Mushroom. Fucking. Risotto.

[CompleteBarstool]

We're on a rare trip away, been looking forward to it for ages especially about having some lovely food.

Now I discover tonight's veggie option is mushroom risotto. Mushroom. Fucking. Risotto.

What's the meal that makes your heart sink?

As a coeliac menu choices are often really limited.

However, I am utterly sick of 'gf chocolate brownie' being presented as a decadent desert. It's often more like some kind of fudge too, really stodgy and sickly.

--Tried not to mention how little sympathy they have for those who's menu options are limited by choice, not actual need.

I don't understand unimaginative veggie options, it's not difficult to make a balanced meal that doesn't include meat, I do it regularly and I'm not veggie. My favourite (gf) pizza is goats cheese & red onion.

I love mushroom risotto and goats cheese too for that matter. The problem is that if you are vegetarian and eating at a restaurant that serves meat and fish you will have limited options, chefs are not likely to be trained in more exotic cuisines either if it's a normal British/European restaurant. Decent (eg not pubs, chains) restaurants tend to have 8 or so mains of which one is vegan, one is veggie, one or two are fish (often one fish meal is gf) then 4 meat options.

If you want a more extensive selection you need to go to a vegetarian restaurant or Middle Eastern/Indian etc who have nicer options. Try eating in france, dd asking for vegetarian might as well have been her announcing she was from Mars, they looked confused and astonished despite us being with French friends (so not my dodgy French)

Spicy bean burgers on a menu make my heart sink. Never had a good one. I prefer the more recent Trend of Halloumi burgers, although they are everywhere now.

I am not a good cook by any means so it says something that I can make a risotto comparable to any decent risotto I’ve ever had in a restaurant or cooked at a dinner party. It’s definitely something I will happily cook at home but avoid when not at home if I possibly can.

I don't hate risotto but it's such a boring bowl of food.

@woodfort

I am not a good cook by any means so it says something that I can make a risotto comparable to any decent risotto I’ve ever had in a restaurant or cooked at a dinner party. It’s definitely something I will happily cook at home but avoid when not at home if I possibly can.

That’s the issue for me. I don’t want to order something I can easily make at home. Same for a lot of pub veggie options-chilli, lasagne etc.

I'm a pretty decent cook most of the time, and if I eat out, I want to eat something that I can't or wouldn't make the effort to cook for myself.

Being vegetarian and T2 diabetic (try to avoid heavy carbs) makes it bloody tough most of the time. Italian is too carby, but Mexican, Thai and Indian are usually a safe bet.

@ThisIsMyThread

🤮

Mine is quiche.

Thank god I’m not the only person who despises quiche!

I’ve never understood the fascination with the stuff! 🤢

And I hate Risotto. Flavour doesn’t matter, Risotto is just wrank on every level.

I will say though, that despite not begging vegetarian myself, I did mistakenly order a Spinach Cannelloni once and it was bloody amazing!! I’d definitely have that again.

But not quiche. Never quiche 🤮😂

I actually like a risotto but I know what you mean about every mouthful being the same.

I think that's a key observation, @Zolrets, about dinners that people are paying good money for. You want textures within the meal, colour, a bit of flavour variety for your money. And a reasonable amount of the food(s), like the meateaters get.

This isn't camp stove cooking at the top of the Cheviots for a dozen ecology students on a weekend surveying trip who'd be glad of a tin of beans and a few Linda McCartney sausages.

Back when I was veggie i got served a plate of veg with grated cheese on it grilled slightly so it was grated sweaty cheese I have never craved scampi and chips more it might have gone some way towards why I stopped being vegetarian the lack of choice the expensive salad you went to a burger bar asked for a veggie burger they gave you a salad roll so basically a burger without the actual burger

I really think everyday eateries need to start upping their game when it comes to vegetarian options. Given that more & more people are choosing to eat more healthily and therefore are consciously opting for greener foods & plant-based foods it’s quite lazy to offer one standard vegetarian dish amongst a plethora of meat dishes. Even those that eat meat will often choose a vegetarian dish if it looks tasty & healthy, or a little bit of meat accompanied by delicious salads or tasty rice/quinoa/beans.

I went to a pub recently that prides itself on its varied & delicious cuisine. All the burgers were meat, either beef or chicken. They had two salads on offer, or you could order a side of chips to go with it if you were hungry. Meanwhile the meat options just went on and on. Steak, curries, fish fishes, pies, burgers.

