What happened to the idea that the customer is always right? When it comes to dining out, if this one woman’s experience is anything to go by, simply being able to request a meal prepared as you’d like it seems to be a prospect so terrifying, that all manner of excuse is employed.
In an attempt avoid a fattie meal in a British restaurant, diners on the forum three fat chicks on a diet suggest solutions which include pretending to own dogs in order to take home leftovers and inventing mystery serious illnesses in order to be able to select off the children’s menu? Eating out really shouldn’t be this difficult, should it?
For those interested in Manchester’s food scene, The ManchesterConfidential top 26 restaurants provided some tasty morsels – and some blindingly obvious but much-debated omissions (not least Harvey Nicks, which has since been inserted into the list, and Gaucho).
These inconsistencies fuel the regular accusations from commenters that the site is biased to advertisers, an accusation which the editor and publisher vigorously deny and which this week led to this remarkable challenge to readers:
Now here is a challenge from Confidential. If you, or indeed anyone else, can tell us of a restaurant who have ‘bought’ a good review or influenced editorial because they are an advertising client, we shall apologise on the front page, donate £1000 to a charity of your choice and pay for a slap up dinner for the whistleblower at a restaurant of your choice.
Meanwhile, a little bird tells me that one of those that didn’t make it onto the main list (but that was noted as ‘very good’), the Malaysian restaurant Ning, is soon to lauch a web TV platform.
Already active on social networks including Facebook and Twitter, I’m told the professionally produced Ning TV! will be coming soon on You Tube, after the restaurant secured funding from Creative Credits.
For diners the other side of Pennines, the handywork of LeedsGrub blogger Katie makes for an intuitive, easy-on-eye restaurant venue browsing experience. Her Googlemap of every review for food and drink in the happening-est Yorkshire city is building into an excellent point of reference.
