What ingredient would you ban from Restaurants??

antoniosicily

chicken

WindSock

MSG. It makes me all phlegmy for some reason

LivingDeadGirl

Chips, because they come with everything, and link into my most frequent problem when I eat out, terrible salads. If I ask for salad instead of chips I typically get, a small bundle of leaves with 2 halved cherry tomatoes and 3 rings of red onion, no dressing, absolutely pitiful to behold. Latest offender: Captain America's. Never going back.

Oh and why not serve things with more vegetables? I'd much rather eat something served with a fresh portion of roasted/steamed vegetables than chips, far less stodgey, leaving me with more room for one of their expensive desserts!

Toto Wolfcastle

LivingDeadGirl wrote: »

Chips, because they come with everything, and link into my most frequent problem when I eat out, terrible salads. If I ask for salad instead of chips I typically get, a small bundle of leaves with 2 halved cherry tomatoes and 3 rings of red onion, no dressing, absolutely pitiful to behold. Latest offender: Captain America's. Never going back.

Oh and why not serve things with more vegetables? I'd much rather eat something served with a fresh portion of roasted/steamed vegetables than chips, far less stodgey, leaving me with more room for one of their expensive desserts!

I'd love if more place served vegetables. In fact, if I sometimes choose a dish just because it comes with vegetables even if I'd prefer something else. I'm not a huge fan of chips and I hate salad so vegetables would be good!

fourmations

foie gras

Mr Magnolia

fourmations wrote: »

foie gras

Eeek!! :-(

xzanti

Chili jam

taztastic

Gordon Ramsey.

Can you get chronic fatigue syndrome from sheer over-exposure?
And not even exposure in the fun sense

ClassicDisaster

1. Goats cheese: personally, i like it, but realy, it is possibly the most over used ingredient in irish restaurants today

2. dublin bay prawns: my fave food, but please ban in any restaurant i work in, they are on our menu now and mygod, i leave work with bloody fingers evryday after pealing those little ba$dard$! :P

babaduck

Side dishes of truly appalling veg - batons of woody carrots & flyblown overboiled to ****e broccoli - I would NEVER serve up that crap in my own kitchen, so who would I want to hand over my hard-earned to eat it (I could just go to my MIL's & sample it for free )

Also hate undressed salads, peppers, steel soup bowls a la hospital and disgusting "steakhouse fries" - give me a plate of lovely crispy frites any time and save the big chips for the chipper

gucci

Sweet Chili Sauce/Chili Jam.

Obviously there are some warehouses full of it supplying restaurants and delis all around Ireland, because its next impossible to get a fricking sandwich or a meal involving chicken that theres not a dose of this bile dumped all over it or garnishing it!
Don't really understand the concept of it being chili sauce, its so sweet and obviously riddled with E numbers that there is no sensation of chili at all from it imo

Amanda

White Rice White Pasta White Bread

All full of additives and bleach and bad for ya! Ah No I wouldn't bannn them but, I would certainly add wholegrain pasta and wholemeal or rye breads as an alternative and wholemeal tortillas in mexican places too. It's a pain in the a*se with the slim pickings you're left with in some places to have sides if there isn't a wholemeal alternative. And a big plus one to the people who mentioned the veggie's thing, definitely be good to have more on the menu. Bok Choi all the way!

Minder

Amanda wrote: »

White Rice White Pasta White Bread

All full of additives and bleach and bad for ya!

What additives are in white rice? White rice is just rice which has had its husk, bran, and germ removed. It prevents spoilage and extends the storage life. After milling, the rice is polished, resulting in a white, shiny appearance.

Granted bran is good for the diet being rich in fiber, omegas, starch, protein, vitamins, and dietary minerals. But wholemeal flours are not additive free. Alpha-Amylases, and Proteinases are permitted in wholemeal flour intended for breadmaking. Alpha-Amylase is used to improve bread volume and can be derived from pig pancreas. Proteinase is a bread improver and bread improvers have been linked to ADS in children.

Anyone old enough to remember will recall that Ma used to squeeze the loaves of bread on the shelf before choosing one. This was a test of the freshness of the loaf. Now there is no need - commerically produced loaves will stay soft for days because of the additives. In fact, it will probably go moldy before it goes hard.

White flour for the production of pasta has little of the additives that go into flour for bread making.

By all means have more wholemeal, but don't be under any illusion that it is as simple as white = bad, wholemeal = good. I'd ban all commercially mass produced bread and opt for genuine artisanally produced bread made to traditional methods that are thousands of years old.

Rant over:eek:

oblivious

Minder wrote: »

By all means have more wholemeal, but don't be under any illusion that it is as simple as white = bad, wholemeal = good. I'd ban all commercially mass produced bread and opt for genuine artisanally produced bread made to traditional methods that are thousands of years old.

True for ya

Amanda

Minder wrote: »

What additives are in white rice? White rice is just rice which has had its husk, bran, and germ removed. It prevents spoilage and extends the storage life. After milling, the rice is polished, resulting in a white, shiny appearance.

Granted bran is good for the diet being rich in fiber, omegas, starch, protein, vitamins, and dietary minerals. But wholemeal flours are not additive free. Alpha-Amylases, and Proteinases are permitted in wholemeal flour intended for breadmaking. Alpha-Amylase is used to improve bread volume and can be derived from pig pancreas. Proteinase is a bread improver and bread improvers have been linked to ADS in children.

Anyone old enough to remember will recall that Ma used to squeeze the loaves of bread on the shelf before choosing one. This was a test of the freshness of the loaf. Now there is no need - commerically produced loaves will stay soft for days because of the additives. In fact, it will probably go moldy before it goes hard.

White flour for the production of pasta has little of the additives that go into flour for bread making.

