...to want a posh restaurant to cook my dinner?

[Pizdietz]

I don't often eat out, and can count on one hand the posh/fancy restaurants I've been to.

Many years ago, in Australia, I got to taste seared scallops and couldn't get over how delicious they were. This was in the 1990s.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and through work I ended up at some super-duper restaurant in Covent Garden. Seared scallops were on the menu, and I was very excited to taste them again.

Imagine my disappointment when I bit into one and it was grey and slimy, not actually cooked at all except on the outside. It looked like a glacuous eyeball. I asked the waiter if I could have them a bit more well-cooked, and after some protests he agreed to ask the chef. Eventually the dish was brought back to me, but it was made very clear that the chef disapproved of me ruining the food like this.

For my main course, I'd ordered duck. It was supposed to be roast duck, but guess what?! there was blood oozing out of it. I got the impression it had briefly seen the inside of a warm pan.

Again I asked if they would mind cooking it a bit more, and again my apparently bizarre request was reluctantly granted.

I'd forgotten that weird meal until a couple of nights ago, when once again I found myself in a posh restaurant. Seared scallops were on the menu! and... well, you can guess the rest.

It is too much to expect food to be actually cooked in a posh restaurant? Are they saving on electricity or something?

YANBU = Food like this has much nicer flavour and texture when cooked through (and raw seafood/duck could pose a health risk?)

YABU = You are failing to appreciate the delicacy and sublety of truly quality ingredients, and the refined skills of the chef, you ungrateful cow!

Yes. This thread has been helpful in helping me identify what a deviant I am 😆 I didn't realise!

Whereabouts in Brittany? If you are in St Malo, go to Deux Degres Ouest in the old town. Scallops not guaranteed but properly good food.

Thanks for the top tip! We're not there any more (it was Morbihan). Now off to the shops (France) to buy Xmas supplies. After some debate, we're not going to buy scallops. I'm just going to leave it as my restaurant unicorn and see if Life ever delivers it to me again 😃

That’s why restaurant reviews and trip advisor reviews exist - to research the kind of place that will appeal to you.

For the majority of diners, your preferred cooking style would be sent back as overcooked. High end restaurants tend to focus on quality ingredients, and as the chef’s adage goes, “buy the best ingredients, try not to fuck them up.”

Sashimi grade tuna would be ruined by cooking it through - like a chain would with their mass-bought frozen tuna fillets.

Mid level restaurants are more likely to have ingredients that need more cooking to bring them to their best. Some of the cheapest cuts of meat only become delicious through a long cooking time.

Don't feel sorry for them.

They are crazy rapist thugs.

Oh my gosh I like my fish cooked through and went to a restaurant and they refused to cook it anymore! I was so shocked! Like who cares what you think is the right way to cook it?! I’m the one eating it and paying for it?? I wanted to leave but the person I was with wanted to stay. Years later I’m still so shocked by their refusal to just cook my food to my request!

eh? Say what now??

@Pizdietz this is why I often order vegetarian food in restaurants as a) veg is always edible & I’ve yet to be offered a raw potato b) veg dishes tend to be cheaper

sorry your meal out was disappointing

I absolutely don’t get this mentality. Surely the ‘perfect’ way to cook something is whatever way the person who will be eating it will actually enjoy it? That is what food is actually for after all. There just isn’t a God given or universal ‘correct’ way to cook stuff, it’s all just tradition and preference (and frequently pretentiousness).

I hope that was part of a tasting menu or one of a number of small plates rather than a starter. One fecking scallop!

Was the restaurant in Australia by the sea? It could just be the scallops there were fresher. That makes such a difference with seafood.

The poster wasn’t saying that there is only one way to cook these foods, and they mustn’t be served any other way. They literally say “If you want something other than this, then that's fine”. There is, however, a conventional way of cooking for which restaurants will serve meat, fish and eggs (in the absence of something like a steak where you are asked how you want it cooked) as it’s what most chefs consider the best way to enjoy the ingredient. That actually works better for everyone, as one can anticipate how the food will be cooked and request further cooking if desired.

I also doubt it’s pretentiousness. That implies that neither the chefs, nor the customers are enjoying a rare duck breast, but everyone is pretending to in an attempt to be fancy, wishing it was well done.

I also doubt it’s pretentiousness. That implies that neither the chefs, nor the customers are enjoying a rare duck breast, but everyone is pretending to in an attempt to be fancy, wishing it was well done.

That wouldn’t surprise me in the least judging by faces of many patrons in a lot of restaurants I’ve been to!

The op mentioned that they had to essentially argue with the waiter to get him to even ask the chef if she might have her food cooked the way she wanted it… clearly it’s not always considered fine to ask. I had a hell of a time getting a properly rare steak in an expensive Argentinian steak restaurant … you would have thought there was a law against anything but medium.

There's a lot of judgement about restaurant patrons on this thread - reverse snobbery.

