Why will Irish restaurants not offer fruit salad?

Boulevardier

I have been struck in the past few years by how not a single Dublin restaurant I have been to, even in these calorie-conscious times, will offer fruit salad as a dessert option. In fact in the vast majority of cases I know, restaurants will only offer high-calorie desserts.

The only theory I have come up with to explain this is the idea that if a restaurant offered a low-calorie dessert, most diners would feel in some way obliged to order it, thus putting all the "naughty" desserts out of business.

Im not sure if that is really the case, but whatever the situation, should restaurants not adjust to the new reality and begin to offer fresh fruit desserts? It might even benefit their bottom lines as well as their customers' waistbands!

Passenger

I'm sure most good restaurants will make a fruit salad on request. They'd have the ingredients, it's just a case of preparing it.

Boulevardier

I have seen no menus which offer fruit salads on request, and have never heard staff verbally offering it either.

That is therefore not the answer.

SBWife

Boulevardier wrote: »

I have seen no menus which offer fruit salads on request, and have never heard staff verbally offering it either.

That is therefore not the answer.

Have you requested it? Many restaurants will respond to a polite request. Otherwise Cafe Sofia, the greasy spoon at the end of Wexford Street serves a very good fruit salad, I've had it a few times while my OH Hhas tucked into his full Irish.

Boulevardier

My real question is why it is not on the menus of most restaurants. Any answers on this point would be especially appreciated.

Thoie

I don't know, but I suspect it's because it's tedious to prepare, and fairly low margin, as the majority of people will think "€8 for a fruit salad, feck off".

orchidsrpretty

My idea of a fruit salad is something served up on a Sunday out of a tin in grannys house. I would imagine many other people would have the same memory.
When you(me) go out to eat, you at least want the idea that you are paying for something that a bit of thought went in to its preparation. And a fruit salad sounds kind of boring.

Cookie_Monster

Thoie wrote: »

I don't know, but I suspect it's because it's tedious to prepare, and fairly low margin, as the majority of people will think "€8 for a fruit salad, feck off".

That coupled with the general (or perceived) lack of demand

Osborne

It's time consuming to prepare, it has a very low margin and quite frankly very boring.

Having said that, if it was requested, we would have no problem preparing one.

adamski8

Probably for some of the reasons why they dont offer riveta for starters!

Faith

I'd rather not have a dessert than have a fruit salad. Maybe if it came with meringue and a pile of cream, I might order it.

Plus, it's very old-fashioned. It would be on menus if there was a demand for it.

Alun

Old fashioned? Maybe if you mean 1960's style tinned fruit cocktail with evaporated milk beloved (not!) of my youth ... but a freshly prepared fruit salad with a good selection of different fruits, in a nice light syrup with a hint of something alcoholic (kirsch or grand marnier say) in it can be delicious.

Faith

I remember fruit salads always being on the menu when I was young, but they're not any more, so I'd consider them old-fashioned for that reason. Same as things like prawn cocktail - they still taste nice, but they're considered old-fashioned.

pwurple

Highly perishable and expensive I'd say are the main reasons.

A fruit salad won't even last prepped from lunchtime til evening before it goes bad... Say your very basic local seasonal fruit salad, autumn. A few slices of crisp apple and a handful of blackberries. Nice? Except your apple is gone brown by the time it gets out the door of the kitchen. No fruit lasts long once cut. Rubbery melon, brown banana, mushy strawberry.

Plus, have you seen the price of decent fresh fruit?

A good selection of fruit is going to also mean a lot of waste. Where does the rest of the imported bunch of grapes / pineapples / passion fruit go? Restaurants don't buy a single fruit, they buy in bulk. You want tiny bits of each fruit.... where does the rest go?

There are maybe 3 months in the year when irish soft fruit is edible. June, july august. It's crazy money even then... 2 euro for a punnet of berries, or plums, before you spend the time washing, hulling, picking over, chopping, arranging, getting your garnish. And then it comes back to you and goes in the bin because there was a ladybird in there.

Don't get me wrong, I like fruit. But to make a decent fruit salad not be a loss-making item in a restuarant, I'd guess it would have to cost 20 euro a bowl.

I am well able to make my own at home.

If you want one though, ask. Most decent restaurants can put together something that's not on the menu.

rubadub

Boulevardier wrote: »

The only theory I have come up with to explain this is the idea that if a restaurant offered a low-calorie dessert, most diners would feel in some way obliged to order it, thus putting all the "naughty" desserts out of business.

I don't understand this. Why would they care if they sell less of the other desserts? Presumably they would price it accordingly and make the same profit per dessert sold.

If people are worried about calories they usually would order no dessert at all.

