To think my home cooking is better than a lot of restaurants?

[penpotdot]

I'm a fairly decent cook and do make an effort to make something nice from scratch most days and will experiment with new recipes and techniques weekly. I am not masterchef level or professional but I obviously cook to my own taste and I mostly really enjoy what I make.

I do like eating out as well but as my own cooking improves eating out is less satisfying and I often find the food bland or too salty, one thing is over cooked another under or it is just generally underwhelming.

We ate out at an Italian place well regarded locally and it was just meh, the pasta with roast veg and tomato sauce I make at home is much nicer. The focaccia I make is better. There is a very cool Korean place in my town, run by brits not Koreans and everyone raves about it but the food was just so so, the Korean food I make at home is better. There is an actual Korean place in town run by Koreans and the food their is amazing. I tend to find Asian places do have really nice food and while I make decent stuff at home which is better than Wagamama's it isn't as good as proper Asian restaurant food.

Do other keen home cooks feel like this about eating out now, does good food at home spoil some of the pleasure of eating out or am I being unreasonable?

I suppose I least I don't have to wash up and it can provide the odd bit of inspiration!

I feel the same about my husbands cooking (not mine - it’s mediocre at best!). He enjoys cooking and is an excellent home cook. We rarely eat out but when we do I usually feel he could do equally as well, if not better.

And on a similar vein to this post and pp's- I cant get my head around takeaways. If im too tired or ill to cook that's what microwave meals or something you can shove in the oven are for at a fraction of the time and price!

Oh and I actually saw our local Italian restaurant's owner buying packets and packets of salami / prosciutto etc. at Lidl. The mixed meat and cheese starter was £10 at the time pre Covid.

I know what you mean. When I cook at home I take time and use lots of ingredients to build up flavour. Restaurants can't afford that.

When we occasionally eat out these days I just enjoy being served and not having to clean up. I really enjoy a good sushi restaurant as I can't make those at all, despite trying to learn.

That's not why many (most?) order them. I do it because we have an excellent Indian and Mexican takeaway and I can't make their dishes myself. Nor can any supplier of a supermarket ready meal curry.

Yes i agree for dishes like this if not easily replicated at home. I was thinking more the type of takeaways that are literally no better than something you could just bang in the oven from the frozen aisle and I know plenty of people who spend crazy money on stuff like this.

I don’t waste time going to mediocre restaurants as the food is always so disappointing and often expensive. We will sometimes go to a good restaurant which has a price fixe and that way I don’t feel that I have wasted my money. Yes I am a good cook also and find that many restaurant meals are a disappointment and very overpriced

😀

I’m the same don’t worry.

You see, I don’t believe I’m a fantastic cook at all, but what I do cook is aimed at being healthy, tasty, nutritious, and most of all presented hot.

when I do (rarely) visit a restaurant, I do believe it must be at least as good as what I produce, or if not, better.

I resent paying even reasonable restaurant prices, for something even I can conjure up better.

Washing up is a small price to pay for a meal that satisfies all my wants.

So OP you’re not unreasonable in my opinion.

PS, I’d love to be a fantastic cook, but I’m happy to get no complaints from who I do cook for, and mostly I receive appreciative thank yous, and “oh- I could eat that again”! 🤣

I tend to feel the same OP. Sauces, soups and gravies are my ‘thing’ and I’m often disappointed if we eat out somewhere and one of these is a bit ‘meh’. There will then come the comment, ‘yours is better than this’.

I enjoy cooking so to be honest, I’d rather stay in and cook than go out.

I agree, I’ll only eat out if it’s something I really can’t cook myself, because I spend most of the meal thinking I could have done it at least as well for a fraction of the cost. I resent spending over the odds for something that isn’t cooked beautifully.

My DS given the choice would always rather eat at home, which I take as a compliment.

I went to a local bistro recently and we shared a cheeseboard. The cheese was nice I guess (no idea where they got it, and I am not a cheese expert) but it was over £20 for a few squares of cheese and a handful of crackers arranged on a plate. Unbelievable.

This thread reminds me so much of that Indian mother from "Goodness Gracious Me" who could make everything at home for nothing.

How right she was.... 🤣

I'm a huge fan of a ploughman's or at least I was until I started getting small pasty white rolls. Super processed pink ham and a bit of branstons with some cheap cheddar. I actually sent one back recently and asked the manager if he would eat it as it was so deeply unappetising

There's an art to very simple food.

More and more these days I'd rather have a jacket potato with friends rather than a wanky dish that's £15 with £3 for their tiny pot of artisan mayo.

My friends all seem to love being gouged though...

I think that we live in a time when it's much easier for us to source different ingredients and cook at home, so, obviously, our food at home is going to be far better than it ever used to be (especially when we make the effort!).
I know what you're saying though because I am often disappointed these days - it's not that the food being served is particularly bad, it's just that it's possibly no better than anything my husband or I could cook at home.
I think I'd have to go for something really special to be wowed by it now!