In historical order:
I finally received a reply from the La Sala restaurant at the Sunborn floating hotel based at Ocean Village in Gibraltar regarding my review of a meal there at their request.
Readers may remember that I’d asked if they could cater for vegetarians/vegans:
I’ve looked at your menu and I think it looks delicious. However my partner and I are vegetarian/vegan so that raises questions of whether eggs are free range, or cheese has animal rennet. For example, Parmesan is never vegetarian.
If you still wish me to review, then we would be happy to do so if you are willing to cater for a vegetarian and a vegan. I can send suggestions if you like, just please, not vegetarian curry, stir fry or lasagna. Just no! to that.
Yet despite this on their website:
The hotel’s restaurants serve only the finest food in surroundings to match your mood. Skilled international chefs make creative use of the best ingredients to provide signature dishes that change with the seasons.
I received this reply:
Unfortunately we are not able to cater to all of those conditions.
All of those conditions?
Can’t think of a vegetable-based meal without cheese or eggs? Our skilled international chefs aren’t very creative are they?
Also, our PR and Comms manager needs to brush up on their skills somewhat. If that had been me, I’d have suggested our skilled international chefs try a little harder. Maybe they don’t know how to google.
And, don’t they teach people about different diets yet at catering school? Eg, nut allergies, gluten free, veg/vegan.
So the short answer is no, we didn’t get to review a meal at the La Sala restaurant.
Here, however, is the A La Carte menu.
For starters: I would have thought melon without ham could be acceptable. If they have avocados for prawn cocktail they could easily have done an avocado starter, vegetarian spring rolls sound, well, vegetarian to me, and steamed asparagus could easily have been served with just lemon juice, or a (vegetarian) lemon butter sauce.
Next, salads: what’s wrong with taking all the vegetable salad ingredients and making a salad out of those? Including an avocado? Or, the Mediterranean roast veg without the goats cheese? Or if someone had the nowse to look at a label on the cheese they might possibly determine if it was vegetarian.
Main course: needless to state there was a veg stir fry on offer. There was also a curry. A Thai green curry, which I do like, although I doubt their’s would be any better than mine. No lasagna, but there was fresh linguini. Eggs in the pasta? And with ricotta and blue cheese sauce. Bit heavy on the cheese, and again, more onerous label-checking involved for our skilled international chefs.
A little extra (veg and more salads): they could have made a meal up out of those!
How about Sunday lunch?
Mushrooms on toast. Well not exactly exotic but it would be acceptable for a vegetarian without the Pecorino. (Like Parmesan, note Pink, Pecorino is not vegetarian)
And for main course, ah yes, the fresh linguine again with ricotta and blue cheese. Do they think vegetarians live on cheese?
What a badly balanced meal for a vegetarian. Note, no veg or salads are served with the veg option. This is such antiquated thinking it is beyond belief. Just because I am having a vegetarian main course doesn’t mean I should be excluded from the veg offered. But yes, it does at La Sala. For the same price as pasta and cheese sauce, one could choose from beef, chicken, pork, lamb or salmon. Plus all veg. Although I’m not sure I’d want Yorkshire pudding with salmon. Something of a raw deal for vegetarians. £21 for mushrooms on toast and pasta and cheese sauce compared with the same price for smoked salmon and roast beef, or chicken liver pâté and salmon with hollandaise sauce.
La Sala chefs: please take off your chef’s hats and go find some thinking caps.
And Gibraltar restaurants generally: Gibraltar sells itself as an international tourist destination. Isn’t it time some of you provided genuine vegetarian meals? Let alone vegan ones?
Here’s a list of vegetarian populations by country. India unsurprisingly tops it, with the UK somewhere between seven and eleven per cent. Should we guess at nine per cent? Although this source suggests 12%.
Whatever the statistics, why lose out on a potential market because you are hidebound by your own preferences, prejudices and/or ignorance?
General election
The GSLP (socialist liberal alliance) won with a resounding majority, some 70% of the vote. It wasn’t a surprise, unlike the last election when they just scraped in. Now we’re doomed to another four years of GSLP cronyism rather than GSD cronyism.
I won’t even comment on the current job situation except to say we did hear of tens of Eastern Europeans (nationality withheld to protect people) working on the black for £5 an hour with two hours compulsory overtime. Minimum wage is £6.50. Craft rate is £7.69. Why aren’t Employment Training Board inspectors cracking down on this illegal employment?
