The Bad Food rant
 

They say that you eat with your eyes, well I don't like the "Smear on a plate" type of food, I like to be able to recognise the main components in any dish that I have ordered and have enough so that I don't feel hungry 10 minutes after the meal has finished.
My main problem with Indian food is that it looks like it has been eaten once already and almost all Indian restaurants are so dimly lit that it is difficult to read the menu let alone see what you are eating. Slop on a plate.
Here in Quesada a lot of the Chinese restaurants are very poor.
I have to say that a lot of the Brit bars are also pretty bad, cheap but bad. God only knows what they do to the Sunday roasts, some taste as if they have been reheated several times.
I do like a lot of the Spanish restaurants and the Spanish food. I have to say that I find the taste of all the meat here is far better than in the UK.
And as for that vile herb Coriander, disgusting in taste and smell:sick:

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Hahahah hope you enjoyed the rant .... I have no idea where the heck you get Indian food like that ? The indian food I have had is easily indentifiable, served in bright airy clean restaurants.

'Smears' on a plate are wasted on me, I too like food on my plate not the pickings. Actually that is strange as I do prefer tapas size portions rather than a plate of UK extras and a wee bit meat.

I did have many a good meal in Scotland on my recent visit, good varied menus, great choice of homemade food all around. I found they were much more likely to serve your choice how you like than in the past and to mix and match food on the menu.

I hate with a passion a plate of food ruined by a sea of bloody sauce UGHHHH if it is not good enough serve without the sauce forget it ....I am out of there.

Oh and salad with everything UGHHH

Good post Tony I enjoyed that :thumbsup:

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Basically good food should be fairly simple with a maximum of 3 or 4 good quality easy recognisable basic ingredients that are obviously fresh or freshly made plus a very limited quantity of trimmings and sauces.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Strange to hear a food rant coming out of Quesada, a place becoming famous throughout Spain for its Fish and Chips, and I'm being serious.

There's no fudging about what's on your plate, a decent-sized, well fried piece of proper cod with proper chips, and you don't have to have mushy peas with it, but the white bread is an essential ingredient.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Seconded :thumbup:

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

totally agree with you, having eaten in in a variety of countries in the Far East, the best experiences have been the open stall type of eatery, where you see the food being cooked as you sup a bottle of beer, huge flames around an enormous wok,
although next step up was a restaurant in Singapore where they served huge beef steaks on the bone on a red hot beef shaped plate.

I think the Spanish Difference is that they don't seem to have the "processing" of the UK, where water and additives are used. Also they don't (IME so far) use poor quality meats from predominately Asian run processing plants as there in the Midlands that keep the EHO's working flat out.

All my locally bought meat is fresh, cut as I order it, and same or cheaper than the big supermarkets - where I no longer buy "packaged", in fact it is getting rarer and rarer to shop there, almost all comes from local shops, 20k each way by car makes it an expensive trip for no price saving and having to put the freezer box in the boot makes for a planned out experience.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

They often are, we went to a well advertised restaurant in Punta Prima when we lived there, thursday night and we were the only ones there, I suppose that should have made us leave..main meals were just about OK, and no worries about the meat as we all had fish and chips. The sweets were diabolical, my wife had 'fresh' gooseberry crumble.. well it must have been freah at sometime, probably a week or so earlier, then taken out the freezer every noght, thawed and re-frozen.. The upshot was food poisoning, the rest of us had a different sweet and were all OK.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

My pet hates are:-
- nouvelle cuisine (an excuse to overcharge massively for a square inch of food on a huge plate) - when I go out for a meal I like to feel I've had something to eat not to take a photograph of, and not to have to call at the chip shop on the way home because I'm starving!
- cafes and bars where it's obvious that there has been no cooking involved in preparing the food, just taking something out of the freezer and putting it in either a deep fat fryer or the microwave
- Chinese food - I won't make the kind of silly remarks about it that some do about Indian food (eg stray dogs disappearing off the streets) because many do like it, but I just don't. Some of the stuff you see hanging up in restaurant windows in places like Hong Kong just turns my stomach and no way could I eat something like chicken's feet.
- Meat with any fat, gristle or bones involved, if I put something like that in my mouth without realising, I can't eat the rest of the meal.
- Mustard (hate the taste and the smell makes me feel sick).