By all means have more wholemeal, but don't be under any illusion that it is as simple as white = bad, wholemeal = good. I'd ban all commercially mass produced bread and opt for genuine artisanally produced bread made to traditional methods that are thousands of years old.

Rant over:eek:

Ok so you're saying what I meant really, but better. My sentence was over generalised but I was hoping most people would get the general gist of what I was saying without having to split the atom. White bread and rice never make me feel good when I eat them and my stomach is always ten times more bloated than when I eat brown, less refined breads. Your points are quite valid though so yep, good rant I guess.

anonimouse

Not so much an ingredient but a foodie fashion fad... foam. If I wanted spit on my plate I wouldn't be paying twenty-five-feffing-quid for the meal, would I?

rockbeer

anonimouse wrote: »

Not so much an ingredient but a foodie fashion fad... foam.

+1

dee8839

Button mushrooms - I've just managed to get over my aversion to regular mushrooms, those things remind me of eyeballs! Sorry!!

Pathetic side dishes of veg. Its the part of my meal I look forward to most at home, so why is it so underwhelming in a place where I'm paying through the nose for my food??

Thumpette

Any kind of mushroom- yik! And they are hidden in so many seemingly mushroom free dishes. Also I hate when waiters say to me that they are cut up really small and I wont even notice them- does not help the situation to know the slimey little feckers will be going undercover- just wrong wrong wront. At least if your gonna have mushrooms make sure they are well labeled!

dee8839

Thumpette wrote: »

Any kind of mushroom- yik! And they are hidden in so many seemingly mushroom free dishes. Also I hate when waiters say to me that they are cut up really small and I wont even notice them- does not help the situation to know the slimey little feckers will be going undercover- just wrong wrong wront. At least if your gonna have mushrooms make sure they are well labeled!

+1

Yup, amen to that! I tried my best to accept them, but I just can't do it! The taste is bad enough, but the slime is something else!! I mean, thing about it, they're a type of fungus. So is athletes foot. You would't let that near your food now would you??! Ugh!!

Another pet peeve of mine, applies more to the veggie counter of the canteen at work than to restaraunts but still - vegetable stirfry. People please, use some tiny bit of imagination!!!

olaola

Deep fried sausaged in an Irish breakfast.

WTF

They are VILE, they started doing them for breakfast rolls, now it has crept into all manners of places. I was served one in Donnybrook Fair on Sat.

Either pan fry or grill them FFS!

dee8839

olaola wrote: »

Deep fried sausaged in an Irish breakfast.

I don't know if I've ever had one or not but yes, sounds gross! Slightly changing topic, but have you ever had a battered sausage? I've heard so much talk about them but never been brave enough to try!! Sounds like a heartattack in a single bite!!

olaola

dee8839 wrote: »

I don't know if I've ever had one or not but yes, sounds gross! Slightly changing topic, but have you ever had a battered sausage? I've heard so much talk about them but never been brave enough to try!! Sounds like a heartattack in a single bite!!

Love them. They must be soaked in vinegar and salt IMO.
Hahm. The sausage has a similar texture to a deep fried one, but they split them so they get kinda crunchy on the open side. And the batter is savage.

Then again - I made a Spanish lad get one, he thought it was the most vile creation ever.

dee8839

And whats the deal with deep-fried battered Mars bars? They sound illegal there must be so much crap in them!!

And because I'm imagining deep fried Mars bars, the idea of vinegar and salt you mentioned is grossing me out............

An ingredient I love in restaraunts (ok,ok, chippers to be specific) but which is never used correctly is salt and vinegar on chips. In a brown paper bag. Its never done in such a way that the vinegar gets at the chips towards the bottom of the bag.

Should I go in search of a thread about chippers instead of using this one actually?!! :rolleyes:

Toto Wolfcastle

dee8839 wrote: »

And whats the deal with deep-fried battered Mars bars? They sound illegal there must be so much crap in them!!

Deep fried mars bar from Kettle of Fish in Galway:

watna

I'd ban the use of tomatoes as a garnish. I have a serious aversion/phobia to tomatoes and hate how you're given them without them being mentioned on the menu. My OH just takes them off for me when the food arrives but sometimes the seeds get left on the food and then I can't eat it without gagging. If you're going to serve something on the plate tell me so I can tell you I'm allergic to them (that's what I tell people so they remember to not give me them, the amount of times I've asked for no tomato and then have it all over my food is unreal!)

I also hate sandwich places/delis that include tomato on your sandwiches without telling you or advertising it on the menu. Pig and heifer I'm looking at you!

dee8839

janeybabe wrote: »

Deep fried mars bar from Kettle of Fish in Galway:

Oh that's hilarious, I had Kettle of Fish in Gort in mind when I thought of the battered sausage!!

Wow that pic looked appetising!

As for tomatoes, I think the jury is out on that one. They're colourful at least. Why do so many people hate tomatoes??

watna

dee8839 wrote: »

Oh that's hilarious, I had Kettle of Fish in Gort in mind when I thought of the battered sausage!!

Wow that pic looked appetising!

As for tomatoes, I think the jury is out on that one. They're colourful at least. Why do so many people hate tomatoes??

because they are evil.

The Hill Billy

watna wrote: »

I'd ban the use of tomatoes as a garnish.

I'd ban garnishes - full stop. Useless vegetable matter that adds no value to a meal IMO.

P. Breathnach

watna wrote: »

because they are evil.

Hardly an unbiased opinion!

A number of people I know who share this prejudice are quite happy to eat dishes where tomato is cooked into them, including tomato soup.

I have a similar feeling about peppers. I don't eat them raw (although they don't revolt me; I just don't like them) but I love them cooked, especially roasted.