Word of the year
Despite most voters thinking I voted for lumbersexual, I voted for they. Readers of Clouds in particular will know that I am a big proponent for gender neutral language. So to see it included on the shortlist, and at the time I voted it was the most popular word chosen by readers on the OED website, is to me, a real step forward in eradicating the ubiquitous ‘he means she as well’ attitude.
And today’s Gibpix come from another evening walk when the door to Ince’s Hall Theatre (part of the same complex as GibBank) was open.
Ince’s Theatre is on the left looking at the buildings.
I’d never been inside, so …
roughseasinthemed 
What restauranteur, in their right mind, passes up a chance for a review, especially given that you’ve provided them with the opportunity to show that they could cater to a niche market? “No, thanks, we don’t want any free publicity. In fact, we’ll be condescending so that we get negative publicity.” Business must be really, really good.
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I know. Idiots. I was even willing to work on ingredients and options for them beforehand, which quite frankly I shouldn’t have to do, but I appreciate people have limited/zilch understanding of vegetarian food.
Think of what I could have written:
Plus glowing photos of delicious food.
But no, they shoot themselves in the foot. Oh we can’t possibly do that. Or as you say, we don’t need to do that. Fine by me. I’ll mention their unaccommodating attitude whenever possible.
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Yup, there are plenty of places more than happy to accommodate customers. If somebody can’t be bothered, then they can suffer the free market consequences.
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Not sure there are plenty in Gib though …
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Sounds as if they are either too lazy, too ignorant or too arrogant to bother making an effort to satisfy those cranky vegan/vegetarian diners. It’s good to know what to avoid should we ever find ourselves in Gibraltar. Not that that is very likely, but you never know, and it’s as well to be prepared.
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I have no doubt their food may well be decent, but that ain’t much use to me. Much in Gib us dependent on current chefs, some stay, some leave. The best Italian food is at Quattro Stagioni, Indian is much of a muchness, as for ‘international’ food, the Waterfront was good at one point, their chef did a great Veg Wellington, and a couple of other dishes too. Chef leaves and they’re back to veg lasagna and veg curry, veg stir fry. Yawn. In fact it’s been taken over since and is now even worse :)
Gib is NOT veg friendly. May not bother most people, but it’s not a clever move.
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It makes me laugh. I could come up with better than the restaurant and I’m not vegetarian! The dishes you suggested don’t sound bad… that pie looks great! My favourite soup is chunky veg soup. Cut back/out loads of stuff since being diagnosed diabetic. Sausages, burgers… gone! Huge increase in veg, though I still like my chicken and fish.
Still, I firmly believe that all restaurants should cater more and more to vegetarians/vegans, and should be required to be educated in the provision of adequate dishes. After all, it’s not always by choice. Some folks are allergic to certain foods and getting ingredients mixed up could be fatal. Strict controls need to be set in place with a variety of set dishes available on the menu for those who need them.
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Pie or pizza are often my what to cook when I can’t think of anything else. Pie is great for using up leftovers with some new things added eg shepherd’s pie today.
Veg sausages can be nice. Cauldron make the best ones.
Interestingly, the UK is very strict on labelling for veg products. Which is why having a Morrisons here can be useful.
Gib though … is Gib, and somewhat short on the vegetarian ethos. C’est la vie.
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All sounds good… True about UK. There was a program on not too long ago about an undercover investigation on how many restaurant staff knew about ingredients in dishes and food allergies. It was pretty enlightening.
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Staff? If trained chefs don’t know, how on earth are wait staff going to know stuff all apart from how to take orders and serve food?
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But they should know what’s on the menu if they’re taking orders… customers rely on them for information about certain dishes when they order. If a person is allergic to nuts for example, the server taking the order should be educated by the restaurant to know which ones contain nuts, or at least should be able to ask someone and find out… this is a huge problem… live’s could be at stake if the customer is misinformed.
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Nah. Money’s at stake. Steak? That’s what matters.
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:D Roughseas, the comedian. :D
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Far from it. But journalists get into the habit of corny puns.
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Can’t say I noticed. :D
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I know. I’m subtle like that :)
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Lovely collection of thoughts and observations.
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I doubt the Sunborn would find them lovely.
