Chefs table. Netflix
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I find comments like that a bit daft.
I'm a former chef, worked in michelin starred restaurants blah blah. I still love to go out and eat and at least a few times a year try and go out and visit 2 or 3 mchelin starred restaurants. I know I'm paying for the chef's skill to execute the perfect plate if I want to pig out or want platefull of food I will not go to these restaurants, you're paying for quality not quantity.
Exactly the same could be said of any brand new supercar you buy from the manufacturer, you're paying for the finnesse, quality of the product and for the workmanship. Exactly the same can be said of eating in some of the top restaurants in the world. I've eaten at Noma in Denmark, yes it was very expensive, yes the plates were very small but the expeirnce was second to none and thats what you pay for, just like when you pay for you're Ferrari or Lamborghini.
I'm a former chef, worked in michelin starred restaurants blah blah. I still love to go out and eat and at least a few times a year try and go out and visit 2 or 3 mchelin starred restaurants. I know I'm paying for the chef's skill to execute the perfect plate if I want to pig out or want platefull of food I will not go to these restaurants, you're paying for quality not quantity.
Exactly the same could be said of any brand new supercar you buy from the manufacturer, you're paying for the finnesse, quality of the product and for the workmanship. Exactly the same can be said of eating in some of the top restaurants in the world. I've eaten at Noma in Denmark, yes it was very expensive, yes the plates were very small but the expeirnce was second to none and thats what you pay for, just like when you pay for you're Ferrari or Lamborghini.
I have a fairly prodigious appetite and I can only think of one meal I've eaten at a high end restaurant where I didn't feel full at the end. Although you're rarely going to get a gut-buster sized main course, it's normally a minimum of three courses (I think it ended up being 16 or so at the Fat Duck), plus bread, sometimes a pre-starter and pre-dessert and often petite fours with the coffee.
Also the food is often quite rich so you wouldn't necessarily want huge portions.
Also the food is often quite rich so you wouldn't necessarily want huge portions.
Patrick Bateman said:
Daft? Hardly. It may well be quality over quantity but it's still a meal, I'd still be hungry looking at a lot of the dishes.
I've never been hungry after leaving this type of retaurant. The first I ever visited was Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea. A 3 course lunch there involved canapes, an amuse bouche, bread, starter, main, pre dessert, desert, petits fours, and as it was Christmas, mini mince pies and egg nog to finish off. The one (but hopefully not only) time I visited the Fat Duck, there were nigh on 20, mindblowing, courses.
This summer I visited a restaurant in a town called Plerin (Brittany) to visit a 1 starred place called La Vielle Tour on the recommendation of the Gite owner where we were staying. Their 5 course tasting menu was just 41 euros and on top of those 5 courses, again we had canapes, a substantial bread course (and extra when we finished it), palate cleanser inbetween courses, a pre dessert and petit fours. Later in the summer we visited the Checkers in Montgomery and had a 6 course tasting menu. I literally couldn't finish the final course, which is a shame as it was a perfect souffle.
All these restaurants have left me feeling more over indulged than at any other point in my life.
As a fine dining fan, it does get a bit irritating when friends who haven't gone always make 1 of 2 comments; either "where's the rest of it?" (in relation to portion sizes), or "I'd rather have a steak and chips" (as if you can only like one or the other).
It is easily possibe to go to a michelin starred place or similar, be very full at the end of the meal, not spend a fortune, and have a steak and chips the next night.
lauda said:
Also the food is often quite rich so you wouldn't necessarily want huge portions.
Thats the key thing that gets overlooked. With food that rich, you simply can't have large portions. Small, rich portions make you feel just as satisfied, though in a slightly different way. 
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