“Secret” things you ask for in shops

[PantTwizzler]

I realised today in Clarks (while buying shoes for DD who had bare feet necessitating asking for their pop socks) that there are some things you can ask for in shops that aren’t advertised but are available. Pop socks is a boring example because they’d probably offer anyway, but there’s also
— garlic oil in Pizza Express
— getting your cappuccino “extra hot”

Ok it’s a short list. Is there anything else?!

In contrast I asked for a coconut milk flat white in my local Costa which they said couldn’t be made, I had to ask them to turn round and look at their own wall where it was featured on a huge display as a new drink.

for the hot chocolate/capp you just boil the milk to a hotter temperature than standard

In Starbucks you can ask for ‘light ice’ which just means you get more drink less ice in your iced cappuccino/Frappuccino or whatever. Kind of obvious but it took me ages to think to ask.

Sometimes asking for hot milk is necessity. I'm dairy intolerant but do love the odd cappuccino. Can't tolerate soya milk but by trial and accident I have discovered if the milk is heated to very hot I can drink my cappuccino without incident. Think it destroys the milk proteins or something which is what I'm intolerant too, I'm not sure why it works but glad it does.

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Yesterday 02:15 Juancornetto

I'm really not a coffee conniseur so I always order a filter coffee from Costa. It's not written on the menu in my local one but they do them and they're cheaper than an Americano"
It's new, they've added it to the menu to some costa and not others I prefer filter.

Pret does a black filter coffee for 99p. If you have a travel mug you get 50p off, so a coffee and a seat in King's Cross for 49p. And they take card

It's only slightly more expensive than the wee you'll need afterwards.
Although I'm told the toilets are free now!

I am vegetarian and have often had things which are just not on the menu

I also ask for chilli flakes on pizza

I always ask for Special Stuff when I'm shopping locally in the local butcher's shop in our local village.

Most good restaurants will also serve you a smaller main course if you ask rather than the normal adult size. It's larger than a child's but not as large as adult's. Husband does this a lot in restaurants as he has a very small appetite. Our local Italian calls it a "piccolo" portion.

Lhassi in an Indian restaurant ? Rarely on the menu, but always available.

I'd genuinely be unable to ask for that without sniggering and making terrible jokes about it sounding more like Korean cuisine .

@Intothe you can buy trousers hangers in plenty of places .

I frequently order drinks which don't appear on the menu.
In Costa I've requested iced mocha with coconut milk (not on menu) and asked them what other iced tea drinks they could do, other than peach. They offered a couple of others not on the menu!

YesQueen You're lucky, my local Starbucks wouldn't even give me an eggnog latte last year, apparently they were only doing that creme brulee one - which had eggnog in it

Bastards

When I go to the chippy I buy everything separate instead of a supper.
So, for example, I'd ask for 2 sausages, chicken, a fish and a pasty then 3 chips. They always put some chips in with the meat/fish and its enough to make up a portion.

(Joining the extra-hot coffee debate...) I’m another ex-barista who preheated stay-in cups with hot water and had customers often ask especially for me to do their ‘extra hot’ drinks . It makes a huge difference to the temp! Scalding the milk is rank and the milk smells/tastes sweeter .
I loved having coffees in Spain as often the machine’s water was fixed at a

Don’t use the pop socks in clarks. They get reused until they fall apart. They were never washed when I worked there

I always ask for an extra hot latte otherwise it's just lukewarm!

carafe of wine at drive thru....

Nero, Costa and Starbucks all do pouring cream with an Americano. It’s my regular drink.

Starbucks do a puppacino for dogs.

I'm a veggie and my local chippy will batter a veggie burger for me prior to putting it in the bun if I ask them. Tip for veggie readers here - it's immense and you must try it.

@StoppinBy the way you've described flat Whites as a latte without froth? I was under the impression that flat Whites were stronger than cappuccinos with especially dense froth?

I must've been crafting them wrong oops.

A friend of mine has a fancy oval-shaped ring on their hob expressly for fish kettles.

Sainsburys allow you to hire wine glasses for free. My mum always got them when we had a party. I thought everyone knew this until my mil came back with boxes of cheap glasses she'd bought to get through xmas. They still take up half her garage.

@twilightcafe thank you so much for the links!

A few years we ordered a couple of sofas from our local furniture shop. They had a lead time of 8 weeks & I was pregnant & expessed my dismay at having to sit on garden chairs for 8 weeks!

They loaned us, for free, a lovely sofa that was a 'trade in' (as in free delivery if they take your old sofa & sell it) it was brilliant!