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Well we now all know which restaurant to avoid in Gib….a place with that attitude is unlikely to have a good atmosphere.
The changes of chefs are extremely important: there is one whose food I like in San Jose but he flits from one place to another like a will o’ the wisp and I have to rely on the jungle telegraph to see if it is safe to book.
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I don’t know, if you want meat/fish/etc it’s probably fine because you wouldn’t be bucking the trend. Not that I’m recommending anyone goes there. The good places are the established family ones where chefs stay put. Corporate profit-makers? Ugh.
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Their brigade of international chefs must be staying put and enjoying an unchallenging life.
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Actually I’m not sure about that. I think I’ve seen two adverts in the last few weeks for more of the international brigade.
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I was wondering what the Inclusive language was for “elder statesman”. This said “Senior statesperson”, but I don’t like -person as a suffix, it seems lazy to me, going back to the origin of inclusive language before people got more creative. What do you think?
We found a place with a vegan menu, but it was dire. The food was dry and horrible. Chips are still the best meal out so far.
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That was a really interesting list Clare, thanks. It was American I think. ‘Person’ can work ok is some contexts, but I agree it can sound clumsy and stilted, but that may be in part due to unfamiliarity in hearing it. Debates about language always remind me of Hot Fuzz where the ‘hero’ is trying to encourage them all to say police officer, so ends up with one of them saying policeman officer.
Anyway on statesman, as with anything it would depend on context. I’m not sure there are any/many now Tony Benn’s died. Respected experienced politician? Although statesman implies a lot more eg experience at state level in a number of jobs for a number of years, some degree of principle, intellect, etc, hence why I suspect it’s a word that is rarely needed these days. Rather than a direct substitution sometimes rewording works better. One of my favourites is firefighters. Such a neat way round it.
A vegan menu? That’s impressive. We had a vegan burger – with chips – it was home made and good. The place closed.
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That’s a really weird attitude [by that restaurant]! Imagine when the word gets around about that! They lose, but I guess they didn’t have their thinking caps on for that either.
About the word [they] … I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but in Sweden, they’ve invented (!) a word, that they’re now trying to encourage people to use. Normally languages evolve, new words get adopted because there’s a NEED for them, not the other way around. All this has happened since I left, so the first time I saw the word ‘hen’ written I thought they’d gone bonkers completely — knowing their love for English words, but it wasn’t that this time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_(pronoun)
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I don’t know what the vegetarian population is in Gib. Or of visiting tourists. But still, we’ll do our best to let people know how helpful they weren’t. :)
I remember you saying about how they snaffled English words and incorporated them. Interesting article. Of course in English, hen can be used to refer to a woman, so that would be confusing. People who don’t like s/he, her/him, use zie and hir in English. But those who use it and/or know what it means, are few and far between. I knew one woman who was bringing up her child using zie and hir, but I don’t know how widely she used it in the real world rather than on a forum where we all understood it.
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And, BTW, “hen” is a Glaswegian term of endearment for a girl or woman. I have fond memories of my father calling me, “hen”. Having grown up with it, don’t find it offensive – IF it’s someone whom I know well, but a stranger, well that’s another matter altogether.
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I assume hinny, (Newcastle) is a variation on hen too. As in, Whay ay hinny.
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I would think so…
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When we go out to eat, as important as the food is the attitude of the establishment – or possibly that is even more important. We want to feel welcomed as people, not credit cards. It sounds as if La Sala is not people-friendly.
Many years ago we went to eat at a restaurant in Gloucestershire that had featured top of the bill in one of the Sunday national newspapers. The food was rated as outstanding. It was set in a mini-castle with a studded wooden door and a heavy bell. You had to stand on the step, ring the bell and wait for admittance. When the door was opened, an aloof person looked us up and down, asked whether we had booked, and with apparent reluctance led us in.
The food was superb and priced accordingly. The atmosphere was funereal, the service disdainful. Never went back. Didn’t leave a tip, either. ;)
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One Gib blogger did review it and she seemed to think the staff were very attentive, constantly asking people if everything was all right, which would have got right up my nose. You’re always expected to say yes, and if it’s not all right, we’ll tell you.
