Having recently moved to the big city as you all know, I decided to change the focus of this blog, to being more about my experiences of life instead of stories of my (often failed) romances.
One very big part of my life is food. Whether it be cooking, eating out, drinking really fantastic wine or shopping for great ingredients, I absolutely love every bit of it. I also believe that I am reasonably knowledgeable about both cooking and the restaurant industry, having read a lot on both. More importantly, I know what I like, I know what tastes good and a lot of the time I know how to go about making something taste good.
I had very much taken for granted these things as being a big part of my life until they were brought into question on Saturday night. Earlier in the evening I had gone with my family to a nice restaurant in the city. Mum and Dad were visiting, and we wanted to go somewhere nice but also reasonably priced. I had read about this restaurant, a New York style steakhouse, in a number of foodie blogs and after seeing the menu and winelist online decided that this was the place for us. Most main meals were around $30-35, and the wine list was very reasonable.
From start to finish our evening was brilliant! The atmosphere of the restaurant was great, dim but comfortable lighting, live music that wasn't too noisy, excellent service that wasn't too pushy or too relaxed. We weren't made to feel rushed, nor did we feel that we were left waiting too long to order.
The food was also great. Everything we ordered, from the initial jamon and olives, to our mains and desserts. Nothing could be faulted and more importantly, great ingredients were allowed to shine through relatively simple dishes. As a whole everything about this meal was great. My family hadn't been together for about 6 months and added to that really wonderful food, wine and service, we were all thrilled.
After dropping my parents off I headed off to a party where a little later in the night I met a food writer/editor who works for one of this country's more prominent food magazines. We were having a great chat about food and restaurants, when I mentioned what a great meal/dining experience we had earlier in the evening. He asked where we had gone and I told him the restaurant. I should probably mention here that I rated this meal as one of my top three dining experiences so far, and told him that. Without asking why, he immediately got a sour look on his face and asked if I thought I was qualified to make a judgement about food and dining. Clearly believing that my high opinion, of what is in no way a top level dining establishment, showed me to be an amature or worse!
I was completely gobsmacked. Qualified?! Well of course I am! Which I would have told him, except I got infuriated by his hoity toity attitude and excused myself from the conversation before I said something rude (which lets face it, would have only cemented his view of me).
To be honest though, this exchange has had me thinking for a few days now about what he meant, and whether I am 'qualified' to comment on such things, hence the title of this post. I think the answer I have come upon, is yes I am. I have worked in hospitality many times before and have a clear idea of what good service is and how to give it. I know more about good food and wine than many people and I am willing to keep an open mind and learn from every good meal I have. I'm not sure that I would ever become a 'foodie blogger', but if I was to go down this path I have no concerns that I am 'qualified' to provide my opinion on matters of food, wine and dining. Certainly from the perspective of knowing whether or not I have just had a great dining experience, then without a doubt, yes I am qualified.
One final question as well that this exchange raised for me, was the opinion of the staff of the aforementioned food magazine regarding good honest food. Can food only be great these days if it is served at a 'hatted' restaurant like Tetsuya? Can you only have a truely great dining experience at somewhere that is completely out of the reach of the normal person? Personally I don't think this is the case, but of my food writing friend, I am not so sure?
