Mouthing Off | Call that carbonara? The restaurants that can’t be bothered to get dishes right
- Have you ever ordered a classic or favourite dish, only to be disappointed at what arrives on your plate?
- When restaurants play fast and loose with recipes, they do themselves, the diners and the dishes a disservice
It surprises me that some restaurants really don’t know what they’re serving. Last week, I went to a porcine-themed diner where the menu listed pork schnitzel. It had been a while since I had a good one, so I took a chance by ordering it. What arrived looked appealing enough – but it wasn’t a schnitzel.
Forget the fact that schnitzel usually is veal, according to Viennese tradition, but the dish fell short on several other key characteristics. The meat wasn’t pounded to a thin cutlet the way it’s supposed to be. Instead, it was a thick slab, probably about 4cm high. There was also a bone still attached. In short, they gave me a breaded pork chop.
“Is this something I should complain about?”, I pondered. In the end, I decided against making a scene, even though the dish wasn’t what I had in mind and it was mediocre at best. The chop didn’t have proper seasoning. It also had too much fat cap left on, not enough meat, and at the bone it was way too pink – making me worry it was undercooked.
Still, I was most disappointed it wasn’t a thin, tender schnitzel.
Some folks might say, “It’s more or less the same thing, don’t be so picky”. But to me, that’s akin to ordering a hamburger and getting a meatball sandwich. They’re kind of similar too, aren’t they?