Your description sounds like The Addams Family! I think the poshest we’ve eaten at was The Bell at Aston Clinton. Described as an old coaching inn, it was extremely pretentious and very expensive. The food was ok, nothing special, I could have done with more than two or three mussels in my mussel soup. We didn’t go back. I don’t think we had enough to leave a tip.
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Ah, The Bell at Aston Clinton. We used to live close by and ate there several times. In fact we spent the first night of our honeymoon there, but after a lengthy day of ceremony and reception, we both dropped off after course 4 of the 9 course special menu. :)
They endeared themselves to me on our first visit with two very young children. My son asked for sausage and chips with tomato ketchup, which they produced cheerfully and free of charge, while his small sister mortified me by smearing her baby-food-sticky face all over the thick linen tablecloth. Our waiter just smiled and said they were nice well-mannered children.
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Small world huh? I’d read about it in a magazine and we thought we’d try somewhere different. Of course when I read ‘coaching inn’ I imagined an old pub with rustic beams and a small but hopefully decent restaurant bit. I nearly wore jeans, but Partner vetoed that, just in case. I can’t remember what we ate apart from my mussel soup. Mostly we used to eat at the restaurant in our local hotel in Leighton Buzzard. Ten/fifteen minutes walk away, and we went often enough not to need to book a table, so it was very convenient.
I’m surprised they could do sausage and chips! I suppose they probably had everything to hand though. It was a pretty expensive menu when we went, late eighties.
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I believe it was one of Jackie Kennedy-Onassissis favourite British restaurants.
We must have been almost-neighbours, as we were living in Berkhamsted in the 80s. :)
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Really? Wow.
I’ve still got friends in Berko. We were in Leighton Buzzard. Where abouts were you? I only know the bit off the back of the high street, but my partner grew up in Hemel and was often over there.
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We lived in Potten End.
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Oh nice :) I went to a course at Ashridge once, beautiful up that way.
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So, first they ask you to review their joint, then they send you a curt reply that they can’t be bothered after all? There must be something I’m not getting…
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Yeah.
1) they have a look for Gibraltar blogs and don’t bother reading them – or not enough – to find potential reviewers. Given that all my recipes are vegetarian you would have thought that might be a clue? Or that all pix of food on my main blog posts are also veg?
2) having initially not done their homework, they backpedal as they have no clue what vegetarian means, they probably think fish is acceptable.
I can’t believe in the C21st that a so-called upmarket restaurant can’t cater for vegetarians. Some 20 years ago I was using the local council catering department for buffet meals for medics, and I chose mostly vegetarian options, and it went down very well. It was fresh, well prepared and inexpensive. They brought sandwiches into work at one point and they included free range eggs and vegetarian cheese. Yay council! Boo La Sala at Sunborn.
Apropos nothing, comment va le français?
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I see… the shotgun method of reviewer selection…
Still bad. Maybe a little stint in France next year would help… am pondering the possibility. My 1-2-1 class is useful, but that’s just an hour a week.
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In theory targeting blogs isn’t a bad idea. It would just make sense to browse around and make sure the reviewer is what you want instead of it backfiring. Alternatively we could just have turned up, and said, ‘I’ll have this, without that, but can you add this.’ I thought it was more courteous to do that first, but clearly, no free lunches for me.
An hour a week isn’t much is it? :( Can’t remember if you have tapes (or CDs). I bought Linguaphone ones for Spain and Portugal and found them really helpful.
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Tapes or CDs…? Like in 1995??? I have not a gadget in the house that would even play either those, LOL.
There are plenty of learning resources available online, and it’s of far better quality and more up-to-date than any of that studio-recorded bollocks I used to buy two decades ago. The problem for me is always the actual speaking in the presence of a real live person, at least initially. Once I’m over that hurdle, I will do intercambios over Skype, but those aren’t much fun for anyone if you take three minutes to assemble the simplest of sentences, sigh. Upwards and onwards :)
I sometimes get contacted/followed by people whose primary interest is cookery/bakery because of the blog name… when clearly my blog isn’t about any of those things. I just like eating cake :)
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I’ve still got two CD computers and did have a Walkman till Partner threw it out. I found the tapes pretty decent, but I can handle rote learning, so it suited me.
Well I can see why with the title! And maybe they enjoy the photos anyway, so not a total disappointment. I follow one cookery blog, and I’ve actually made a few recipes from there. But I prefer personal ones, with food/cooking chucked in from time to time.
