A food and wine critic. How great a life would that be?
Eating out at the best restaurants, drinking expensive wines, and being waited
on hand and foot, just to make sure the review was positive. That is the popular
conception, but is it really like that? Unfortunately no.
Being a weekly publication, you would imagine that means you get to eat out one
night each week. Again, unfortunately no. Certainly you have to have one column
in the editor’s hands each week, but getting the details for the column may take
more than one week, so you have to be in front of yourself to ensure you are not
printing a blank page some weeks.
There
are many reasons there can be a problem. On the appointed day the restaurant
calls to postpone because the chef was knocked off his motorcycle last night. No
restaurateur wants their restaurant to be judged with the junior chef in charge.
This has happened more than once.
Then there is also the situation where the restaurant cancels because they are
going to produce a new menu the following week, so please come in a fortnight’s
time.
The reverse is also true, when a restaurant begs you to somehow squeeze them in,
because they have a new promotion starting next week. This really throws your
schedule out as well.
And finally, there is the situation where as the reviewer, you feel that the
restaurant’s performance was just not up scratch, and you cannot in all fairness
to the readers (and to the restaurant) write a positive review. So you simply do
not write the restaurant up. I have previously explained why I do not publish
damning negative reviews. These do nothing other than give the reviewer an
inflated idea of his or her own importance. They do not make people go to the
restaurant to see if it really was ‘that’ bad. Rather than help the restaurant
improve, a negative review kills the restaurant. I do not believe that a
journalist has the right to break anyone’s rice bowl.
So how do we go about doing a review? Firstly, the choice of the restaurant. I
do not like to review one Chinese restaurant, and one week later do another
Chinese restaurant. You have to try and give a reasonable balance between the
various styles of restaurants. Sometimes this can be difficult when two
competing restaurants are both asking for a review this week.
Some publications claim to do reviews incognito. Sneak in, fed and wined, and
back to the garret to pen the report. I do not do this, though I have tried on
occasions, but it is difficult to explain to a maitre d’ just why you are
transcribing the menu into a notebook, and photographing the venue and standing
on a chair to snap the food. It is not long before the owner is at your table
asking why.
Selecting the dishes for review is also an ‘art’. My dining companion (Madame)
and I confer to make sure we do not both order the same dish. We will also
choose a main from different sections of the menu, say meat or fish, for
example. We will also go for food priced around the middle of the restaurant’s
price range. We will usually also select the house wine, and do not select
expensive bottles of French champagne. It is not, nor should it be, an
opportunity for us to experience the life of the idle rich (or even ample rich).
During the meal we are constantly evaluating the food, the ambience and the
service. We also try a little of each other’s food, to get an even better feel
for the cuisine.
Afterwards we compare notes and decide whether the restaurant was giving the
diner what could be expected from a restaurant of that caliber. Obviously, a
cheap and cheerful is judged on different standards than a fine dining, silver
service establishment.
For us, the real enjoyment that can be experienced when dining out is for us to
go out for ourselves, order what we want, drink what we would like, pay for our
meals and not have to write a review the next day!
Gai Pad Prik (Chicken with chilli and basil)
This is another Thai “standard” that can be seen offered
in most restaurants as chicken, pork or beef. If chicken, as in this recipe,
is not favoured in your household, substitute either of the other meats. It
is a very simple stir-fry, and the only real secret with this dish is to
keep the ingredients moving in the wok and do not overcook. All the
ingredients are readily available locally, and you can adjust the spiciness
with the number of chillies you use. This dish can also be adapted to
substitute seafood such as shrimps, fish fillets or squid.
Cooking Method:
Over a medium heat fry the garlic and chillies in oil until fragrant. Add
the chicken and stir-fry quickly until just about done. Do not overcook as
chicken becomes dry. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the coriander
leaves, and continue the rapid stir-fry and heat through.
Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with the coriander. Serve with
steamed rice.
Ingredients Serves
4
Chicken thigh, cut into bite size pieces 2 cups
Minced garlic
2 tbspns
Red and green chillies sliced
2 tbspns
Cooking oil
½ cup
Basil leaves
2 cups
Fish sauce
3 tbspns
Sugar
4 tspns
Coriander leaves chopped
2 tbspns
