Carvery food

Arthur Beesley

Wolf Club wrote: »

It's a bit outside of town but the Autobahn in Glasnevin do a fairly decent carvery. In general, I'd say it can be good but in most cases not!

Sounds too German for my liking.

whomitconcerns

not mad about carvery...but the best one I have ever had.....and yes this is going to be debated...is in....



Copper face Jacks


No joke. Go there at lunchtime and queue...its the best ever seriously. Place is packed...then it empties out at 3pm till 10pm for the disco...

RoboRat

Spend half the day doing the eejit in the kitchen, looking for ingredients, swearing because some of them are missing, pre-heating the oven, boiling pots, and finally, exhausted and on the point of starvation, sit down to a plate of stuff after more than two hours messing.

Seriously, cooking a roast is not hard, 30 mins prep maximum for 5 people. Getting the meat right is actually quite easy, weigh it and there are a multitude of sites that will tell you how long to cook to get it to your liking. Veg? peel and steam or boil, whatever is your preference. Cost would be around €15 - €20 for a chicken/ cut of meat & veg to feed 4-6 people. Carvery would cost around €60 for 5 people.

jimgoose

RoboRat wrote: »

Seriously, cooking a roast is not hard, 30 mins prep maximum for 5 people. Getting the meat right is actually quite easy, weigh it and there are a multitude of sites that will tell you how long to cook to get it to your liking. Veg? peel and steam or boil, whatever is your preference. Cost would be around €15 - €20 for a chicken/ cut of meat & veg to feed 4-6 people. Carvery would cost around €60 for 5 people.

Cooking a roast is extremely quick and efficient for five or six people, to be sure. Not so much for two hungry, lazy people on a sunny Sunday!

RoboRat

Not so much for two hungry, lazy people on a sunny Sunday!

Can't. Quite. Compute......

chopper6

The Coachman's on the airport road do an amazing carvery...beef rib carved off the bone..it's incredible.

Extra points to them when a woman asked what the vegetarian option was...the chef said "leave through that door or that door"!


Thats the talk!

jimgoose

chopper6 wrote: »

The Coachman's on the airport road do an amazing carvery...beef rib carved off the bone..it's incredible.

Extra points to them when a woman asked what the vegetarian option was...the chef said "leave through that door or that door"!


Thats the talk!

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

SEPT 23 1989

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I love a good carvery. The key there being good, most are awful.

Haven't really been able to find a good one since moving to Dublin. When I was working by the grand canal theatre I used to go to the Maldron the odd time on lunch and that was quite good, but it's way too far out of the way now days. O'Neils seems to have a good name here so I might give that a go next time I'm in the city at the weekend.

The Din Ri in Carlow used to be my go to spot if I was after that sort of thing, delicious

It's not fine dining by any standard but it's tasty and cheap.

Take yourself out to the Spa Hotel in Lucan of a Sunday

standard is excellent

Tiddlypeeps

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Take yourself out to the Spa Hotel in Lucan of a Sunday

standard is excellent

That's pretty close to home so might give that a go next time. Cheers

awec

This thread also highlights why restaurant reviews by people here are not to be trusted in a lot of cases.

People will score a restaurant higher depending on how big the bowl of chips is that comes with it, so bland restaurants where you get big portions get rated higher than they deserve.

Davarus Walrus

A carvery serves a purpose the odd time. It's a big plate of food covered in salty gravy to take the edge off you after a night hoovering back a dozen pints of stout. It costs fuck all and fills a hole.

It's also handy as a stomach liner if thinking about going back on Uncle Arthur's Magic Medicine for the day.

It isn't Chapter One food I want or am looking for if that is the case.

The same head-the-balls looking down on a carvery are the ones standing outside a chipper at 4 in the morning with kebab sauce all down their shirt and with a piss patch visible on their jeans.

131spanner

awec wrote: »

A big turkey dinner would not appeal to me at all during the summer. Maybe I'm alone but when it's warm I eat a lot of salads and other "cooler" foods and leave the roast dinners / stews for the colder times of year!

We were half way through making the drive from West Clare to Belfast, I would've eaten a skinny young lad when I was sitting down for that meal

--Kaiser--

If you'd rather eat at Mcdonalds than a carvery then you've had some baaaaaad carvery food. There's one near me that's fantastic, and they throw plenty of food at you (and I'm a contender for Man vs Food at times)

Karen23

The Ardmore Hotel in Finglas do a great carvery deal , 2 adults and 2 kids for €20.