Most people who go to decent restaurants do so because they like food. Some people value live music, or clothes, or sporting events, other people really value good food. That's not being pretentious or showing off or wanting to pretend to fancy.

It's OK for people to like other things, it doesn't mean they think they are better than people who don't like that thing in the same way.

Oh, believe me, we did lots of research online before choosing this restaurant. One of the things that swayed me was seeing the mouth-watering photos of their seared scallops. Only... you never see them cut open, only the alluring golden exterior. I just assumed that what was inside would be soft, creamy deliciousness, not raw.

I know how dry and tough tuna gets if it's cooked through (that's why I much prefer tinned! 😜), but scallops are so much nicer if cooked JUST to the point of being heated through... and no more. I can't help wondering if this is why there's a fashion for just a quick browning of the outside: because it's too easy to overcook them, especially if things are busy in the kitchen. You'd only need to be distracted for 20 seconds to ruin this dish, and the ingredients are too expensive to throw away and start again.

I also "get" that undercooking showcases how fresh the scallops are, but I'm beginning to think maybe some people just have no idea how much more delicious they are if they're gently cooked through, because they're never experienced it! One reason I didn't ask for them to be cooked more the other night is that I was curious to know why the preference for the raw presentation. It wasn't as sweet, it wasn't as tender, the texture was grim weird. Each to our own, I guess, but it all seems a bit Emperor's Clothes.

You can't just say that and then go away and not explain!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd love to be able to eat Chinese crispy roast duck without feeling guilty.

I just looked up duck behaviour on Wikipedia, and see nothing to mark them as anything but responsible citizens of the animal world. Some even "have pair-bonds that last numerous years", which is pretty moral behaviour in a world without marriage.

Yes, but so was the restaurant earlier this week (Brittany coast).

In restaurants wirh good service, they should usually say when you order 'the duck is cooked quite pink, is that ok? And even if the chef thinks it's a complete waste of a meal, they should cook it to your liking when asked, without trying to persuade you otherwise

This thread has taken such a wild turn. Sometimes you're in the minority, it's no big deal! 'Fancy' restaurants are businesses and to stay open it's generally a good idea to cook food that appeals to the majority of their actual patrons, rather than people who might consider trying their 'dream' foods once in a decade.... really no conspiracy theories needed.

What conspiracy theory???????

Ahh, maybe you mean me teasing people that they don't know what properly cooked scallops taste like 😁

I'm just having a laugh, it's just that I don't get why "raw" is better. Can someone explain how it tastes nicer than (very delicately) cooked?

Duck should be rested though - pink inside but blood on plate means not rested well. I need resting well.
Scallops- good fresh ones should be seared brown and virtually raw inside - but grey and flabby means not great ingredients. I have decreed 🤣

I agree, duck shouldn't be extremely rare

I agree with you.

It's all very well other people deciding what the 'best' or 'perfect' way of cooking any item of food is, but that is just their opinion. And it also varies according to fashion. There is no objective 'best'. Some people prefer the taste and texture of rare meat, others that slightly caramelised taste and more positive texture of very well done and some fall in the middle. Likewise fish. It is not for the person cooking it to decide what a customer's tastes 'should' be.

I have discovered that some restaurants, probably which would be considered 'lesser' by the self-appointed 'experts' have chefs who can cook meat, fish and eggs thoroughly without them being the slightest bit rubbery. My local Greek restaurant does a beautiful tender well-done steak, and many branches of Cote do too. I suspect that some chefs aren't quite as confident in their skills in cooking well-done, if they are busy trying to impress with how they produce undercooked food.

A while ago I heard the head chef of a high-end cruise line talking. He can, on occasion, produce over 1000 meals at a time, all cooked to a standard that impresses customers who frequent top-starred London and New York restaurants. He knew that it was very important to cook meat and fish to the customer's own tastes and said he found quite a problem with trainees thinking that they could decree what the customer 'should' like. He was horrified when someone suggested that well-done meat or fish could be tough. Not if it was properly cooked by someone who knew what s/he was doing, he said.

So I suspect that many of these chefs who can only undercook meat just aren't particularly skilled at cooking things thoroughly and well.

I suspect that many of these chefs who can only undercook meat just aren't particularly skilled at cooking things thoroughly and well.
I can't help wondering this too, although apparently it's a "conspiracy theory"! I think of it more as a convenience theory, in a busy restaurant with expensive ingredients.

I've yet to see anyone explain why a half-raw scallop tastes so much nicer than the delicate, creamy flesh of a perfectly cooked one 🤮😈😜

I've yet to see anyone explain why a half-raw scallop tastes so much nicer than the delicate, creamy flesh of a perfectly cooked one

not sure why you keep dredging this thread up. It’s hard to explain subjective preferences, but most people find a delicious golden crust and soft interior to be better in both flavour and texture and most people agree that is perfectly cooked. Given that you are in the minority why don’t you explain to us why you prefer over cooked scallops to perfectly cooked ones. The simple truth is different people can have different preferences and if you are unable to understand that then god help you, because I can’t.