Alun

pwurple wrote: »

Highly perishable and expensive I'd say are the main reasons.

A fruit salad won't even last prepped from lunchtime til evening before it goes bad... Say your very basic local seasonal fruit salad, autumn. A few slices of crisp apple and a handful of blackberries. Nice? Except your apple is gone brown by the time it gets out the door of the kitchen. No fruit lasts long once cut. Rubbery melon, brown banana, mushy strawberry.

That's why you make a slightly acidic (from orange and lemon juice plus zest) light syrup to cover it with, no brown apples or bananas then. Plus fruit wise, you can add all kinds of fruits available all year round such as kiwi, pineapple, oranges or grapes. It'll easily last a day or two in the fridge if well covered, I've done it many times.

Here's my recipe from my ancient cookery book ...

300ml water
2 oranges
1 lemon
75-100g sugar
1kg assorted prepared fresh fruit

Put the water, with thin strips of orange and lemon rind, into a pan. Take just the top zest from the fruit, avoiding the white pith. Juice the lemon and oranges. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved, then add the orange and lemon juice. Strain over the prepared fruit and leave until cold.

Optionally add a little kirsch, Cointreau or maraschino to the syrup.

(Actually if I'm planning on spreading it over more than one day I usually make double the amount of syrup to make sure the fruit is covered properly.)

clappyhappy

pwurple wrote: »

Highly perishable and expensive I'd say are the main reasons.

A fruit salad won't even last prepped from lunchtime til evening before it goes bad... Say your very basic local seasonal fruit salad, autumn. A few slices of crisp apple and a handful of blackberries. Nice? Except your apple is gone brown by the time it gets out the door of the kitchen. No fruit lasts long once cut. Rubbery melon, brown banana, mushy strawberry.

Plus, have you seen the price of decent fresh fruit?

A good selection of fruit is going to also mean a lot of waste. Where does the rest of the imported bunch of grapes / pineapples / passion fruit go? Restaurants don't buy a single fruit, they buy in bulk. You want tiny bits of each fruit.... where does the rest go?

There are maybe 3 months in the year when irish soft fruit is edible. June, july august. It's crazy money even then... 2 euro for a punnet of berries, or plums, before you spend the time washing, hulling, picking over, chopping, arranging, getting your garnish. And then it comes back to you and goes in the bin because there was a ladybird in there.

Don't get me wrong, I like fruit. But to make a decent fruit salad not be a loss-making item in a restuarant, I'd guess it would have to cost 20 euro a bowl.

I am well able to make my own at home.

If you want one though, ask. Most decent restaurants can put together something that's not on the menu.

As a chef, I know you can buy a 5 or 10 kg bucket of fresh fruit salad all sliced and segmented from many food distributors ie Pallas foods. It's cheap enough to buy in that quantity. In it you would have sliced red and green apples, orange segments, honey dew or cantaloupe melon, pineapple, grapes. This would keep fresh refrigerated for up to 5 days. Chefs will then add berries, bananas at point of service, otherwise these would go soggy and discoloured if left in main mix.

It is usually bought in for hotels serving buffet breakfast.

But if in restaurant, a chef could make up a bowl in 2-3 mins, and wastage wouldn't be an issue, as the remaining pieces is used for garnish on other desserts.

If you want it, ask for it, as we say in the trade, if you don't ask, you don't get!!

schemingbohemia

Boulevardier wrote: »

I have seen no menus which offer fruit salads on request, and have never heard staff verbally offering it either.

That is therefore not the answer.

Could you re-read what you've posted here and ask yourself what you actually meant?

Why list all the things that could be done on request? Why would a waiter offer something without prompting when there's a menu in front of people?

If you yourself have never asked for a fruit salad why do you seem to demand that it should be on menus or listed as a potential on request item?

lookitsme

i have dined with a diabetic on many occasion who asks for fruit salad. he makes sure to tell them it can't contain sugar as often pre made salads contain sweetened syrup. the majority of places have no problem with this. if you want something different that's not to crazy or difficult just ask, the worst they can say is no. don't worry they wont spit in it

Boulevardier

There have been a lot of "why don't you just ask" answers on this thread, but these are missing the point that I intended to make (perhaps my thread title did not properly reflect this) which is: why do low calorie desserts (such as fruit salad) appear so seldom on Irish restaurant menus?

I find it hard to believe that at a time when obesity is rampant and when the government are considering (wrongly in my opinion) putting calorie labelling on all restaurant menus, Irish restaurant menus are continuing to almost exclusively have full-on desserts, and are making very little attempt to alternate these with lower-fat choices. Sorbets are probably the nearest you will get in a lot of places.

The result in my experience is that about half of restaurant customers simply do not order any dessert. Some of that is for other reasons, but dessert choice has got to be relevant.

