Food critics, waste of space?

CJhaughey

I have to say that Tom Doorly, Paolo Tullio and that other tool Eamonn O'Caoithain have to be the worst restaraunt critics ever, Kenny cooked a caesar salad, widely acclaimed by all the paying guests, the critics slated it.
The rabbit also widely acclaimed was also poorly received by the critics,
at the close of the show all the paying guests considered the food to be second to none while the critics claimed that JK only deserved 2 stars.
What do you think? Are critics so far up their own rectums that they are incapable of discerning what the average person finds delicious or are they so superior to the average palate that they can detect slight nuances that are lost to the great unwashed masses?

Shabadu

The fact of the matter is that most Irish people eat absolute pap, and think percieved value for money* + large portion size = tasty. I think Tullio normally goes far too easy on the restaurants he critiques.


*In other words, cheaper and lower quality ingredients lowering meal cost.

simu

I find them very entertaining - nothing wrong with being fussy about food!

Tom Doorly's column in the Irish Times is usually pretty interesting too.

Blub2k4

I'd agree with Shab on this, the Irish dont have a very refined pallette, they dont have a clue what's good.

dudara

I find most of the critics, especially Dooley from the Times to be quite entertaining. His crusade against places that serve huge coffee cups of espresso has my backing. He's also one of the few critics that really critiques on prices also.

I am quite critical of restaurants myself, and there are far too many places in Ireland that are hailed by the populace as being great, whereas in reality they're barely one step above pigswill.

Blub2k4

The fact that carveries still exist is testament to how bad the Irish taste and judgement regarding food is.

Shabadu

Blub2k4 wrote:

The fact that carveries still exist is testament to how bad the Irish taste and judgement regarding food is.

You know, I've always thought that a really excellent carvery would be a little goldmine. Imagine- some good free range meat like pork, stuffed with boozy apricots and sage chiffonade, lemon & thyme chicken, brilliant gravies, roast garlic mash, fondant potatoes, and steamed to order veg to keep freshness.

jdivision

*I have to say that Tom Doorly, Paolo Tullio and that other tool Eamonn O'Caoithain have to be the worst restaraunt critics ever*

In response to that I agree with you about Doorley. I wouldn't trust any critic who writes stuff like this as Doorley did of Havana on South Great George's Street (selected extracts):

"Although my critical faculties were not firing on all cylinders, being more concerned with just chatting and getting fed".

"The pinchos - Basque tapas, essentially - are a bit of a blur at this stage (as I say, I hadn't intended reviewing), but I know they featured both fried chorizo deglazed with red wine and some Russian... And there were a few meatballs in tomato sauce. I seem to remember some crossover with the platter, but, again, I'm not complaining."

"It mattered not a jot that, like the meatballs, it had been reheated."

He gave the place a very positive review but can't remember half of what he ate and didn't go there intending to review it but did anyway. I'm not going to trust anybody who can't be arsed doing their job properly.

Blub2k4

Shabadu wrote:

You know, I've always thought that a really excellent carvery would be a little goldmine. Imagine- some good free range meat like pork, stuffed with boozy apricots and sage chiffonade, lemon & thyme chicken, brilliant gravies, roast garlic mash, fondant potatoes, and steamed to order veg to keep freshness.

I could imagine it all Shab, but the reality is that you have the same old tired ****e burned to a crisp under lights on most irish carveries, I'm sure they could be good with a bit of thought and ethic applied.

Shabadu

Blub2k4 wrote:

I could imagine it all Shab, but the reality is that you have the same old tired ****e burned to a crisp under lights on most irish carveries, I'm sure they could be good with a bit of thought and ethic applied.

Yeah

The worst part is that the customer doesn't even want it. They just want big & cheap meals.

CJhaughey

I agree with you that many Irish Eateries are not up to standard, but more relevantly I tend to detect a note of food snobbishness, amongst these people.
It is kind of - Oh Sundried Tomatoes are so -passe now all the really good places serve aioli made from handpicked ligurian Basil. you know that kind of thing I mean?

Shabadu

CJhaughey wrote:

I agree with you that many Irish Eateries are not up to standard, but more relevantly I tend to detect a note of food snobbishness, amongst these people.
It is kind of - Oh Sundried Tomatoes are so -passe now all the really good places serve aioli made from handpicked ligurian Basil. you know that kind of thing I mean?

Ha! Yeah you have a point there fair enough. I'm not gone on overly pretentious food, or overly pretentious gourmets. I mean, I'm not denying that I get a bit snobby about food, because I do, but I wouldn't want to eat in El Bulli every night or anything.

I would like to eat in El Bulli just once though.

The thing I like about critics is their refusal to accept poor quality and unfresh ingredients.

Unfresh? Is that even a word?