Kiwi in IE

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Reason for cavery's being so populor is cost. In general a family (2A&2K) can go out on Sunday and have dinner for less than 40 euro. In most country's you have a similar type of low cost meals. In a good carvery you will have a selection of Fish, chicken and vegitarian dishes as well. People cannot afford to go to a resturant every week and a family cannot afford to fork out 100 euro every week.

I really don't get this line of thinking. Each to their own, but I would rather go out less and eat better, than go and get cheap crap every single week. The choice of a nice meal out once a month or disgusting carvery every week is no contest at all for me. I guess carvery fans really are quantity over quality.

A roast is really not that difficult, expensive or time consuming to cook at home, and is far cheaper and nicer than crappy, dry, tasteless carvery.

SEPT 23 1989

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

I really don't get this line of thinking. Each to their own, but I would rather go out less and eat better, than go and get cheap crap every single week. The choice of a nice meal out once a month or disgusting carvery every week is no contest at all for me. I guess carvery fans really are quantity over quality.

A roast is really not that difficult, expensive or time consuming to cook at home, and is far cheaper and nicer than crappy, dry, tasteless carvery.

where are you eating your caverys son?

most people are not eating them every week its a nice treat for some of us

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

blinkey 101

i'm afraid I would have to disagree with you i'm sure if a lot of people got a large bowl of chips and it tasted like an old mans leg I don't think they would be in a hurry to leave great feed back.

if I get a large plate/bowl of any type of food its a bonus, but it still depends on the taste and presentation .

PS hell of a lot of snobbery on here , I hade a carvery during the week and it was to finger you're self for !

let me tell you I worked in a number of restaurants of the years and if you think you are getting the best in what you pay for lol think again

I could tell you some horror stories about the "top restaurants" .

just to quote you there you said "but I would rather go out less and eat better, than go and get cheap crap every single week" trust me id rather take my chances with a carvery than most of the over priced pretentious restaurants around town

c_man

it's awful seeing people leave their seats after main meal and having to queue again for their dessert.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Femme_Fatale

c_man wrote: »

it's awful seeing people leave their seats after main meal and having to queue again for their dessert.

Um, yeh... "awful"...

chopper6

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Um, yeh... "awful"...

You should see the enormous sacks of blubber in Jimmy chungs buffet...after gorging themselves to bursting on numerous main courses(and chips) they then head in waves to the Ice Cream machine...heaping up the bowls so they wont have to make two journeys..and then making two journeys.

blinkey 101

c_man wrote: »

it's awful seeing people leave their seats after main meal and having to queue again for their dessert.

How would you know ? Btw are you sure your not talking about a Chinese buffet or mount joy prison ?

Queuing for dessert ?

blinkey 101

chopper6 wrote: »

You should see the enormous sacks of blubber in Jimmy chungs buffet...after gorging themselves to bursting on numerous main courses(and chips) they then head in waves to the Ice Cream machine...heaping up the bowls so they wont have to make two journeys..and then making two journeys.

Yes that's the general idea of a Chinese buffet people pay with their own money they can eat as much as they like what the hell ! I say old boy hell of a lot of common riff raff round here !

c_man

blinkey 101 wrote: »

How would you know ?

Hey I'm no stranger to them. You cannot get the auld pair out for lunch to anything but. I'm not a snob either, I've been known to have the odd one.

Davarus Walrus

chopper6 wrote: »

You should see the enormous sacks of blubber in Jimmy chungs buffet...after gorging themselves to bursting on numerous main courses(and chips) they then head in waves to the Ice Cream machine...heaping up the bowls so they wont have to make two journeys..and then making two journeys.

The All-You-Can-Eat buffet is a far more nefarious prospect than the carvery. Swollen-headed couples arriving in for a cheap night out thinking they'll get true value for money by gorging themselves at the serving area. Heaping plates up high with rice, MSG, gristle, sugar and bits of cheap meat. Within 5 minutes they are bloated and lethargic. Looking at each other through a self-induced sugar coma.

It's a great business idea. Better than the carvery. People want the concept of value - and big piles of slop.

chopper6

Davarus Walrus wrote: »

The All-You-Can-Eat buffet is a far more nefarious prospect than the carvery. Swollen-headed couples arriving in for a cheap night out thinking they'll get true value for money by gorging themselves at the serving area. Heaping plates up high with rice, MSG, gristle, sugar and bits of cheap meat. Within 5 minutes they are bloated and lethargic. Looking at each other through a self-induced sugar coma.

