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.

Ridiculous! The most delicious carrots in the world would still not constitute a meal. Where is the carbohydrate and protein? And the variety? I like carrots but would be utterly bored by a whole plate of them. And £12.95 for carrots? Taking the absolute piss.

That's not the real Swanhotel posting - the spelling is too good :o (in my respective opinion )

I had the pret falafel & halloumi wrap for lunch. OK, it's a sandwich - but the ideas could turn it into a dinner dish. They really raised it up a notch by putting in a mango chutney and roasted pepper, so you had a lot of sweet/salty dry/moist contrasts going on.

If it really was the Swan Hotel, I would ask them why they were boasting about their locally sourced Rosary Goats Cheese when they import their sodding carrots from the Netherlands!

I think it's a mistake. The risotto is the veggy option

www.bedfordswanhotel.co.uk/the-bedford-swan/river-room-restaurant.html

Look at how they've spelt Appetisers too.
Could you have some wafer thin ham?

The most delicious carrots in the world would still not constitute a meal. Where is the carbohydrate and protein? And the variety?

Exactly!

Are they purple carrots?

Surely someone would have pointed it out by now if it was a mistake. Pretty dire.

Melanzane parmigiana with shit-hot roast potatoes....mmm..

Or a plate with, for example, falafel, spanakopitta, baba ganoush...

My favourite cuisine, by a country mile, is Greek/ Turkish/ Middle Eastern. Loads of inspiration for vegetarians.

I agree with not including quorn on a restaurant menu, too. It's what you eat at home because it's cheap and easy.

Swanhotel

Best MN name change ever!

extremepie Can I suggest you ask your boss to send you on a fact-finding mission to L'Arpege in Paris? They do some amazing things with vegetables and are sure to provide lots of inspiration.

Has anyone phoned the restaurant to see what the plate of carrots is?

I would but I'm a chicken

AnnIonic - Pret do some fab veggie sarnies, don't they? I'm not veggie, but I love my vegetables and I had a lovely sarnie with some really huge chunks of harissa roasted vegetables in, the other week. It was so tasty.

And if a sandwich shop can churn out something so lovely for £3, I should think a restaurant could produce something better than a plate of carrots for £13. I scrape together better lunches using the ageing contents of my veg drawer.

Any chef looking for ideas should try Cafe Paradiso recipes. And avoid penne pasta in our special rich tomato sauce, or stir fried vegetables with soya sauce on them

Just getting on this thread...I may call the restaurant
Also googling demuth s, has a lot of recommendations on this thread

This is too funny!!!

We once went to Quaglino's for a family party. The vegetarian choice consisted of plain noodles for first course, followed by plain spaghetti for main. Seriously, it was over ten years ago, but I distinctly remember there was no sauce and very little flavour with either dish. I don't think they like vegetarians !
Poor attitude

My favourite typo on a menu was what was supposedly delicious cumberland sausges served with mash - only it said "mush". Didnt fancy that much

I am outside the UK so can't do it myself but someone PLEASE call the restaurant and report back!

That's pretty grim! Honestly, in 10 years of vegetarianism I've never seen anything quite that bad (with the possible exception of taramasalata appearing on the "veggie" section of the menu!)

Wouldn't ever order quorn in a restaurant don't eat it at home either. For inspiration for good veg dishes take a look at books: Plenty and Veggistan. For easy veg go try food at Mildreds. For so et ing posh go to Vanilla Black. It is not difficult but need some proper protein... Think pulses not processed stuff.

think I might suggest plate of carrots as my Xmas dinner option at the inlays.

Just looked at the steak menu myself - you have to pay extra for the potato (chips), salad & side options!!! You have to pay for the chips!

At least they don't serve the carrots in a bucket. That's at least 2 stars from me.

They have a Facebook page BTW.

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Bedford-Swan/119378151446089?ref=ts&v=wall