overrated food and wine

I recently wrote a slightly tongue in cheek piece about overrated restaurant food - below.

I wondered if people had thoughts about overrated expensive wines. For example I've yet to find a Tokay I have enjoyed.

Cheers!

Martin

Uber-chefs, gourmets, cashed up bogans, credulous restaurant reviewers &c, are forever banging on about certain de luxe menu items. I believe that this is not because taste is the main consideration but is mainly due to factors of rarity, fashion and the ability to indulge in conspicuous consumption.Here are the top five we've tasted over the years - without excitement. Foie gras: bland, fatty, force-fed, cirrhotic goose liver. Caviar: salty, fishy tasting sturgeon eggs of uncertain age and erratic quality. Buffalo mozzarella: excellent texture, usually tasteless, has to be all dressed up "like a pox doctor's clerk" to serve. Black truffles: earthy variation on the mushroom. serves are so small you never get a good idea of the real taste. Game of all sorts: especially hare. Usually stringy sinewy, rank smelling. Inedible unless hung to the point of nausea and the taste disguised by sauces and gravies. Chevre / goats' milk cheese. A trick or treat offering - sometimes brilliant. More often tainted or whiffy - as if a billy goat had done the impossible and produced milk. Oh, and not forgetting a sixth: Foam. You know, a dollop of insubstantial froth and bubble looking like frog spawn and tasting, well, of nothing. Main feature it seems of "molecular gastronomy". Otherwise known as the Emperor's Nouvelle Cuisine.

Reply to
Martin Field
Loading thread data ...

I presume that in Martin's opinion "overrated" equals "overpriced". The trouble is: some people assume that they must like a product as soon as it is expensive. The opposite is true: some products (or recipes) are so damn good that they are sought after and become pricy. I have been to some restaurants where the owners had invested to heavily in a posh setting that they probably had no budget left to buy first class food.

In the 19th c, lobster was eaten day in, day out by fishermen who sold their fish, but had absolutely no market to get rid of the lobsters!

Moreover, we should not forget that lousy cooks can ruin the finest ingredients!

Yves

I have to confess to loving foie gras, caviar, buffalo mozz, truffles, game in general, chevre. All can have bad examples, but good examples soar for my tastes. I'm not a big foam fan, but I've never eaten at El Bulli or even WD50 There are plenty of wines I feel are overrated, but how much is personal taste and how much "quality" (and how much bottle variation or lack of comprehensive experience?). As a category I'm not really a fan of Amarone.

Reply to
Yves

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.