We have lost the run of ourselves...

B

BOXtheFOX

Registered User
Messages
856
Just reading the Irish Independepent Fine Wine and Food Guide supplement.
One restaurant that was visited by a critic in Malahide was given a 4 star value for money rating for an 8 course Tasting Menu that cost €130 per head.
Another critic visited the Macreddin village hotel and gave a 4 star value rating for his meal where his two year old child was charged €20 for a child lunch that consisted of mashed potatoes and chicken with gravy and a bowl of ice cream.
I have just returned from France where I had some really excellent Menu of the Day, three course meals for €12 per person. Splash out on the €14 menu and you got an even bigger choice sometimes with a pitcher of the local wine thrown in.
With Ryanair flights at 1c........
 
Obviously I'm not a food expert - but I'm no fool in this regard either.

I really think a lot of what you mention is a symptom of the more unsavoury side of the 'celtic tiger'. If something is expensive therefore it is desirable and must be of high quality. This extends to clothes, appliances, vehicles and even food.

I have eaten in very expensive restaurants before - sometimes they have been very good but often average and sometimes poor. Critics are one thing but a lot of people who eat in these places clearly haven't got a clue about good food - every single morsel tastes "absolutely gorgeous".

They think that people expect to hear this and they are too afraid/ignorant to say anything different.

Yes, a lot of places are overpriced but the fools who patronise these establishments, regardless of their quality, annoy me even more.

(Not necessarily directed at the above mentioned by the way!)
 
I always assume that the reasons for higher prices here is partly down to the higher cost of labour, and over heads generally.
 
Trafford said:
I always assume that the reasons for higher prices here is partly down to the higher cost of labour, and over heads generally.
Click to expand...

If that was the case all restaurants would be expensive but you can still get good quality, low cost meals - only yesterday we had:

3 people: 3 course meal (large portions, good food) + tea/coffee + 1 round of drinks for the princely sum of €80.

Personally, I've spent twice that or more and had lower quality food and below average service.
 
As a rule restaurants don't make money selling food, they make it on the drink. Also consider that in a Michelin star eatery there will be huge waste. An eight course meal with expensive ingredients like Quail, monkfish or scallops (for example) could easily cost €30 or €40 before fixed costs and labour are calculated.
When deciding if €130 is good or bad value for a tasting menu you have to consider how educated the palette of the person eating the meal is. The same can be said of fine wine. Giving me a glass of 1978 Mouton Rothschild would be a complete waste as I wouldn't appreciate it's nuances but there are those who would. The same is the case with food.
If you can't afford it then don't buy it but to say that you can get fed in restaurant A for €25 per person so therefore restaurant B is bad value because it charges €125 per person is like saying that a 5 series BMW is bad value because a Nissan Micra is cheaper.
 
I had the "pleasure" of dining in one of our most expensive restaurants a couple of weeks ago. I was most disappointed with the quality of the food, which was served luke warm.

As Caveat says, I also got the distinct impression from people there that "this is expensive, so its the best" but they had not really got a clue about food in general.

I dont mind paying for what I get, but there comes a point where you have to say theres no dinner worth that!!!
 
If you don't think it's worth it then don't go back. If it's busy then other people do.
I don't eat in top restaurants very often (maybe three or four times a year), and haven't been in very many, but I've never got a bad meal in Patrick Guilbaud's. I can't afford to buy the best wines there, and wouldn't even if I could as I wouldn't appreciate them, but that doesn't mean they are bad value; it just means that I can't afford them.
Thorntons is also very expensive, Chapter One is considered to be cheap (one star, Thorntons has two) but are they good value? Try booking a table there.

If people are eating there because they think that "this is expensive, so its the best" then they are fools, just as someone who isn't into cars but buys a Porsche to be seen in is a fool. That doesn't make Porsche bad value.

Expensive restaurants that don't offer consistently good quality don't last long. The Commons on St.Stephens Green closed the year after it received it's Michelin star. Another place that I considered vastly over-priced for it's mediocre offering was Cooks Cafe. It closed as well.

By the way, if you think Dublin is expensive try eating off the top of the menu in London. It's at least twice the price.
 
Purple said:
to say that you can get fed in restaurant A for €25 per person so therefore restaurant B is bad value because it charges €125 per person is like saying that a 5 series BMW is bad value because a Nissan Micra is cheaper.
Click to expand...

I don't mean simply 'getting fed'.

What I'm referring to is the common scenario where the food and service in restaurant B is poor and it's expensive - therefore it's bad value in comparison to the good food/service provided by restaurant A at a lower cost.

Your example is only a relevant comparison if e.g. BMWs were very uncomfortable, very unreliable and did not achieve their stated performance. Then they would indeed be bad value
 

I agree.
It's just the "Oh, €180 for your dinner, you're being ripped off" lot that get to me. €180 might to great value in one place, just as €15 in another place might be excessive.
 
Box,
The menu prices you quoted are hardly likely to be achieved at a top restaurant in Paris, therefore the comparison is fatally flawed.
I think your point though, maybe, is that so many people here are willing to pay such high amounts in restaurants?
Hey, there's been a boom. Lots of those damned working class types have come into money & are spending it. Their choice. You'll get very short shrift on here complaining about how people spend their money.
 
Reminds me of Pulp Fiction "I just want to see what a $5 shake tastes like".
Hard to believe that people will pay 120e for a dinner all the same....
 
I always felt satisfied and well fed after my "Menu du Jour". The €3 charge for a pitcher of the delicious local wine also went down well and no headaches like I sometimes get from the more expensive bottled stuff here.
I still think that charging €20 for a plate of mashed potato and chicken for a 2 year old, even if it was organic is over the top.
I agree with Caveat when he says that there are some people who think that expensive is best. A colleague of mine and his wife are flying in to Nice with Aer Lingus and paying over €200 for the privilege. Around the same time I am also doing the trip with Ryanair for just over €40. He could have gone with Ryanair but didn't. Why?
 
Around the same time I am also doing the trip with Ryanair for just over €40. He could have gone with Ryanair but didn't. Why?
Click to expand...

Probably for the reliability factor. Ryanair has so many scare stories of planes being delayed/postponed and there is also the no frills aspect. It doesn't necessarily point your colleague out as a snob. I don't like using Ryanair myself if I can get away with.
 
Just please don't tell me the pretentious git is flying to Nice for a meal?!
 

well said
 
Purple said:
€180 might to great value in one place, just as €15 in another place might be excessive.
Click to expand...

Can't for the life of me think of any €180 dinner that is great value. Perhaps if it incorporated a lot of gold leaf?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register