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To be honest, I was a little pissed off to discover that my new iMac did not have a disk drive :(
I love food, and I do like a bit of food porn, but cooking is not my thing. I cook but only because I have to. I do admire people like you who seem to enjoy it…
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Yeah. I’m looking at a new iMac when I have to. I noticed there are no drives any more, because … you have to buy an extra bit of kit. Well there’s a surprise.
Cooking? Upbringing partly I guess, seeing my mum do so much, but I actually enjoyed the creativity of fancier recipes. I was time rich back then :D Plus, I know what I’m eating.
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That really was an astounding reply. Their loss.
Although I’m not vegetarian, cooking for vegetarians and vegans is a fun challenge I relish, as you probably already know…
I would have thought that any chef worth their (ha!) salt would have enjoyed rising to that challenge. Begs the question: did management talk to the Executive Chef or did they take an “executive” decision? I have noticed that in South Africa, more and more places have vegetarian offerings, but I remain astounded by the level of ignorance. I’m not sure if it’s here I’ve waxed lyrical about seeing menus that state (I was going to use “suggest”) that a tuna salad is vegetarian as is a macaroni cheese – with bacon. Umm, yes….
Actually, I did a review on TripAdvisor after staying in one of the more upmarket hotels in Johannesburg and where the in-house dinner option was a franchise grill restaurant. For many, grill = meat. No, I don’t think so – for me, anyway. Anyhow, I really struggled to find anything suitable to eat after a long day and I definitely did not want anything with meat. In the end, I had to settle for two starters, one of which was the ubiquitous baked cheese (Brie or Camembert), afterwards, I realised that it was seldom ordered (the waiting person had to be shown, on the menu, what I was ordering) and the cheese must have been frozen because when the dish arrived, the cheese was ice cold in the centre. And that was only one aspect of an appalling meal. Suffice it to say, my review was no holds barred!!
Oh, and on gender unspecific language, it’s interesting to note that in South Africa we now talk of “waitrons” and I hear other people talking of “servers” and they no longer speak about cricket “batsmen”, only “batters”…
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That’s a great attitude Fiona. I’m not sure I would have been so broad-minded in my non-veg days :( I’m sure you would rustle together a delicious meal for vegetarians and vegans alike. Unlike the Sunborn. But then, they dont have your garden either!
I would, out of curiosity, like to know who took the decision and why. Because clearly, instead of my current critical post, I might have written one that was totally glowing, saying how they gave us an excellent meal :) But no. Too difficult. As if.
I think locally people have stopped offering bacon and fish as vegetarian, although I wouldn’t bet on it …
That cheese sounds appalling. Yuk. Out of the deep freeze and inadequately baked. Bleugh. I could feel sick thinking about it. Upmarket hotel? Ha. You mentioned grill though, and one of the easiest meals is baked/roasted whatever veggies. Or veg kebabs. We used to eat at a Mexican restaurant (franchise) in the UK, and when we had whatever meal it was, the roasted/grilled/whatever veg were excellent. You could make either a vegan or veg meal out of it: veg, tortillas, guac, chilli tomato sauce, salad, red beans, and cheese/yoghurt if wanted. What’s difficult about that? 90% of it’s made in advance.
Not convinced about waitrons. Servers and batters are OK, but on the same principle so is waiters.
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You are very kind about the garden, but I’m not sure that gives me an edge……I think it’s more about the will/inclination. Actually, at one stage I toyed with vegetarianism and although I live with an avowed carnivore, after 15-odd years, we eat numerous meatless meals, so it’s a challenge I enjoy. Initially he was a bit nonplussed by this, but now there are a few meals, including two you mention (roasted veg and bean chilli) which have become firm favourites – often requested. One of our favourite eating spots, early on, was a Mexican restaurant, in walking distance from where we lived at the time, and which provided us with quite a spread for a pre-wedding dinner.
And, I’m entirely with you on waitrons which sound more like creatures from Star Trek!
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I do find the garden inspiring, even if only for herbs. I love making meals that include anything I’ve grown. Our veg transition was easy, it was a joint decision, we both cooked, although I’ve always done more than him, and although I enjoyed cooking with meat, fish, chicken, shellfish, it’s as interesting to cook without it. Or in your words, probably more challenging. Mind you, we had paella twice last week it was so delicious. We had bean chilli too!
