4 bits of asparagus and half an egg - how much?

I would have sent it back.

This has turned into a real pile on and think its unfair. As others have pointed out, it's more than just the ingredient cost of asparagus and the half egg. There are some time fairly consuming processes involved - the puree, the hollandaise (guessing that's what the second sauce is), and making the crispy egg (par boiling, peeling, coating in the (made?) breadcrumb and then deep frying).

They may have got it wrong this time but the OP says herself it's been her favourite restaurant in the world. We have no idea what's going on with their kitchen staff at the moment. But I don't think £15 is unreasonable for a dish that takes time and skill to prepare.

Small portions and bad food is an old joke! Sadly not funny in your case.

At that price, the original dish, I would hope it was Norfolk asparagus which at the moment is perfect.

Ha I remember an episode of hotel hell where they served Gordon Ramsey half a dessert and he demanded the other half.
It always feels like places are taking the piss when they do this.

tbf, it's currently white asparagus season in Germany and you will get maybe 4 spears, dollop of green sauce, an egg and (sometimes) a couple of boiled potatoes for 20 euros. It's the short season for the white that makes it so pricey. In the UK when you can buy green imported all year round it's not so cool to charge so much.

Although having said that, I do remember discovering a wonderful Indian restaurant in London after a post on mumsnet criticising them. But that poster had many people commenting that they were going to book in there after hearing her criticisms.

I won't be doing that this time.

Fair enough.

I agree that eating out is a gamble.

No I don't work in the trade. And I do agree with your sentiment. In fact, DH and I were just discussing this morning how we never really go out to eat any more because of the cost and quality. I just have a bit of sympathy for this restaurant getting a very wide negative audience and not even knowing about it yet.

Oh if you're in Chelsea-sur Mer country it would really ramp up the price, love to know exactly where to see if my guesses are right. £15-£18 would be my guess for that area. We never go to the coast in the Summer and certainly not to eat in certain places!

They shouldn’t need to be told that charging £15 for dry asparagus and half a boiled egg is wrong. They absolutely know, they’re mugging people off.

Do you work in the trade?

Sounds like a typical north Norfolk rip off!

ETA we used to go there for meals all the time - gorgeous villages, but now it’s an absolute joke and local family run pubs turned into gastro warehouses with poor food and extortionate prices. I honestly hope these establishments fail!

I grew up in North Norfolk in the 80s/90s and can assure you that a crispy egg never crossed my path. Crab sticks were the currency back then. North Norfolk got bouji in the early 00s.

Eating out is so often a rip off.

I wouldn’t go back.

I don't think you're wrong to be disappointed with what you got for the price.

But... this is mumsnet, and a lot of people are very good at tracking things down, so it was a fair bet the restaurant would be identified. So, I think you've been unfair doing this without even talking to them first, especially as you say you usually go 15 times a year.

There's a high chance this will get back to the restaurant and I think they'll be (quite fairly) disappointed that you didn't give them the opportunity to rectify things.

This is exactly what I was going to ask!

And you betted it would be more, which it was! Have a bit of crispy egg too, as a bonus :)

Don’t ever go to the Faroe Islands, OP. We spent a week there, knowing it would be expensive, as all food has to be flown in and they can’t grow much food themselves (sheep and rhubarb the only visible farming). The simplest meal cost us £100 for 2 people. But My flabber was well and truly gasted when i ordered an asparagus starter (£17 each) and what came out was one asparagus spear out of a jar, cut into 5 pieces on a dollop of admittedly nice hollandaise sauce. I know it was asparagus from a jar because it was white and soft and I recognised the taste from my childhood in Germany. absolute shysters! There was no justification for such a mark up and I emailed them to tell them. Obviously my complaint rendered them speechless as they never replied

This is why I rarely eat out these days. Has to be a really special occasion and I have to know and trust the restaurant.

@Lifejigsaw absolutely, I LOVE the White Horse, especially Marshside at this time of year. Me and my DSis have perfected the art of getting the bus there and back, only one an hour but very reliable and we can drink!

If this was tapas seems ok? Not for a starter though where I’d expect at least five and hopefully a whole egg.

Ooh, I love hearing about expensive asparagus though. I have a massive asparagus bed in my garden with lovely juicy chunky asparagus. This time of year I eat it every day (often with an egg, sometimes straight from picked - it's so sweet, like peas in a pod taste). It makes me feel v smug - and tastes all the sweeter - when I know the value some chancers retailers put on it.

So I thank you for making me feel nice and smug, OP (even as my pee is currently green).

Agree! Would much rather go to the White Horse and enjoy the view with my overpriced food 😂

I go to BM VERY often but I never go to that restaurant as I’ve found it pretentious and a bit meh. I will give it another go sometime. My absolute favourite is the one on the green named a number 🕵️ I love it in there as it’s always such fun, especially a music Friday night. I’m going to give the other well known one up the other end of the village another go. It was so bad last time I went there to eat properly but that was probably three years ago. We popped in last visit for a quick lunch and it was brilliant

That's ridiculous. Would buy a steak dinner here in New Zealand for that. We'll, nearly, depending on restaurant.
Sometimes restaurants will jiggle prices around a bit and have a loss leader that gets people in the door and charge more profit on something like your dish, but that's still expensive.