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Doughnuts and doggy bags

I'm still day-dreaming about the snack I had yesterday afternoon: cool, smooth bitter-sweet blood orange juice with a plain sugar doughnut, the sugary crunch of the crystals and lovely contrast to the gentle tartness of the juice.

The other week, the BBC had an article on how British people do not take away their leftovers when they've ordered too much food in a restaurant. Choice quote:
Even a swanky restaurant like the three-Michelin star Waterside Inn in Bray would give you a bag, although it admits it has never actually had such a request.

"If they did ask, the customer comes first so we would do it," says Gina Curtis, secretary to chef Alain Roux.

"I don't think they will ever ask, they have too much money to ask."
I keep thinking about this. Surely it would be more likely that their patrons just wouldn't expect a place which doesn't do takeaway to have takeaway containers? I would think people with "too much money" would be much more likely to ask to takeaway their leftovers at the same sorts of places everyone else would expect to be able to, at least in the US.

I would be rather surprised if many three-Michelin star restaurants in the US stocked takeaway containers for those who over-ordered, frankly. But do enlighten me if otherwise!



Oct. 19th, 2011 09:09 pm (UTC)
Small portions which have had a lot of thought put into them is one of the things I really like about good restaurants. At many restaurants, I would rather skip the larger mains and have the flavor and variety of starter + dessert if they're substantial enough on their own.

But yes - sampling little things and only therefore having, effectively, scraps left over is a good reason not to bother with restaurant leftovers.
Oct. 19th, 2011 09:44 pm (UTC)

Me too, though curry houses where a meal also gives me lunch for the next day or two are great as well.

It tends to be starters that most excite me most, though I'm grateful for main courses because not all starters contain complex carbohydrates, and I feel ill unless I have those regularly. Dessert I can take or leave - I will always pick the cheese if I only have room for one.

A meal made out of lots of amuse-bouches and starters (some of which contain complex carbohydrates) would probably be my ideal, which is probably why Viajante is my favourite restuarant by such a long way. (That and the fact that I feel the chef genuinely enjoys the challenge of catering for a vegetarian coeliac rather than believing that anyone who *really* appreciated food would eat anything).