What's For Dinner Tonight?

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
I'm only across the pond and commiserations on the 6 Nations BTW:mrgreen:.
I'd say anything brewed in England/UK is imported here as well, Tesco near me have a great selection or at least they used to have, they were also the most competitive with prices. I was quite fond of Bishops Finger as well, I'm not too familiar with the Hobgoblin though, can't recall seeing it that often.
Bloody confusing me with your NYC thing :-P hobgoblin is good. And I agree, tesco have a great selection of beers and ciders and do the best deals where I am.

And Wales didn't do too great, but hey, I don't follow rugby, or football, or cricket, or any sport, so it doesn't bother me too much. The only time I do follow sport is world cup time so I can make sure to taunt English people as they lose :-D Same with rugby actually. Nearly got killed watching that England Wales mach a year odd ago where england got a try last minute to win the game, only it got disallowed while everyone in the pub was celebrating and I laughed a bit too much and garnered myself a bit of unwanted attention :-D ah, the joy of the rough side of town.
 

fr3d12

Well-Known Member
CAM00552 - Copy.jpg
Tagliatelle Bolognese with extra garlic and a few added jalapeno slices.
I forgot the black olives, usually put a nice few in, it was good but not the same without them.

@Beefbisquit.
Like TTT I'm more a flavoursome hearty meal type guy but I do admire the patience you guys need, I still would eat fine dining but you just have to give me bigger portions:D
 

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
Enough sauce? :-D love tagliatelle.

I did a year or so cooking a mix of country food and fine dining, and I just decided that as much fun as it can be to make, I prefer to eat a good plate of meat :-)
 

fr3d12

Well-Known Member
Bloody confusing me with your NYC thing :-P hobgoblin is good. And I agree, tesco have a great selection of beers and ciders and do the best deals where I am.

And Wales didn't do too great, but hey, I don't follow rugby, or football, or cricket, or any sport, so it doesn't bother me too much. The only time I do follow sport is world cup time so I can make sure to taunt English people as they lose :-D Same with rugby actually. Nearly got killed watching that England Wales mach a year odd ago where england got a try last minute to win the game, only it got disallowed while everyone in the pub was celebrating and I laughed a bit too much and garnered myself a bit of unwanted attention :-D ah, the joy of the rough side of town.
My apologies I assumed you are English.
I am a sports fan and of course always feel really warm and fuzzy inside when we beat England, they did beat us one to one though and got the Triple Crown so well done to them there.

Last time I bought Duvel and Spitfire etc Tesco were over a euro cheaper per bottle than the Off licences.
The offy's feel entitled to charge a fortune for any nice ale or exotic beer etc.
 

fr3d12

Well-Known Member
Enough sauce? :-D love tagliatelle.

I did a year or so cooking a mix of country food and fine dining, and I just decided that as much fun as it can be to make, I prefer to eat a good plate of meat :-)
That's only a cereal bowl, there is seven nests under the sauce:D
Made a big pot of it, probably enough to do six at least for less than a tenner, I'll portion it and freeze it, never goes astray.
 

Beefbisquit

Well-Known Member
View attachment 3026915
Tagliatelle Bolognese with extra garlic and a few added jalapeno slices.
I forgot the black olives, usually put a nice few in, it was good but not the same without them.

@Beefbisquit.
Like TTT I'm more a flavoursome hearty meal type guy but I do admire the patience you guys need, I still would eat fine dining but you just have to give me bigger portions:D
Portions are typically small, but there are usually many courses! It's as much for the experience, as it is for the food!

I will, someday, go to "The French Laundry"
 

fr3d12

Well-Known Member
Portions are typically small, but there are usually many courses! It's as much for the experience, as it is for the food!

I will, someday, go to "The French Laundry"
I agree many diners want the experience, the presentation can be art like, simply amazing.
 

Beefbisquit

Well-Known Member
http://thoughtcatalog.com/chelsea-fagan/2013/08/23-life-lessons-you-get-from-working-at-a-restaurant/

[h=1]23 Life Lessons You Get From Working At A Restaurant[/h]