Blub2k4

I was at a wedding a while back in Durham in Northern England, they served Roast beef and some other muck, thing is the beef was so overcooked and the veg done to death I couldn't eat it.....the locals all raved about it and I thought the beef was the greatest load of crap that I have ever had on a plate, dry and pwdery and all the nutrition gone. Point is that the public know what they like, or at least what they are used to but they dont always know what is good, and yes they do need to be educated sometimes.
Snobbishness where it comes to food is something I tolerate as a foody, one reason is I have been called a food snob but at the end of the day it is quality and flavour that counts, if "ligurian basil" is the best basil taste wise then why deny that? It's obviously not something you want to beat people over the head with, but there's no problem in promoting what is good.
A few years working in the industry will raise your standards a bit....Ireland has a lot of cooks, I have never worked with a chef here, that said it is about 17 years since I worked in Ireland in the business, at least now there is some food culture in Dublin, back then they were all army trained and could only do stuff that turns up in school canteens or mess halls. Some of the Irish that worked and trained abroad have come back and things improved a lot.

CJhaughey

Hmmm, I am sitting here sipping my Kopi Luwak and ruminating on what you have just expounded:D

http://www.steelcube.com/acatalog/KO-LUWAK.html?campaign=adwords

Blub2k4

CJhaughey wrote:

Hmmm, I am sitting here sipping my Kopi Luwak and ruminating on what you have just expounded:D

http://www.steelcube.com/acatalog/KO-LUWAK.html?campaign=adwords

Whatever yanks your chain. Personally I would taste something before knocking it, Knocking something you have never tried is surely worse than expounding ( :rolleyes: ) something that you have and know to be good?

Shabadu

Fact of the matter is, Sicilian wild strawberries may be the best in the world, but you can't expect them to be present in every strawberry dish. As long as the product is good quality, tasty, fresh and preferably organic, i'm happy. Ligurian basil is just not feasible for every dish that contains basil, you know?

If you had truffle shavings on every dish you ate, you wouldn't appreciate it as much.

Blub2k4

If pretentiousness is actually your problem then I can see where you are coming from....

Blub2k4

Shabadu wrote:

Fact of the matter is, Sicilian wild strawberries may be the best in the world, but you can't expect them to be present in every strawberry dish. As long as the product is good quality, tasty, fresh and preferably organic, i'm happy. Ligurian basil is just not feasible for every dish that contains basil, you know?

If you had truffle shavings on every dish you ate, you wouldn't appreciate it as much.

I agree, if you have a critic that states, you cant have strawberries on the menu in January, well they're right, but if it's a matter of, "dont they know that Sicilian wild strawberries are simply the best and none other deserve the name" then that's a load of rubbish.

The Sweeper

I think one of my "lucky life" moments was the choice of venue for our wedding. We chose a small local inn, and the chef used our wedding to showcase his talents. We opted for a buffet and got...

Rare roast rib of beef.
Whole salmon, poached in stock and served skinned and dressed.
Langoustines, again dressed and served with what I can only describe as a fascinating seafood aspic mayonnaise.
Cold meats with home-made pickles.
Stuffed vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes)

That lot was served with three variations on mixed salads (with dressings! as opposed to plonked down like a herbaceous border on the plate), baby new potatoes with parsley butter and sea salt and basket after basket of fresh bread - olive bread, tomato bread, bread that was plaited, twisted, knotted...

All I've had ever since is people who'd previously turned their noses up at the idea of a buffet main course at their wedding declaring their astonishment and vowing they'll do it.

All I can say to them is "eh, I think we got lucky tbh".

The thing is, at weddings, there are people who will never slag the food ("this is your wedding, of course everything's perfect") and people who will always slag the food (like my brother who arrived late enough to miss the ceremony because he got lost in the car, was generally dubious about everything, but at the end announced "I've got rare roast beef and fresh bread, of course I'm happy").

What you have to remember about restaurant critics is that you'll recognise the best ones. As opposed to "wasn't good" or "didn't like", accompanied by the standard "too cold too hot too greasy too dry" analysis, you'll get a deep insight into what food should be like, from people for whom food is their life, and then a comparison between that and the meal they've just had.

One of the best I've ever read is a girl called Marina O'Loughlin who writes for the London Metro.

Some examples of her reviews are linked below - I can't comment on the Irish critics, I've not read them - but do they compare?

http://www.thisislondon.com/restaurants/articles/21807340?source=Metro
http://www.thisislondon.com/restaurants/articles/21807662?source=Metro
She's written the second review down on this page - http://www.saltyard.co.uk/06_review.htm

Otherwise go googling - I like just reading this woman write about food, whatever about recogising it as criticism.

frobisher

Are food critics a waste of space? I hope not. I want to be one!

Writing about food can be seen in many different ways. I believe the greatest thing a food writer can achieve is to inform in an entertaining way and with prose that captures the essence of the experience whether it is good, bad or indifferent.

Food is one of the greatest sources of pleasure in my life and I love good writing that reflects that passion. I'd rather read a very well written review of a terrible meal than a bland review of an amazing meal. Food writing is great!

For whatever it's worth I have a blog that I use to share my passion and enthusiasm for food and as a showcase for my food writing. It's www.TheIrishFoodie.com . Say hi!