It's a great business idea. Better than the carvery. People want the concept of value - and big piles of slop.

There's an odd sort of dynamic in places like that.

You tend to see distinct sorts of people,hen nights,polish bodybuilders and thier birds plus an inordinate amount of skinny,emaciated blokes leading enormous,bloated warthogs,usually poured into leggings like ten pounds of shiit in a five pound bag.

The blokes sit there,thier spectacles gleaming while the hippopotami endlessly visit the hotplate,sagging and wheezing with each step...unnatural if you ask me.

Senna

I think the majority of people here have never actually been to a good carvery, a good carvery consists of SIRLOIN beef cut from the strip in front of you, Turkey crown, leg of lamb and maybe one or two "specials". If it's portions under a heat lamp, I would turn and walk away.

By the way, I hate carvery, can't stand the whole concept, but people seem to like it so who am I to judge.

Tin Foil Hat

You gotta love Ireland, in fairness. A place where your considered a snob if:-
a) You go out for lunch a prefer a waiter/waitress to take you order and bring your food
b) Don't consider dissolved brown pellets to be actual coffee
c) Like to spend a few extra quid on wine that won't double as paint stripper
d) Like a decent beer instead of the fizzy, yellow, mass-produced piss that comes out of the only 6 or 7 taps you'll see in most pubs in the country
e) Hope for a bit more from a Sunday lunch than a salty cure for the 8 or 10 pints of that fizzy piss consumed the night before, or as lining for the 6 or 7 pints of the same piss that will surely follow.

Seriously, is there any other country in the world where you'll be told ,"It's far from [insert tasty foodstuff here] you were reared."
Fukk that sh!t. I'm far from a snob. I like a decent burger, curry, lasagna as much as the next person, but I have some standards. One of those standards is that I expect a better standard of food and service when I go out for lunch than I would get from a work canteen. If all I want from my lunch out is that I'll dodge the pots and pans then I' rather go to a take away. It's cheaper, I'll get a better choice, and I know I'll get a seat at my kitchen table.

paulfosters

really don't know why the op has a problem with carvery food,granted there are some pretty awful ones but a good carvery is a decent meal at good value. i travel the country a lot and like many others know the good ones ( the bad ones are no longer in operation ) also the choice offered is great and most will give you the quantity you want. don't:) ever have desert but its normally brought to the table .. great value ! often wondered why the same value cant be offered on a night out ?

Davarus Walrus

chopper6 wrote: »

There's an odd sort of dynamic in places like that.

You tend to see distinct sorts of people,hen nights,polish bodybuilders and thier birds plus an inordinate amount of skinny,emaciated blokes leading enormous,bloated warthogs,usually poured into leggings like ten pounds of shiit in a five pound bag.

The blokes sit there,thier spectacles gleaming while the hippopotami endlessly visit the hotplate,sagging and wheezing with each step...unnatural if you ask me.

It's the same with the average Chinese takeaway. People proclaiming that their local one has great food and is far better than the kip further down the road. The same van arrives in with the same pre-packed meat, vegetables and sauces every couple of days. A well-oiled operation. And the Chinese lad that sticks his head out through the hatch cooks your food with utter contempt, hoping to hell that he can make enough money so he can head back to China and have enough to be comfortable.

Tin Foil Hat

paulfosters wrote: »

really don't know why the op has a problem with carvery food,

Let me put it this way. I've eaten out a lot over the last 20 years or so. Many, many places that serve carvery on a Sunday will have a proper menu the other six days of the week. I have never, ever come across a place where the Sunday carvery is better than their weekday menu. The carvery is never cheaper either. And the service, if you could even call it that, is always awful. If a place is busy, then you either have to go to the counter in turns while someone holds a table, or else walk around with a faux wooden tray hoping not to end up sitting in a line along a narrow ledge facing a wall. If a place is quiet, then the food is probably dried to sh1te.

LoganRice

Before Ireland had many restaurants, every tom dick and harry would pile into the hotels and bars which would have carveries. I like carveries they're excellent and there is always something good to eat

Yum

Voodoomelon

Hopefully one of the big hotels spots this thread and offers a discount for Boards.ie members.

Sir Arthur Daley

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Hopefully one of the big hotels spots this thread and offers a discount for Boards.ie members.

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud is rumoured to start two michelin star carvery.

Tin Foil Hat

WikiHow wrote: »

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud is rumoured to start two michelin star carvery.