1. If you don’t have a thick skin and complete abandonment of political correctness, don’t go near the kitchen. You will immediately learn there that what you consider to be off-limits is just the baseline of someone else’s sense of humor.
2. Bad tippers are the worst kinds of people, and are often terrible in many other ways than just being cheap.
3. Correction, the worst people are those who don’t tip or tip very badly, and accompany their financial insult with a snarky note left on the receipt.
4. The pain of a bad seating chart is a real one, and not a single customer will care or understand that you got slammed while someone else is totally dead.
5. The difference between the people who have never worked in food service, and the people who have, is always clearly visible. And a lot of time it has to do with the basic degree of respect they give to the people who are serving them.
6. Make back-of-house’s life easy, they will make yours easy. Working is always about scratching someone’s back so they’ll scratch yours, and you’d better not break that chain.
7. The only people you’re going to be able to hang out with — and often date — are by default going to be other people in the industry. So you better like the people you work with it, because no one else is going to be coming out with you at 1 AM.
8. There is absolutely zero shame in eating the plate that gets sent back barely-touched because someone either misunderstood what they were ordering or is incredibly fussy about their perfectly-good food. People who will judge you over shit like that are people who don’t know the joys of a pristine plate of onion rings coming back to you when you are starving.
9. The most important friend you will make is the one who will cover for you while you eat, crouched next to some appliance in the kitchen. True friendship is about taking the fall so someone can eat.
10. There are a lot of people who are going to look down on you for working a restaurant, and treat you with massive disrespect, and you just have to get over it and remind yourself to never be like that in your own life.
11. If you are good to your server, your experience will be about a thousand times better, and you might even get free stuff if you’re lucky.
12. There is nothing better than a chef who is currently trying out new stuff and has tons of excess food for everyone to try. The best friend anyone can have is a good chef.
13. Line cooks are some of the hardest-working, most humble and honest people in the working world. And many of them happen to be felons. And when you see them get off a 14-hour shift and still manage to make jokes with you at the end of it, you realize that every judgment we make about the guy with neck tattoos is completely off base.
14. If you’re a female waitress/hostess/bartender, some of the more drunk male customers will take it upon themselves to also designate you “professional receiver of gross comments and inappropriate touches.”
15. A good manager is the one who will shut shit like that down, because they would rather lose the money from that customer than have someone who mistreats their staff.
16. Even the best establishment can be run into the ground by a petty, spiteful manager.
17. There is no worse an experience on this planet than working a busy brunch shift when you are brutally hungover.
18. If you don’t make friends with the bartender from the get-go, your life is going to be difficult. And you quickly learn that this also applies to the places you don’t work at — treat your bartender well, reap the rewards.
19. The calm before the storm (also known as the rush) is one of the most precious, fleeting moments in life. And as soon as you see that first customer looking at the specials board just a little too long, you know that it’s already over.
20. Never be the person who comes in just as the kitchen’s closing and orders something really complicated. Just don’t be that person.
21. In the best restaurants, you’ll become like a little family, and live through several very important moments together (especially because you don’t get days off for normal, human things such as holidays or birthdays).
22. There will be one item on the menu that you fall in love with so much that you actually start having dreams about it, and go through withdrawal when you don’t have it for a long enough stretch of time. You can actually get that way over, say, a cream of crab soup. It’s like heroin.
23. Going back to a place you used to work and seeing all the old group — and getting to eat and drink all your favorites again — is one of the best feelings you can have.




So true...
 

fr3d12

Well-Known Member
Haha there is a lot of truth in there.
I'm a very quiet person but if a chef started screaming insults at me I'm afraid I would comfit his ass, no way I would work in a kitchen but I doff my cap to those able to stand the heat so to speak.
I ran a bar for awhile and those without basic manners always got served last, I also always looked after people who were generous especially the one's who were willing to share their weed, coke and other suitable narcotics:D
 

Don Gin and Ton

Well-Known Member
http://thoughtcatalog.com/chelsea-fagan/2013/08/23-life-lessons-you-get-from-working-at-a-restaurant/