I do like coriander, though! And also sauces, provided they're made properly and neither swamp the food nor are a smear on the plate. I find plain food without any sauces rather boring, no matter how good the ingredients, and when I go out to eat I expect to get something much better than I could cook at home which normally involves some kind of sauce. I've given up going to Spanish fish restaurants that everyone has told me are marvellous, because I don't see what's so great about a plate of plain grilled or fried fish. Not much skill involved in preparing that, IMO.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Lynn I agree with most of what you posted:) I do like small nicely set out meals though as I am not a big eater and a huge plate of stuff sends me into full mode. I also like Mustard..only on some things though.

I also hate good food ruined by Asian flavouring. Who wants a good steak ruined by an Asian fusion disaster! Went to a golf do in a local Hotel recently. For starter I chose some sort of giant mushroom stuffed with other mushrooms etc. It came swimming in a liquid which tasted just of soy sauce. My main was a chicken dish, flavour was the same as the mushrooms:thumbdown:

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

I don't like Desperate Dan sized portions that you end up leaving most of (what a shocking waste) but a happy medium is nice!

More pet hates (they are many and various:rofl:)

- pretentious chefs who won't allow salt and pepper on the table as they claim the food is perfectly seasoned. I will always taste the food first, but if I find it under-seasoned for my taste, if I'm paying for it I reserve the right to add salt and pepper if I want it.
- "tasting menus" - they tend to be expensive and there's almost always one or more courses I wouldn't like, I prefer to have a range of options to choose from, not have what the chef thinks I should eat.
- having said that, I don't go to restaurants where there's about 50 dishes on the menu. No restaurant kitchen could cope with cooking that amount of potential choices so it's a sign they will be using frozen, bought in dishes. I prefer short menus with no more than 6 choices per course.
- anywhere which has pictures of the food rather than a menu!

Probably shouldn't put this in a Bad Food thread as nobody will read it, but I had a burger for lunch yesterday which was really good. I haven't eaten a burger for years but they were billed as home made so I decided to chance it and wasn't disappointed, it was great, juicy and about an inch and a half thick. Served with chips (not the frozen variety, made with potatoes with the skins left on) and a good salad not a bit of limp lettuce and tomato. There was even a good alternative for my veggie OH in the form of a home made falafel burger served with houmus and mango salsa - just shows it's not hard to offer decent veggie food given a little bit of imagination. If anyone's visiting Nerja I recommend Numero Seis, on Calle Chaparil.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

[QUOTE=The Capitans Wench;10102174]Hahahah hope you enjoyed the rant .... I have no idea where the heck you get Indian food like that ? The indian food I have had is easily indentifiable, served in bright airy clean restaurants.
We used to live in Leicester, a lot of the Indian restaurants were like that, but I suppose after 10 pints you don't really notice. The places were all done out in that red velour upholstery and red flock wallpaper:eek: Really dimly lit.
The last four years we were living in Goa and believe me they really know how to ruin a good steak, it always used to come with a brown sauce that tasted only of mixed spice disgusting. The steaks in Goa are almost always Fillet and they will bash a 3" piece of steak down to 1" until it looks like a hamburger.
The Indian food in goa I never ate because they always put fresh Coriander in it and it makes me violently sick. The goan food always tastes of cinnamon and cloves and a lot of chillies.
All the chicken and lamb dishes are on the bone, they say that it gives more flavour.
I too prefer Tapas type food, I think that if it's fresh it is difficult to beat.
TP

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

[QUOTE=HBG;10102725]Strange to hear a food rant coming out of Quesada, a place becoming famous throughout Spain for its Fish and Chips, and I'm being serious.
They do have A good fish and chip restaurant in Quesada, problem is I don't eat fish, spend too much time rummaging through it for the bones, my OH does like the place/plaice? both in fact so we have to go there sometimes.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

[QUOTE=Lynn R;10103360]I don't like Desperate Dan sized portions that you end up leaving most of (what a shocking waste) but a happy medium is nice!

More pet hates (they are many and various:rofl:)

- pretentious chefs
- "tasting menus"
- anywhere which has pictures of the food rather than a menu!
Quite agree with these, also don't like "Themed" restaurants, you only get to see your little area and quite often have no idea what the theme is except, to be more expensive than a "Food" themed restaurant.
Don't like restaurants/bars where they charge extra for potatoes and vegetables. A lump of meat or fish is not a meal.

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Over the past few years, my area has gone Malaysian Wok crazy, where you can eat as much as you like for something around 12 Euros, without drinks. Apart from the ready-to-eat selection, you present your raw choice to the in-house frier and it's woked right in front of you.

And they're not all the same, some are much better than the others.

There's a giant one, the size of a football pitch, and it has the largest selection, with lobster in the evening. It's an absolute nightmare for people on a diet, like me.

How can you walk past a line of chocolate cakes and ice cream?