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Goodness, you remember every little thing! One little parmesan mistake and the Stasi are after me forever and ever :P
Anyway I stand by my entirely unscientific theory that all cheese and eggs are vegetarian. Except eggs with that little blood spot- but who’s gonna know if I don’t tell them?
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You were the one who reminded me that you’d learned about it from me, otherwise I might have forgotten :)
Don’t sound too vegetarian to me with bits of dead lamb in it.
So if you like being uncharacteristicly wrong, go for it.
I don’t think zygotes/foetuses count. After all, when does a foetus become a chicken? Once the egg’s been taken away from mama, it’s going to stop developing anyway due to lack of heat. However, only free range eggs are strictly vegetarian. See vegetarian society definitions rather than non-vegetarian pinkagendist definitions. :)
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Farming 101; the egg doesn’t stop developing because it has been taken away from mama…left to do there own thing, hens will lay an egg a day in a hidden nest, and not start sitting on them until they have as big a clutch as they can straddle. Only then does the fertilised egg kick into development. The plus for the hen is that all eggs hatch at the same time and the “safety in numbers” factor comes into play for the chicks.
I hope Little Pod is living up to Pippa’s example and keeping you all safe and well.
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Cheers for that Totty. I was thinking about when Jimena was actually sitting on the eggs, rather than pre-that. Couldn’t believe how many eggs, and chickens, a small chicken could manage.
Little Pod is certainly barking the hell out of everyone and everything :) so, probably yes. He’s a good little boy. Typical Pod.
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Restaurant and real estate speak = same same. Most rely on the punters not having a clue. We rarely eat out any more but I went to work a Christmas lunch yesterday and not even free food and drinks could justify the four hours of my life I’ll never get back. 36 c summer day, 60 people crammed into a shop-front restaurant, barely working dripping aircon & fans, guest appearance by lively good sized cockroach, winter type menu items, too hot to drink alcohol to pass time, and the food was average. I noticed the vegetarian option was a strange looking brown pasta. The website http://soffritto.com.au/ is nothing like the actual experience.
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I think menus get ever more pretentious as chefs vie to experiment with weird and not-so-wonderful combinations. And I see little point in paying a fortune to eat, say, steak and chips (which is one of the options on the La Sala menu. It’s hardly a difficult meal to cook. Peel potatoes, cut and put in oven. Put steak under grill. OK so there’s the washing up, but that’s the only down side.
Il soffritto suffers from the classic of offering Parmesan and Gorgonzola, so no vegetarian cheeses there (both made with animal rennet). Was the pasta the ravioli? Didn’t sound appetising to me. If it had been so hot, plus Mr Cockie’s appearance, plus little choice, I’d have been passing out never mind passing time. Never a fan of Christmas dos. Never mind. Countdown!
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We worked out that the produce we but at the farmers markets is better than most restaurants use, so may as well cook it ourselves for half the price.
The vege pasta was sort of rustic looking flat ribbons with a tomato sauce…
I hope to never attend another mandatory-in-work hours Christmas lunch.
Yes, we must do some packing tomorrow.
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I watched my mother’s coking get more adventurous as she subscribed to the weekly cordon blue cookery courses, and the meals out got less and less :D And, I was no different. But having said that, I prefer the intimacy and casualness of eating at home too.
Pasta and tomato sauce in fact. Great. I really want to eat that out …
Attending any mandatory work social event is a nightmare. May they never happen again.
Take photos!
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Arrogant and complacent I’d say about that restaurant. I clicked through to their menu and while it looks ok, I don’t really think any of those dishes could be construed as ‘signature.’ And there was plenty there that with a bit of creativity could have produced a meal/meals suitable for either of you.
And I don’t know about catering college but I do know that the GCSE (O level) Food Tech course looks very closely at diets, allergies and vegan/vegetarian requirements. So no excuse whatsoever. Appalling.
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Hi Jenny, when I read the emails from the PR/Comms person, I wondered (as you can imagine) what level of seniority they were at, how much experience they had, and whether they had any influence.
There’s a big difference between being told what to do in PR and actually suggesting possible options. If I hadn’t known about vegetarianism, and I had clueless chefs I’d have done some research and come up with possible options. As you say, there are sufficient ingredients on the menu, and many of the meals only take a little adaption if they couldn’t manage an original meal from scratch. Which I suspect might have been tooooo taxing.
