Would you pay £18 for this as a main in a posh restaurant?

[Flowerwinter]

Ordered what I thought was a salmon fillet from the mains, this is what arrived…it was £18. I’m gutted.

I suppose it is..
If you're an otter.

I looked at that and thought it was a double starter, which it apparently is.

For sashimi, that's a perfectly fine price I'd say, it's just that it's presented as a more european style salmon dish, so you're expecting more fish/something with it.

If you're having that as a main, you do need something else though - if you were having sushi then you'd have some more things - if you're staying with the asian style, then some pickles, or a mango salad, some kind of pancake, or some crispy veggies, or some kind of rice. Or if you're going european, new potatoes and veggies. But something, it's part of a main, not a standalone main I'd say.

any chance of a link to their website/menu? if it's sushi that can be hideously wanky and expensive. What were the other dishes/prices like?

@BrightYellowDaffodil

It does look as though what would normally be served and what OP was served were different things so on that front, YANBU.

But.

It’s not uncommon for high end restaurants to serve a dish like this as a main (and no, it’s not a dirty plate, it’s quite clearly the glaze...) and possibly at a higher price. I agree with @Upinflames regarding the flavours, intensity of sauces etc - you’re paying for gastronomy and fancy cheffiness. If you want something that comes with plate piled high, sides and hunks of bread, go somewhere else because that’s not what these sorts of places are about. You’d not go to a Heston Blumenthal restaurant and complain that nothing was served with chips...

I'm sorry, but that's bollocks. I've eaten in a number of top restaurants and have never felt hungry, even when at first the portion seems small, as the meal has been very well balanced. And the food is always beautifully plated. This isn't, as I said, I've made better for my lunch at home with a bit of Aldi smoked salmon. When you eat out, you want something better than you'd make at home, and for £18 for a main, something substantially better than you'd get at home.

This is not fine dining, this is a hotel attempting fine dining and coming up with something that wouldn't get you through the first round of amateur Masterchef. Poncey and pretentious and from the portion shown on the website, also an attempt to save money. Either that or they ran out of salmonand were eking it out. Either way, it's rubbish whatever way you look at it. The worst places to eat in are pretentious places that think they are doing fine dining but aren't.

@Brefugee

any chance of a link to their website/menu? if it's sushi that can be hideously wanky and expensive. What were the other dishes/prices like?

It took me about 30 seconds to find it using Google from the info the OP has given.

It is not even that well presented, it looks like leftovers

I can't believe so many people think the plate looks dirty.

@Brefugee

any chance of a link to their website/menu? if it's sushi that can be hideously wanky and expensive. What were the other dishes/prices like?

devonshirehotels.co.uk/lp-terrace-derbyshire/

I think they have mixed it up with one of the plates that had been cleared away.

£18 isn't very expensive for a main, unfortunately that's not a main. I'd post it on a review site like tripadvisor as that's really not good enough.

They seem to have mixed the starter and the main.

Odd that there seems to be more food on the starter - the four large strips with bread looks quite decent for a starter and loads more salmon (and the bread) than the six little bites on the main.

Looks like a child made it.

I have to say though from the blog the chocolate and hazelnut cheesecake looks sublime. (I'm not even a fan of sweet things).

@KihoBebiluPute

The pusher the restaurant, the more shocking the price-to-mouthfuls ratio is. If you aren't paying £35 for 3 mouthfuls then it's only medium-posh not proper-posh.

Yes that is certainly the way it seems to work! I don’t understand why anyone goes to these ridiculously priced restaurants only to come away still hungry.

Give me a Hungry Horse big plate special any day.

We went to a high-end restaurant two weeks ago and were served, as part of a seven-course tasting menu, a dish comprising a quarter breast of duck (rare, practically quacking), on top of a spoonful of peas, alongside granola in hoisin sauce (!). I deeply regret not taking a photo. This is from one of the most acclaimed chefs in the country who, like the rest of us, can have bad ideas once in a while. £400ish for two, in case anyone was wondering. This kind of wankery isn't limited to any one price bracket.

I know people don't like to feel 'ripped off' but I do think we have to be aware that sometimes mistakes are made with no bad intentions.
Taking it up with the establishment is perfectly reasonable. I worry however that these types of threads can often run a bit wild with posters baying for blood, naming and shaming and all the rest of it.
People's livelihoods are at stake, it's been shitty for businesses this past 18 months, let's not go nuclear here folks.

Certainly doesn’t look like it came from the place in the link. Why are British restaurants so quick to charge and so slow to give you anything like value? Surely it can’t be that hard to offer a decent meal?

A general rule of thumb is to expect to feel hungry after a meal at any gourmet restaurant, that is their standard portion size. DH and I went to one with his work a few years ago and both felt starving afterwards so had a take away when we got home .

It depends on the quality of the ingredients being used. We all know that we could make it cheaper at home but if it’s high quality, responsibly sourced and organic ingredients prepared by a highly qualified chef I can’t see how people are complaining really.

I think this thread will be in the Daily Mail before the day is out, with them asking the restaurant for comment etc...

Posh restaurants always serve small portions so YABU.

You get full up across the whole meal though, with amuse bouche, starter, maybe bread, main, dessert, petits four.

I like having lots of little bits to taste vs one big plate.

My cat would be following me round the house mewing with disgust and hunger if that’s all I gave him for his dinner.

I assume you got to keep 'the big plate' ?

@21Flora

It depends on the quality of the ingredients being used. We all know that we could make it cheaper at home but if it’s high quality, responsibly sourced and organic ingredients prepared by a highly qualified chef I can’t see how people are complaining really.

The cost of the ingredients is a small proportion of what you pay, so how much food they give you is less of a concern than how it is cooked and presented.

Yes, posh restaurants give you less food than the bin lids full you get in chain pubs and that's no bad thing but you still expect to be served a full meal.

You will pay more, but the idea is that you order all three courses and that's a full meal worth of food and that if the mains don't come with sides, it would be stated on the menu so you know you need to order sides too. The waiter should have said, if the salmon was all that the OP ordered, that she might like to order sides, as the main was only salmon and garnish.

OP, what did your dining companion's meal look like and could you see what other diners were getting? Was that size typical, or were other plates more normal?

No way I could eat more than that. I have a gastric band. I usually end up wasting 2/3 of my meal. I must go there.