You know how difficult it is to go out for a meal out as a LADY?

[TooOldForGlitter]

Well, this pub, (local to me, lucky aren't I?!) has solved the problem.

No more worrying about what to choose from the menu, no more delicately nibbling away at a salad and leaving hungry, feast your eyes upon the grill section of this menu

I'll book us all a table shall I?

A) oh ffs, makes one nostalgic for Serbian restaurants where you'd see massive blokes ordering a half-portion and a salad all the time. (Not to argue it was a more egalitarian society, just that the gendering of foods is so culturally contingent and foolish.)
B) Being a fool, I didn't realize 'gf' meant 'gluten-free' on first reading, and thought '?!?! They have a 'for the girlfriend' notation on the menu?!'

The calorie guidelines are on an overall population level - not an individual one.

I'm the same height and weight as DH but I breastfeed, work out with weights and run 3 times a week. He is a swimmer who does a bit of running. I think I would need the bigger steak

There really is no excuse for the 'ladies steak' - a really outdated concept. But of course you'll get people telling you to stop being so pernickety.

plus the menu is pretentious and try hard

Well, that's one restaurant to be avoided except my DH who has a very small appetite would love it if restaurants didn't pile his plate up every time despite a request for a small portion. Do you think he would be allowed to order a ladies' steak? Or would they refuse on the grounds that they don't want to emasculate him?

It's an up selling thing - as 'no self respecting' man would opt for a thing that has been badged for a female, so a man buying steak has to get the next one up. Except that people also tend to buy the 2nd-cheapest one, so he'll buy the 2nd cheapest man steak, IYSWIM. Result is that the restaurant squeezes a few more quid out of them.

Still depressing though.

But the fact that "no self respecting man would order the ladies steak" is also shit.

It would be really nice if it were just a smaller portion option, but it isn't, it's a ladies one...

If we didn't all play along with these gendered social constructs the world would be a super place

Maybe, it is steak of lady..

I agree with Pantone: this is probably more about shaming men into ordering a giant expensive sirloin steak than about pandering to us delicate ladeez who are always watching our figures. It's still shitty gender stereotyping of course but it wouldn't raise my ire too much personally.

Actually the gf notation annoys me more, as if gf = 'healthy' or 'low-fat'. That bugs the hell out of me as a coeliac because it trivializes those of us who follow a gf diet for medical reasons as though we're all just following some silly fad to lose weight.

As a single issue, no, it's not one that's going to bring crowds protesting onto the streets, but as yet another example of women as other, smaller, delicate, it's just wearing IYSWIM?

It is a bit irritating and it would be nice if restaurants did offer smaller portions as not everyone is hugely hungry when they eat out.

However, you are all bastards as I had to read that menu to find the bit you were talking about and I am now starving and it's the middle of the night and I have nothing in the house to cook.

It is sexist and daft.

Why not just offer an '8oz', '10oz' and '14oz' steak or whatever weights to fancy? Do some steak chains not offer that kind of thing??

Or 'normal' steaks and 'greedy fucker' steaks, alternatively

What a twee name for a pub chain: "inns of character"!

My Mum objects to OAP meal portions, lots of places do those. She doesn't object to the bargain prices though!

Hmm. Not only has it got stupid steak sizes, it also mentions "boards" and a "cheese slate".

We want plates, FFS!

I am surprised that restaurants generally don't offer a choice of larger or smaller portions. DH and I were pleasantly surprised when we were in Auckland to find a restaurant that offered a choice of portion size for every item on the main course. It was a very popular place, not surprisingly.

We hate leaving food to waste on our plates, but have to because we simply cannot manage the size of portions on offer in most restaurants.

Ladies' steak. Do they give you a rose at the end?

Jackieharris Similar thing with us. DH usually orders grilled fish and salad I usually order steak and chips. Waiters often get it mixed up. I'm not offended. It's probably their experience.

I've noticed that in the one very expensive restaurant we go to, which prides itself on service, when a nervous new waiter mixed the orders up, he was quietly beckoned into the back by the restaurant manager, presumably for a bollocking. It was quite menacing.

honestly? slightly irritating but yes just marketing to make men buy bigger steaks! a bit meh tbh.
As a woman there are far worse things to get irate about.

I shall recommend you to go to the Pizza Hut in Perth (Scotland) where the waitress said to me 'are you sure you want that pizza, it's just one slice' when I ordered the 'diet' pizza.

I would completely order the 'lady' steak but so would DH. He's sensiblecomfortable with his masculinity.