to find this vegetarian menu option rather uninspiring?

[Melpomene]

Our family are going to stay in a hotel tomorrow night. A relatively smart place, with a spa and a '2AA rosette award winning River Room Restaurant'. The dds and I are vegetarian, so I had a look at the hotel's menu on their website. The options for main course include:

• Line caught skate wing pan fried with capers, lemon, nut brown butter - £17 (sounds nice if you eat fish)
  

• Roast cornfed chicken breast, sage, onion, bread sauce - £15 (sounds nice if you eat chicken)
  

• Plate of carrots (vegetarian) - £12.95
  

To be fair, they do also have a tomato risotto - but on what planet does a 'plate of carrots' count as a main course? And how can you justify charging £12.95 for it?

I think we'll be visiting a restaurant in the town instead.

[Peevish]

Ah, you're not for real. Duh, should have refreshed before posting.

I still bet my plate of carrots was superior.

[ConfusedPixie]

May I also add: parsnips and carrots roasted in maple syrup are far superior to those roasted in balsamic vinegar. HTH

[TessCowDirect]

But I need to know whether the carrots were happy !!

[Peevish]

Tess, they probably had a rich inner life and were humanely slaughtered.

[ArbitraryUsername]

To be honest, carrots (even Dutch ones roasted and drizzled with balsamic vinegar) sounds like a side dish rather than a main course. I'd be disappointed because it really is just a plate of carrots pretending to be a bit fancy. And I would not be impressed that it was £13 either.

[Nobodythatyouwouldknow]

Ok so if we accept you are the Swan Hotel and the carrots are a delicious dish why isn't a proper description given as per the other menu items (except Shepherds pie, pretty self explanatory!) You cannot be surprised by the reaction here given you are offering a plate of carrots for £12.95!

I still think a plate of dutch carrots roasted in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar is extortionate, especially having lived in the Netherlands where Dutch carrots were .... like English carrots!

[ScaryHairyMcSweary]

I feel very stupid now about the Catholic cheese

[Silibilimili]

Enjoyed this thread.

In Switzerland, when I asked for some pasta with vegetable (as there was no vegetarian option on the menu), I have been given plain boiled pasta with a boiled carrot and boiled potato on the side.

In Argentina, when I asked for a pizza margarita, the chef added anchovies to the pizza which came 40mins later. I sent it back. After another 20 mins wait, they sent it back. It took them 20 mins to pick off the anchovies one by one!

In Greece, we had ham served on our vegetarian bruschetta.

The only place I have eaten a great vege meal in Europe is Amsterdam in a rijsttafel (rice table) restaurant. Gosh I still remember that meal. Yummy.

[Vivalebeaver]

Not sure if its still the same but 20plus years ago a vegiburger in a French McDonald's was a normal hamburger with the burger removed.

[ChablisLover]

Mel- are you in Northern Ireland?

If so, I have inkling of where you are going

Enjoy

But the grill bar is equally as uninspiring for veggies

[CaseyShraeger]

Once when I was at college, the vegetarian option was a jacket potato, with a side of jacket potato. They must have assumed that vegetarians really liked jacket potato...

[extremepie]

Had to post on this thread - as a chef it is right up my alley!

I'm not a veggie but some of my very close friends are and I hate to think that if they wanted to go out for dinner their only option would be a 'plate of carrots', even if they are in balsamic!!

Just out of curiosity, what would you like to see as a veggie option on a menu? At the restaurant I am working in we are trying to come up with a new veggie special (at the moment it is tomato and paprika quorn with mixed veg cous cous) and I really want to steer clear of the default veggie options of goats cheese, risotto, some kind of veggie tart, soup, cheese jacket/baguette etc but I don't know what to put on!

Any ideas?

That menu is really sloppy, it couldn't take a lot of effort to make the food sound a whole lot nicer and the prices!!!!

IMO, that is just greed, a tomato risotto probably costs less than £3 to make and they are selling it for that!

[ConfusedPixie]

extremepie: I like pie actually, DP and I make a roasted sweet vegetable pie with leftovers from our roast dinners. One of my favourites!

[crunchbag]

Ah the famous Dutch carrot, surely to make it more authentic you should mash it up with potato and onions for a more substantial meal called 'hutspot'

[Vivalebeaver]

Extremepie, Dh is vegi and would hate to see quorn on the menu. A lot of Vegis don't like meat substitutes. I've eaten quorn and its fairly grim, but not just from a taste point of view. Vegetarians may be repulsed by eating something that is close in looks / texture to meat.

A good veg curry is always appreciated.

Lots of good recipes here

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/vegetarian

[BreconBeBuggered]

Yes, a nice veggie pie, maybe something like mushrooms and baby onions in a red wine sauce for the cheese haters? Something that can be served with proper hot vegetables on a winter's night instead of a plate of chilly salad leaves
No no and no again to the quorn.

[BreconBeBuggered]

Casey, much as I love the plate of carrots, your baked potato served with a baked potato is my favourite dish on this thread. So thoughtful.

[extremepie]

Thanks viva, I'm not a fan of quorn myself but my boss put it on the menu!

I love veg curry so would be happy for an excuse to make it :D

Sweet potatoes are lovely, we have sweet potato fries as well as normal fries and I always try to nick a few if I can!

[Vivalebeaver]

And the female chef who did that Mexican. Book?? Thomasina someone?

Did a fab Mexican veg chili with banana and apple in it.

[exexpat]

Curries are good, but there are a surprising number of people who don't like them. Also no thanks to quorn in restaurants. I'd prefer to see something imaginative with vegetables, maybe the kind of thing that's too fiddly to make at home very often, eg something like parsnip roulade ( there are various recipes around on the Internet), a vegetable & chickpea tagine, something interesting with wild mushrooms (ie not risotto). Maybe look at the menus of award-winning vegetarian restaurants like Cafe Maitreya (Bristol) or Demuths (Bath) for inspiration?

[Chopchopbusybusy]

Each to their own but I like quorn. My favourite chinese restaurant has quorn on the menu as well as tofu - which I'm less keen on - and lots of veggie dishes which I like to include with the quorn (dds are vegetarian too).

[exexpat]

Actually, thinking more about curries - I can't remember having a decent curry ever that wasn't in an Indian restaurant. Veggie curries in pub are uniformly awful, in my experience - gloopy, bland, with horrible Uncle Ben's-style rice, usually. I'd always prefer to go somewhere proper.


Of course it depends what's on the rest of your menu, but I think it would be better to offer a veggie option more in keeping with the rest of your style, whether it's British, modern European or whatever.

[bringonthetrumpets]

You can work wonders with lentils (puy [french] and green ones) and make some great gourmet dinners with them.

[ChippingInLovesAutumn]

Who else is going to ring them tomorrow and 'enquire' about their vegetarian options?

We really need to - they shouldn't be allowed to get away with this dire offereing.

[Isandri]

One of the restaurants near my patents "the raglan arms" often has imam bayildi as the veggie option. It tastes amazing. If anyone is near s.west Wales it's worth going. The menu changes every 1-2 weeks.