4 bits of asparagus and half an egg - how much?

[Thornyroshbush]

I went to my favourite restaurant in the world recently. Never had a plate of food I didn't love and I've probably been going 15(ish) times a year since 2018. It's 'tapas' style so you can easily have 4-5 plates in a meal. Just to give an indicating over the quality of the food.

One of the dishes we ordered to share was asparagus and a crispy egg. What turned up was four bits of asparagus and half a boiled egg in a shell (it looked a bit like a scotch egg, but no runny centre).

I'm wondering if I am being very unreasonable to still be absolutely gobsmacked over 24 hours later that anyone thought that was acceptable to send out of a kitchen at the price they charged for it. We're due to go back tomorrow night and I honestly want to cancel but DH thinks they deserve another chance...

So, can people tell me how much they would have thought that would cost?

Don’t ever go to the Faroe Islands, OP. We spent a week there, knowing it would be expensive, as all food has to be flown in and they can’t grow much food themselves (sheep and rhubarb the only visible farming). The simplest meal cost us £100 for 2 people. But My flabber was well and truly gasted when i ordered an asparagus starter (£17 each) and what came out was one asparagus spear out of a jar, cut into 5 pieces on a dollop of admittedly nice hollandaise sauce. I know it was asparagus from a jar because it was white and soft and I recognised the taste from my childhood in Germany. absolute shysters! There was no justification for such a mark up and I emailed them to tell them. Obviously my complaint rendered them speechless as they never replied

And you betted it would be more, which it was! Have a bit of crispy egg too, as a bonus :)

This is exactly what I was going to ask!

I don't think you're wrong to be disappointed with what you got for the price.

But... this is mumsnet, and a lot of people are very good at tracking things down, so it was a fair bet the restaurant would be identified. So, I think you've been unfair doing this without even talking to them first, especially as you say you usually go 15 times a year.

There's a high chance this will get back to the restaurant and I think they'll be (quite fairly) disappointed that you didn't give them the opportunity to rectify things.

Eating out is so often a rip off.

I wouldn’t go back.

I grew up in North Norfolk in the 80s/90s and can assure you that a crispy egg never crossed my path. Crab sticks were the currency back then. North Norfolk got bouji in the early 00s.

Sounds like a typical north Norfolk rip off!

ETA we used to go there for meals all the time - gorgeous villages, but now it’s an absolute joke and local family run pubs turned into gastro warehouses with poor food and extortionate prices. I honestly hope these establishments fail!

They shouldn’t need to be told that charging £15 for dry asparagus and half a boiled egg is wrong. They absolutely know, they’re mugging people off.

Do you work in the trade?

Oh if you're in Chelsea-sur Mer country it would really ramp up the price, love to know exactly where to see if my guesses are right. £15-£18 would be my guess for that area. We never go to the coast in the Summer and certainly not to eat in certain places!

No I don't work in the trade. And I do agree with your sentiment. In fact, DH and I were just discussing this morning how we never really go out to eat any more because of the cost and quality. I just have a bit of sympathy for this restaurant getting a very wide negative audience and not even knowing about it yet.

Fair enough.

I agree that eating out is a gamble.

Although having said that, I do remember discovering a wonderful Indian restaurant in London after a post on mumsnet criticising them. But that poster had many people commenting that they were going to book in there after hearing her criticisms.

I won't be doing that this time.

tbf, it's currently white asparagus season in Germany and you will get maybe 4 spears, dollop of green sauce, an egg and (sometimes) a couple of boiled potatoes for 20 euros. It's the short season for the white that makes it so pricey. In the UK when you can buy green imported all year round it's not so cool to charge so much.

Ha I remember an episode of hotel hell where they served Gordon Ramsey half a dessert and he demanded the other half.
It always feels like places are taking the piss when they do this.

At that price, the original dish, I would hope it was Norfolk asparagus which at the moment is perfect.

Small portions and bad food is an old joke! Sadly not funny in your case.

This has turned into a real pile on and think its unfair. As others have pointed out, it's more than just the ingredient cost of asparagus and the half egg. There are some time fairly consuming processes involved - the puree, the hollandaise (guessing that's what the second sauce is), and making the crispy egg (par boiling, peeling, coating in the (made?) breadcrumb and then deep frying).

They may have got it wrong this time but the OP says herself it's been her favourite restaurant in the world. We have no idea what's going on with their kitchen staff at the moment. But I don't think £15 is unreasonable for a dish that takes time and skill to prepare.

I would have sent it back.

OP has also given enough information that people can, and have identified the restaurant. So not only is is getting slated by a whole load of people who've never been there, but they'll also be able to identify who OP is based off her booking, especially when she calls to cancel.

I was genuinely going to say around £15.00, basing it on Bristol prices for a similar sort of restaurant. When standards slip to that extent and the chef/staff look like they couldn't care less, you often find the restaurant is in deep financial trouble.

Chelsea-on-Sea, so pretty much what I’d expect price-wise tbh. No excuse for the quality though. Go a bit further afield next time. There are loads of good restaurants in North Norfolk and Norwich.

Presumably included in the price was table service, clean table linen, cooking and plating the food by someone other than the diner, a chair, a table, clean cutlery, the premises, ambience and all the rest of it? If not, just pick up stuff from the supermarket and eat on the beach

Just looked at the prices on the rest of the menu - they're basically London prices. Why are Norfolk people paying London prices?

OP, next time something like that happens return the dish and don't pay for it. Please don't be polite about this sort of thing - it's criminal to charge what they're charging (for half an egg and a few bits of woody asparagus) and if it's not very good then give the plate back.

It's a shame it's so pricey if it is Norfolk asparagus. There are lots of us asparagus bedders in Norfolk (and it's been a really good crop this year - better than last year) so locals can't be the target audience - or indeed, as it is so abundant here, I wonder why they must charge so much. Perhaps the short season, making hay (or asparagus) while the sun shines.

Agree with this.

The OP says that the asparagus was poor quality and/or poorly prepared, so it is perfectly reasonable to be disappointed. But there is nothing inherently wrong with the pricing of the dish, assuming it is well exectuted.