, it was about 2.30 and we were ravenous. Bearing in mind it was at the end of lunchtime and getting quiet, it still took about 10 minutes to get seated. Got given a very narrow and uninspiring yet expensive menu and sat there for another 20 minutes with nary a waiter or waitress in sight.

We never found out what the food was like, we got up and left.

Best was the tasting menu at Le Gavroche - but then, at about £150 a head you'd expect that!

best food i've had was either at Maze or Hibiscus. Both quite pricey, but were special occasions.

I've had plenty of bad meals out. I try not to eat out at chains in touristy areas, just because they have no incentive to make the food or service any good, as they hardly ever get repeat custom, just an endless stream of passing tourists who will never be back anyway.

If you're down in london and fancy some really nice vegan food, you could do worse than "saf" in shoreditch (the top of curtain road I think).

I want to Maze for my birthday last week.

Damned good burger but no better than at Byron to be honest. If I'd had the Wagyu I might be jumping up and down about it  - but then I also wouldn't be able to afford to eat for a month - £90 for an 8oz sirloin! :-O

AgentGinger wrote (see)

could do worse than "saf" in shoreditch (the top of curtain road I think).

Saf in Shoreditch was a fabulous restaurent but sadly closed down now.

Strangely Brown wrote (see)

This is a very confusing story!

Were these shrimps giant shrimps or something?  I've never had a shrimp or prawn so large that 3 would do me as a starter.  Very confused here....

Looking back I think they must have been langoustine's; maybe the owner could not translate this and so just said 'Shrimps!' The restaurant was brilliant with the owner 'presenting' the food with obvious pride. What he thought of me -the greedy one- eating three starters and two main courses before hungrily eyeing up the sweet trolley has not been recorded....

The restaurant you describe in Polperro sounds great (not) if I go there I will make sure I take my running shoes! Although maybe I should wear high heels to give them half a chance!

SideBurn wrote (see)

Strangely Brown wrote (see)

This is a very confusing story!

Were these shrimps giant shrimps or something?  I've never had a shrimp or prawn so large that 3 would do me as a starter.  Very confused here....

Looking back I think they must have been langoustine's; maybe the owner could not translate this and so just said 'Shrimps!' The restaurant was brilliant with the owner 'presenting' the food with obvious pride. What he thought of me -the greedy one- eating three starters and two main courses before hungrily eyeing up the sweet trolley has not been recorded....

The restaurant you describe in Polperro sounds great (not) if I go there I will make sure I take my running shoes! Although maybe I should wear high heels to give them half a chance!

  Was it three bowls of shrimp/prawns/langostine then?  In that case, that does sound a lot!

I love eating out and as others have said, it's almost a revolution that has taken place in the UK restaurant scene over the last15 years.  You could get awful, terrible food with consumate ease 15-20 years ago.  Now, it's actually quite hard to find truly dreadful food.  Standards have risen so quickly and we now have some of the most exciting chefs in the world cooking food for us here.

I think Strangely; that the idea was to have just one as a starter! They were nice

Don't really like eating out; prefer home cooked food. I also eat fast  so sometimes get 'looks' from people I'm with as they're playing with micro-morsels. It's fuel, get it down ya!

We went to our local Indian restaurant last year .We ordered the food and drinks. My hubby had asked for a pint of draught bitter. we watched the waiter empty the drip tray into a pint pot and bring it over. We said we saw what he did and he replied ,""So,its clean!" it seamed very wrong and insisted on a fresh pint.He wasnt happy swapping it. we ate cause the kids were really hungry but havent been back. You hope food isnt recycled too...