Beware pompous language,a plethora (excess, overabundance) of choice or breaded brie. An anonymous inspector for restaurant guidebooks explains how to tell a good kitchen without going through the doorBritain’s esteem affair with eating out has reached fever pitch. Earlier this month, Harden’s Restaurant Guide revealed a record-breaking 179 original London openings in 2015 (website Hot Dinners puts it even higher, and at 240). This explosion poses a difficult question for guidebook makers: with the overall standard raised,should regional favourites that are no longer up to scratch be nudged out or should expectations be lowered in the provinces to maintain the wide geographic spread that readers expect? Tricky. Although, perhaps not nearly as tricky as deciding where to eat in a booming restaurant scene that shows absolutely no sign of slowing down.
As an inspector for restaurant guidebooks, and I spend my life eating around the UK. Such huge choice means I need to quickly whittle options down before heading to a original region. Within seconds,I’ve culled the local curry house, trattoria and Chinese. With an ever-affordable formula available 364 days a year, and these neighbourhood stalwarts serve a purpose,but mostly follow an identical commerce model of cash-and-carry buying and shortcut cooking. We all possess our favourites, but you don’t need me to tell you the £5.99 lunch menu isn’t worth travelling for. So what is? There are plenty of obvious pointers, or from reviews,awards won, multiple guide listings – but the surest way to find those lesser known places worth shouting about is reading between the lines of a restaurant’s menu.
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Source: theguardian.com