I might be wrong on this, but I would guess that a michelin star carvery is a contradiction in terms. An oxymoron, if you please.

Sir Arthur Daley

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

I might be wrong on this, but I would guess that a michelin star carvery is a contradiction in terms. An oxymoron, if you please.

Are you saying a michelin star carvery is not possible?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Sir Arthur Daley

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

At Rally GB last year i saw The Michelin people eating out of a tent after the morning tyre change.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Tin Foil Hat

WikiHow wrote: »

Are you saying a michelin star carvery is not possible?

I think so. Michelin stars are not just about the food. The service is also taken into account. As is the cutlery and crockery. I can't imagine a michelin star establishment where you have to go to a hatch to collect your food and carry it back to your table on a tray. A michelin star carvery would have to be so far removed from what we have been discussing as to render the concept of either michelin stars or carvery to be completely redundant.
It'd be like discussing a 1 liter supercar.

Sir Arthur Daley

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

It'd be like discussing a 1 liter supercar.

That is not too far in the distant future

Tin Foil Hat

WikiHow wrote: »

That is not too far in the distant future

Speaking of oxymorons

Farmer Pudsey

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It is really quite simple, it just happens that labour cost money. It is not just the service it is also the room to serve same. Years ago I worked in a hotel it used to takes 3 people to serve 30 people at a dinner dance

Sir Arthur Daley

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

Speaking of oxymorons

i.e in the next year or two.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Eutow

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

This. The biggest problem is the fact that the carvery takes over. You can't order something else of the regular menu. Let people have the carvery if they want, but let others have the choice to eat something off the regular menu.

I just don't get the extreme popularity of them. All of us probably have potato's with meat and veg at least twice during the week, and carvery lovers seem to like having the same thing again on the Sunday. The last thing I want is something similar to what I had during the week, I want something different, something I would not normally make at home.

It is the same thing with beer, people just drinking the same bland lager or bland stout all the time, rather than trying something different.

Sir Arthur Daley

Eutow wrote: »

This. The biggest problem is the fact that the carvery takes over. You can't order something else of the regular menu. Let people have the carvery if they want, but let others have the choice to eat something off the regular menu.

If you dont want carvery dont go to a pub go to a restaurant, very simple solution, and if you are feeling flush go to a michelin star one.

osarusan

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

I think so. Michelin stars are not just about the food. The service is also taken into account. As is the cutlery and crockery. I can't imagine a michelin star establishment where you have to go to a hatch to collect your food and carry it back to your table on a tray. A michelin star carvery would have to be so far removed from what we have been discussing as to render the concept of either michelin stars or carvery to be completely redundant.
It'd be like discussing a 1 liter supercar.

Not quite. There are a small number of simple noodle shops in Asia that have been awarded Michelin stars in recent years*. The awarding body evaluated the food in terms of what it is trying to be, not in terms of what the very best cuisine is. These noodle shops wouldn't even have cutlery apart from chopsticks.

Perhaps michelin stars could be awarded to carvery in terms of what constitutes superb carvery, rather than superb cuisine. I don't know, but michelin stars are not always offered on the basis of a never-changing list of criteria.

I don't understand how anybody can start a michelin star carvery though, as michelin stars are at the discretion of the awarding body.

*in some cases, the noodle shops don't want them, as it leads to a huge number of one-off visitors, resulting in queues that may drive regular customers elsewhere.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/11/30/1259429326061.html

A HOLE-IN-THE-WALL canteen in Hong Kong that offers dishes for less than $1.50 has become the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant.

Tim Ho Wan, which means Add Good Luck, can seat only 20 people in its steamy dining room where battered bamboo baskets of dim sum sell for as little as $1.42.

Compared with other Michelin-ranked restaurants where a meal can cost more than $400, Tim Ho Wan is excellent value.

Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret said it was the "most affordable starred restaurant in the world".

http://gm.gnavi.co.jp/shop/0120140104/ - Tempura lunch for about 8-15 quid.

BetterThanThou

Wouldn't choose a carvery myself, I like more adventurous food. But I will say, any carvery I've ever been to was quite delicious for what it was, just not what I'd choose to spend my money on, and the food you get in a carvery is usually a fair bit cheaper than a typical restaurant, with the added benefit that the food doesn't take half an hour to get to you. Though it does have a bit of a stale taste to it, but it's a roast dinner, pour a bit of gravy over it and it doesn't matter.