Hey! I have heard of GCSEs you know :D The food tech course sounds as though it might be interesting. I think different requirements, for whatever reason, eg add Kosher and Halal into the mix, make catering far more than just sticking a roast in the oven and whipping up a sauce. For example, I’ve just made tomato sauce for a tomato pilaff, served with courgette kaftas/koftas, and a salad. It’s totally vegan, and pretty simple to make.
But yes, agreed. No excuse and appalling.
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Interesting perspective. Sadly, many restaurants become arrogant and try impose their perspective on reviews. On election, I think fixing employment is the biggest challenge and elected leaders must keep their promise.
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Thanks Vishal. No shortage of vegetarian food in India :)
As for elections and employment, our government claims to have reduced unemployment. Many of us aren’t registered because there are no jobs to apply for, and other are on schemes, training courses, and short-term contracts. What people want are proper jobs with permanent contracts. And it’s galling to see people crossing the frontier every day to do jobs that locals could do. Very bad news. When do elected leaders keep promises though? One or two, maybe, but for the most part …
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I know and I am in the same situation, looking for proper job. Elected leaders never fulfill their promise and it’s the saddest part!
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Well freelancing/self-employment is ok, but it’s unpredictable in terms of income and most people need a ‘proper job’.
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Clearly they think they don’t need any new business. They would definitely have lots more customers if they do cater for vegetarians. I think I’d rather prefer your vegetable pie. It looks delicious!
Thanks for the lovely walk to the theatre. :)
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They obviously don’t want ‘difficult’ customers. You get better service from a Spanish bar.
‘What do you have?’
‘What do you want?’
‘Well, roast peppers, a mixed salad without egg or tuna, some chips or spicy potatoes, and tortilla’ (for example).
‘OK we can do that.’
The Sunborn menu was a bit short on pastry recipes. Maybe they don’t have any in their freezer.
It was fun to peek inside seeing as I’ve never been to any performances.
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am sorry you weren’t able to have the opportunity to review the restaurant.
although i am not a vegetarian, i often prefer vegetarian options, and i find that a number of restaurants here do have vegetarian options. will have to watch for vegan options for future reference.
that veggie pie looks very yummy.
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It would have been …interesting. I would have been fair too, so if it had been good they would have received a pretty rave review. Instead I shall go out of my way to point out how miserable and unaccommodating they are.
Getting on planes was the worst. How many times did we order veg food and other people had taken the option first? Or going to buffets and the veg section gets demolished first?
Veg pie is like pizza, a stand-by when all else fails, or, a good Sunday lunch.
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La Sala meat all requirements, so they can’t do vegetarian or vegan?
‘They’ is fine when it comes to avoiding the he/she scramble or accusations of sexism in job ads. Otherwise, though, I have no sympathy with these silly gender neutral terms – I refuse to be served by a waitron.
The theatre interior does look interesting. Suitable for a haunting or two.
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Apparently. One glance at the menu would suggest they can, but I thought it would be courteous to notify them in advance, only to receive a churlish dismissal.
I don’t think they should be used to avoid recriminations, but rather not to specify one gender (male) in preference to another (female).
So you prefer policemen to refer to all police officers, and firemen similarly?
Yes, I must try and sticky beak a bit more around the theatre.
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I see it as simple enough to have police or fire service in general , and policeman or policewoman etc as the individual cases may be.
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What happens when you want to refer to police or fire men/women at the scene? When you don’t need to refer to individuals? But need a generic term?
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One gets by perfectly well with ‘police’ or ‘firefighters’ used in a generic sense. If it is an all-male or all-female crew, one can use a gender-specific title. People have got lazy, actually, and accurate description suffers. Every drake is a duck, every vixen is simply a fox, and so on.
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Ah, so you can live with firefighters then? Why the need to specify whether a crew is all male or all female though. The relevance is?
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Simple accuracy, plus it could be relevant to know the proportions of brute strength versus brains contained in the team.
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[…] This is on a par with La Sala at the Sunborn. […]
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I doubt if you would be too impressed with what you’d find here. We’ve got but one restaurant that does it well. Everyone else really focuses on the meat.
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Yes. I do read a lit of meaty menus. Not just your way. Everywhere. So unimaginitive.
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