Pubs/restaurants etc just need to remember that not all meat-eaters will always choose meat over a vegetarian dish, & to increase their healthy vege options to keep up with the change in demand.

I love a good mushroom risotto - & still miss the lovely truffled one they did at Jamie's Italian 😢-as I can't cook it myself, requires more patience than I have - my heart sinks at vegetable lasagne - always stodgy and tasteless imo

I can get more veggie options in Lidl, and they don't have much range at all!

Although, now and again, when we fancy a quick ready meal, particularly Indian, there is only one veggie option - always the same! Chicken everywhere but no interesting vegetable options.

Used to be roasted veg with rice, cous cous if the restaurant was "out there". 1 vege/vegan option these days is sheer laziness. There are so many easy restaurant dishes that can be vege/vegan without detracting from their meat dishes. Best thing... Tell them you are allergic to the main ingredient, then they either have to ask you to leave, think bad publicity, or come up with something wonderful...

@anwensmummy

What annoys me these days is many restaurants no longer offer any vegetarian options - they just offer vegan instead thinking it will cover both types of diet. Which of course technically it does, but I’m not vegan, I like dairy, it’s so annoying having an even more limited choice!

Definitely! I love cheese, cream and eggs. It's just lazy giving one choice Most disappointing meal out I've had was in Madrid years ago, was there with a friend. Saw patatas fritas and manchego on the menu ( neither of us spoke Spanish). We were starving, and very disappointed when we got a plate of crisps and some slices of cheese. Not eaten manchego since

With you on this - nothing against mushroom risotto or tomato pasta but they are the default veggie option in so many restaurants - even the posh ones! - and so uninspired! I also don’t like it when you go for a roast and either have to pay roughly the same for ‘just the veg’ or much worse have to order pasta when everyone else gets a proper dinner with all the trimmings - we like them too! Or when there is literally nothing vegetarian and you end up having to order a random assortment of sides - I’ve been known to end up with mash and salad on the same plate

I went to a Jamie Oliver restaurant once (quite a long time ago) and the veggie option was macaroni cheese! Don't get me wrong, I quite like a macaroni cheese but I don't want nursery food when I'm out for dinner.

@inappropriateraspberry

Although, now and again, when we fancy a quick ready meal, particularly Indian, there is only one veggie option - always the same! Chicken everywhere but no interesting vegetable options.

Rubbish isn't it when there's so many amazing vegetarian Indian dishes.

@Mandora83

With you on this - nothing against mushroom risotto or tomato pasta but they are the default veggie option in so many restaurants - even the posh ones! - and so uninspired! I also don’t like it when you go for a roast and either have to pay roughly the same for ‘just the veg’ or much worse have to order pasta when everyone else gets a proper dinner with all the trimmings - we like them too! Or when there is literally nothing vegetarian and you end up having to order a random assortment of sides - I’ve been known to end up with mash and salad on the same plate

Agree about the roast thing. I don't want pasta or fucking quinoa, if everybody else is eating roast beef and Yorkshire pud.

@CompleteBarstool my heart sinks when I read mushroom risotto as the veggie option, that and anything with sloppy butternut squash! Total lack of imagination there!

I’m not a vegetarian and do eat chicken and fish but mostly opt for the veggie option. When I see mushroom risotto on the menu though I know that the chicken option will probably be Hunters Chicken and a pretty rubbish one at that!

I am with the person who said cheese salad was the only option. Only options i rememer in the ye olden days were a jacket potato or the meat dish with the carbs and veggies just no meat was the only veggie options!! But yes mushroom risotto is on EVERY menu now 😴😴😴😴 they should change it up

Sorry your choice is rubbish and the end result not good.

I do like mushroom risotto - it's probably the most common risotto in Italy - but I'm not a veggie so haven't ever felt like it's my only option.

And for the record - risotto should not be sloppy /boring /samey etc - it's not being made well if that's the case.

Love risotto. My fave is lemon and courgette. Or maybe milanese (saffron based) with asparagus. Hmm maybe Salsiccia.

Note to self. Risotto for dinner this week sometime.

When there’s limited choice on the menu, if you’re a vegetarian or don’t eat a wide range of meat, mushroom risotto is the beige, bland afterthought, that can absolutely ruin your evening!

I’d prefer a range of starters, olives with bread, garlic mushrooms, truffle chips, halloumi fries etc than mushroom friggin risotto!

It’s like seeing fish fingers, chips and garden peas on the menu, when you were expecting sea bass, smashed something or other and a jus!