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Lynn, I had for a moment thought the alzheimers were with me and I had forgotten I had written this. :goodpost:

Chinese - the UK experience, especially with take-away is one of a taster of the art, and a poor taster at that - although i do admit to being partial to a sweet and sour pork.
Should be experienced in an informal environment, having eaten in Singapore and Hong Kong, as with the Spanish & Italian experience. Dim Sum steamed just prior to eating on plates of different varieties, in the good restaurants delivered around the restaurant by trolley as each batch becomes ready for eating.
Gao (dumplings) are excellent, the thinner the rice flour skin (pastry) outer the better the chef, almost translucent being the best.
Bau (fluffy buns made from wheat flour) also excellent.
The Fung Zao (chickens claws) you mentioned I tried once but never again.
A favourite to finish is the Malay Steamed Sponge made with molasses but the Egg Tart is also excellent

My first visit to HK where street traders would head and tail a fish, dropping the offcuts into the gutter, was an eye opener - but that is how they lived, and far more acceptable than the dead body in a monsoon ditch in Singapore.

Having also eaten sushi in Tokyo's Ginza this is a totally different experience, but I still have a bottle opener for Kirin Beer sadly don't see much of that around, although there was a rash of imports in the UK a number of years ago.

the late BIL rep'd for a number of years for commercial frozen food companies such as Birds Eye and Findus, selling to Hotels and Restaurants, in the 70's and 80's so Brit Bars on the CDS buying in from Iceland and Alcampo et al is really no different when trying to give a cosmopolitan menu.

I see any meat served with gristle etc to be poorly cut, poorly prepared, poorly cooked - and to be returned
Some cuts on the bone are however acceptable.

Even my local (totally Spanish) bar wasnt averse to nipping over to P'Aqui for a couple of loaves of bread yesterday lunchtime

.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

H know exactly how you feel, all I can say is the same as I said about sunbathing - like everything, in moderation.

you don't have to go every day, but at €12 it is hard not to
:sneaky:

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

I hate those all you can eat places. There is one in Fuengirola...looks like pig swill laid out:(

All the pretentious Chefs seem to drastically undercook the food for my taste. In one restaurant in Marbella I ordered the Duck breast and said I didn't want it well done but cooked through ie. no pink and runny. The waiter came back and said it would be ruined if he cooked it like that. I said it was what I wanted and if there were any pink it would go back and I wouldn't pay. It came perfect..for me

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

I'm a bit fed up with the lack of variety where we are. There are only a couple of places out of 25ish in the village that do anything but standard Spanish food and it is generally of ordinary quality. We have to travel a bit to get good food and we find that to eat out well in Spain (at least in our part) is very expensive - a treat once every few months.

In contrast when we were in England a few weeks ago (admittedly in Bristol - so a major city) there was great food and at reasonable prices - we ate in several places where a good quality meal for two with drinks was around 30 - 40 pounds.

Please note that I am not saying that you can't eat out well in Spain - only that it is expensive.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

You can almost seperate Spanish bar/restaurants into 2 categories.
90% cheap and cheerful for the have nots,....

....and the other 10%, arms and legs, for the haves,..or when you want to impress a new bird ;)

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

I like Chinese food and know a good place near me however I do make a lot myself as I enjoy it and they are mostly relativly simple, I only like about three or four dishes though. What I don't like in Chinese restaurants, and I have seen it very often, for some reason it seems common to them, are staff with Dandruff falling all over the place.

Someone mentioned Burgers, Home made burgers are Fab, if you chop a tiny bit of mushroom in them you will find them nice and juicy, sometimes I add a little curry powder to give them like a Thai like taste, Yummy:thumbup:

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Most Chinese restaurants in Spain don't really cook. They buy all the main meals in from a centralised depot. Saw it on spanish TV some years ago, perhaps it is the same in other countries too.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

Have to agree in the main, there is a beautiful Spanish restaurant in Torrevieja, went there with wife and her friend for lunch, 93 euros, took wife for dinner 96 euros. Should have taken the new bird:lol:
But a great meal and lovely place even though we had to park 15 minutes walk away.
We do have a decent Spanish restaurant near the golf course menu del noche, with a main course from the A la Carte menu 15 euros unless you have steak.

Re: The Bad Food rant
 

[QUOTE=jackytoo;10103593]I hate those all you can eat places. There is one in Fuengirola...looks like pig swill laid out:(

All the pretentious Chefs seem to drastically undercook the food for my taste.
Can't stand undercooked meat, No pink lamb or duck for me thankyou very much and if I want to eat crispy crunchy vegetables I'll go on a diet.