I may be missing something, but would it not be a win-win for everybody if restaurants reconsidered the make up of their dessert menus?

Caliden

Have you perhaps tried requesting it from the waiter/waitress?

Faith

Boulevardier wrote: »

why do low calorie desserts (such as fruit salad) appear so seldom on Irish restaurant menus?

This has been answered over and over again: Because nobody wants them. If there was demand, there would be supply. Simple as.

I feel like you're not reading the replies at all.

Boulevardier

Faith, I dont believe things really work that way. I really don't.

Faith

Boulevardier wrote: »

Faith, I dont believe things really work that way. I really don't.

You don't believe in supply and demand?

huskerdu

My only experience of restaurants in Ireland is as a customer, but my uninformed opinion is that it is supply and demand.

But, The only way to find out is to ask.

Also, a lot of mid-price and value restaurants buy in desserts and most of the desserts are frozen or refredgerated and
have a shelf life of a few days. Fruit is perishable and unless you are going to sell it all, it can means a lot of waste.

happyclappy have given a good explanation of how it can be done, but unless you are going to sell it quickly, its another
perishable item to worry about in the inventory.

BTW, I have a healthy diet and eat loads of fruit. I regularly eat fruit salad as a breakfast or a mid-morning snack but i have no interest in it a dessert in a restaurant.

Its too easy to make at home. If i want a dessert in a restaurant, I want something that is a treat, or I cant make at home.

lookitsme

menus change like fashion, i remember you had a choice of a glass of orange juice as a starter melon was also there, these are no longer fashionable. you can easily get fruit in the shop on the way home you don't need to get a chef to do it for you. in relation to the low fat choice, when i go to a restaurant i go as a treat so i want to be treated this includes calorie rich foods, creamy sauces and fattening desserts. the average person doesn't have a dessert after there meal at home so lets treat ourselves when in a restaurant.

mmmm sticky toffee pudding and ice cream

MissFlitworth

I don't see where restaurant dessert really factors in to the growth in obesity rates at all, eating out in restaurants is (for most people) a once a week thing if even that. Even if you were to have 1 extremely high calorie restaurant dessert a week it's the rest of your diet that factors in to your weight and restaurants having a choice of fruit salad for dessert isn't really going to help out there.

On the other side, I am a notorious healthy eater, I'm the person in my office that people look over their should and go 'are you eating broccolli for lunch again? really?'. I rarely order dessert (combination of health kick and many restaurants just not doing them well) and if there was a fruit salad option on the menu I wouldn't order it. It wouldn't feel like a treat & I don't feel the need to order 3 courses just for the sake of it. I also would go for a low sugar option sooner than a low fat option. Or a bite size/petit fours sized serving of a dessert. So it could be a case that different people have different perceptions of what a 'healthy' dessert is and when it comes right down to it people who are on a healthy eating kick probably aren't going to order dessert anyways.

Also, if you're concerned about the calorie/fat content of your meal there's probably a lot more to worry you in the starter & main course options. I'm always slightly puzzled by people (and this is in my family, not you OP) who think that as long as they don't order a dessert/eat sweets etc. then they're following a healthy diet and that's all they need to worry about

the beer revolu

My issue with restaurants is that most only seem to cater for the idea of a high calorie treat. I regularly eat in restaurants when away working and often struggle to find things that aren't deep fried,smothered in cream or butter or some badly made sauce. Sometimes, when at home and don't feel like cooking, we eat out and have the same problem ordering, simple well cooked food.
I rarely order dessert but probably would if smaller sized (and priced) ones were on offer. I probably wouldn't order a fruit salad for dessert but I do find the fact that most hotels now offer fresh fruit salad as part of the breakfast buffet is a really great thing.

BTW, Banana should never go in a fresh fruit salad!:eek:

lookitsme

what's wrong with banana? i would put out wanted posters if there was no banana in my "fresh" fruit salad

if your talking about the one made in advance i would agree.

Alun

Well, I'm the opposite ... I'd very rarely eat dessert anywhere, never at home, and hardly ever when I'm out. I'd usually always order a starter, and would only order a dessert if I still felt hungry at the end of the meal (not very common) or there was something light and cleansing on offer like a fruit sorbet or (tada!) a fruit salad I don't really have a sweet tooth, so all these uber-rich deserts covered in cream don't appeal to me at all.

BTW bananas are the work of the devil

lookitsme

i agree with you on ordering desserts in a restaurant, if they offered a starter at the end of a meal i would be happier. i sometimes order the cheese plate but its usually the same few cheeses wherever you go.

as for the banana being the work of the devil. if you don't think bananas are the greatest ever, i will fight you and that's no lie