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?

Nobody cares

Well, yes. That's the point of tapas.

I have never seen the term "crispy egg" on a menu. What would you expect from that description, because I would have no idea?

What is your favorite restaurant in Edinburgh please?

Dogmum74
Nobody cares

Me. I care. I love asparagus chat.

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/guests/asparagus-and-green-bean-mimosa-salad?utm_source=mailer_cbc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Asparagus_and_Green_Bean_Mimosa_Salad_20260529

I get the Nigella cooking emails and have received this this afternoon. Looks lovely.

Not an asparagus fan, but isn't the point of serving an egg with asparagus that you can dip them in the runny yolk?

Deep fried 'poached' egg, in breadcrumbs

Might give that a try. Looks delicious.

This is why so many people balk at going out.
Particularly women as we adore our food.
Mediocre food that is completely over priced.
My close friends and I prefer to take turns to host each other.
Fab food, great wine and company guaranteed.

Always a 300% markup on food

Thank you. I'm not in the UK so I haven't come across this.

I’m having asparagus for dinner today, cost £2 from the veg truck, though I’m having it with sausages from butcher, pigs raised 4 miles away, and jerseys

I’ve never come across it either, and I’m from the UK. I think it would be bloody difficult to deep fry a poached egg as it would probably be too delicate. It does sound delicious though!

Inspired by this thread I ate this today. Delicious.

Whole pack of E Sussex asparagus from Sainsburys was £2.10

I’m always a bit dissapointed when I go to places like North Norfolk. First you have to reserve places in advance which can be inconvenient then it’s slightly poncy food at inflated prices for the holidaying middle and upper classes. Quite often with accompanying snooty staff. They almost always have my favourite wine only by the bottle which bugs me (unfair I know).

I’m lucky to live in London with no end of fantastic bistros and restaurants and endless choice. I do think you should have spoken to them though and given them a chance to respond. There are a lot of costs to running a restaurant now and they probably don’t make a huge profit on most of their dishes when you factor in rent, staff wages, equipment, business rates, energy bills etc. That all has to be priced into each dish.

It’s not as difficult as you might think though can be a bit fiddly but very delicious. Really fresh egg and good poaching technique so get a tight ball shape then take out as soon as the white is set and into ice water. Once totally cooled you can coat as you see fit and into very hot oil- lovely crispy outside and runny centre.

email them and tell them! They might offer you a voucher in return, and presumably they would like to know if they are serving terrible food, if they were previously very good