23 Life Lessons You Get From Working At A Restaurant



1. If you don’t have a thick skin and complete abandonment of political correctness, don’t go near the kitchen. You will immediately learn there that what you consider to be off-limits is just the baseline of someone else’s sense of humor.
2. Bad tippers are the worst kinds of people, and are often terrible in many other ways than just being cheap.
3. Correction, the worst people are those who don’t tip or tip very badly, and accompany their financial insult with a snarky note left on the receipt.
4. The pain of a bad seating chart is a real one, and not a single customer will care or understand that you got slammed while someone else is totally dead.
5. The difference between the people who have never worked in food service, and the people who have, is always clearly visible. And a lot of time it has to do with the basic degree of respect they give to the people who are serving them.
6. Make back-of-house’s life easy, they will make yours easy. Working is always about scratching someone’s back so they’ll scratch yours, and you’d better not break that chain.
7. The only people you’re going to be able to hang out with — and often date — are by default going to be other people in the industry. So you better like the people you work with it, because no one else is going to be coming out with you at 1 AM.
8. There is absolutely zero shame in eating the plate that gets sent back barely-touched because someone either misunderstood what they were ordering or is incredibly fussy about their perfectly-good food. People who will judge you over shit like that are people who don’t know the joys of a pristine plate of onion rings coming back to you when you are starving.
9. The most important friend you will make is the one who will cover for you while you eat, crouched next to some appliance in the kitchen. True friendship is about taking the fall so someone can eat.
10. There are a lot of people who are going to look down on you for working a restaurant, and treat you with massive disrespect, and you just have to get over it and remind yourself to never be like that in your own life.
11. If you are good to your server, your experience will be about a thousand times better, and you might even get free stuff if you’re lucky.
12. There is nothing better than a chef who is currently trying out new stuff and has tons of excess food for everyone to try. The best friend anyone can have is a good chef.
13. Line cooks are some of the hardest-working, most humble and honest people in the working world. And many of them happen to be felons. And when you see them get off a 14-hour shift and still manage to make jokes with you at the end of it, you realize that every judgment we make about the guy with neck tattoos is completely off base.
14. If you’re a female waitress/hostess/bartender, some of the more drunk male customers will take it upon themselves to also designate you “professional receiver of gross comments and inappropriate touches.”
15. A good manager is the one who will shut shit like that down, because they would rather lose the money from that customer than have someone who mistreats their staff.
16. Even the best establishment can be run into the ground by a petty, spiteful manager.
17. There is no worse an experience on this planet than working a busy brunch shift when you are brutally hungover.
18. If you don’t make friends with the bartender from the get-go, your life is going to be difficult. And you quickly learn that this also applies to the places you don’t work at — treat your bartender well, reap the rewards.
19. The calm before the storm (also known as the rush) is one of the most precious, fleeting moments in life. And as soon as you see that first customer looking at the specials board just a little too long, you know that it’s already over.
20. Never be the person who comes in just as the kitchen’s closing and orders something really complicated. Just don’t be that person.
21. In the best restaurants, you’ll become like a little family, and live through several very important moments together (especially because you don’t get days off for normal, human things such as holidays or birthdays).
22. There will be one item on the menu that you fall in love with so much that you actually start having dreams about it, and go through withdrawal when you don’t have it for a long enough stretch of time. You can actually get that way over, say, a cream of crab soup. It’s like heroin.
23. Going back to a place you used to work and seeing all the old group — and getting to eat and drink all your favorites again — is one of the best feelings you can have.




So true...
page bump. gold!
 

Nutes and Nugs

Well-Known Member
Never will I work in a restaurant again.
One of my teenage jobs at a fine restaurant.
Started out as dishwasher, busboy, chefs help and everything else involved in that place.

Though I learned many good things about cooking, never would I go back again.
Guess it drove me nuts in a way.
Good money, good food but boring work.
They were always hungry.
Day after day.
 

Don Gin and Ton

Well-Known Member
so true. my mother was a chef for many years. i've even worked for her she did that many years. i don;t know if you've ever seen fawlty towers but it's so close to the mark is why it's so funny. uk kitchens you'll rarely find more than two of any one countryman together which causes no end of fun and arguments. knife fights the lot pans across kitchens mid service. some real laughs i've had and some fucking scary moments.

mentally ill spanish woman came at my mother with a knife once. later found out the council had placed her there and the upper staff hadn't told the rest of the kitchen for confidentiality reasons.

i'd never go back to work in a kitchen. or face to face service for that matter. i'd be in jail in minutes. i can barely stand dealing with idiots over the telephone/interwebz.
 

Beefbisquit

Well-Known Member
The restaurant I work at only has 8 dishes on the menu... including desserts. It changes every 6 weeks, depending on what's in season at the time.

I should never be bored... lol

Thought you guys would like that list! :D
 

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
The restaurant I work at only has 8 dishes on the menu... including desserts. It changes every 6 weeks, depending on what's in season at the time.

I should never be bored... lol

Thought you guys would like that list! :D
Seriously? How many chefs do they need for that? We had 13 starters, 16 mains, and 8 deserts. None of it just shove in the oven and done, all made to order, all sauces etc from scratch, everything from raw. Was pretty intense when you're running the kitchen on your own and a table of 12 walks through the door.
 

clint308

Well-Known Member
Seriously? How many chefs do they need for that? We had 13 starters, 16 mains, and 8 deserts. None of it just shove in the oven and done, all made to order, all sauces etc from scratch, everything from raw. Was pretty intense when you're running the kitchen on your own and a table of 12 walks through the door.
I bet ttt , that would be a real pain in tha ass !!!!!
 
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