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[Food] Eating out. Is it all that?



A1X

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 1, 2017
20,521
Deepest, darkest Sussex
Curries/Chinese/Thai and fish and chips are food types that I would rather eat out for -because it's almost
impossible to replicate at home. Otherwise, I enjoy cooking stuff myself.
Was going to say exactly this, places which specialise in something are definitely worth it, but most “generalist” places (there are some exceptions) don’t generally pass muster
 




highflyer

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2016
2,552
Foodwise, it only really seems worth it if the food is significantly beyond anything you could cook at home. At which point it inevitably becomes so expensive that it doesn't seem worth it.
 






Chicken Run

Member Since Jul 2003
NSC Patron
Jul 17, 2003
19,796
Valley of Hangleton
I eat out a fair bit, at least twice a week, on average, and it’s anything from high-end Michelin star to a cafe for brunch. I enjoy it for many and varied reasons, I love going to restaurants, I love reading about them, I love watching stuff about them. When lock-down happened, and cafes and restaurants were closed, I truly realized how much it meant to me.

I can cook, have a decent kitchen and I enjoy cooking, but going out is quite different. Can I cook as well as the cafes and restaurants? Depends what it is but generally no…but that’s not the point.

Jay Rayner once said, a good restaurant should make you feel a whole lot better coming out than when you went in. We all want to feel better don’t we?
I took your advice recently and tried Cin Cin in Hove, i do value your expertise on culinary offerings but i have to say it was rather disappointing
 






Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,063
Faversham
It is, but I prefer to cook for others. The journey home after is less hassle.
 






HeaviestTed

I’m eating
NSC Patron
Mar 23, 2023
2,122
I probably regard myself as a decent cook and my missus top notch. 90% of the time I go out I honestly think we could have done better. Do we eat out because we can rather than think we could’ve saved ourselves a fortune and have something just as good or better at home.
Are we talking about the Amex burgers?
 


ozzygull

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2003
4,159
Reading
Are we talking about the Amex burgers?
I don't understand it but the Amex Burgers have got to be the worst on the planet. I am not a big burger eater but once having to rush down to the Amex after work, I was really, really hungry and the only thing I fancied was a burger, but when I got it, it was truly inedible, It didn't matter how hungry I was, it was awful.

My daughter tried one of those microwave burgers the other week and I tried a bit, it was not great, but it was 1000 times better then the Amex burger.
 


OzMike

Well-known member
Oct 2, 2006
13,277
Perth Australia
Perth seems to be the eating out capital of the world.
Shed loads of places to go and you can eat the world !!
It is still quite affordable too.
I have a meal at the club after bowls Friday practice, grab a takeaway of wifey's choice after the match on Sat and take the wife out to a place of her choice every Sunday for lunch.
Saturday is sometimes replaced with going out for dinner with friends.
We love it !
 




pasty

A different kind of pasty
Jul 5, 2003
31,014
West, West, West Sussex
I love our date nights eating out. We'll typically go for a couple of beers somewhere beforehand, then mince along to the restaurant for a nosh, then a nightcap somewhere before heading back. I would say that we go out a LOT earlier than we used to, because I like to be back on the sofa by around 9pm these days (rock n' roll). But now that our crotch-goblins are all grown up, its such a luxury to have that freedom, and its still not something I ever take for granted.

So yeah. Eating out IS all that. Probably costs us about £100-£150 all in for the night depending on where we go, but its worth it.
Never has a “this” been more appropriate. So, THIS ^^

100% same here.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,680
The Fatherland
I took your advice recently and tried Cin Cin in Hove, i do value your expertise on culinary offerings but i have to say it was rather disappointing
This is a shame. I have not been for a couple of years now. What disappointed you? A know that a common comment is portion sizes.
 
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Algernon

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2012
3,189
Newmarket.
Of course dinner will set you back £300 but well worth it for a treat.
I can't begin to imagine what a £300 dinner would have to consist of for me to pay that much even if I were a multi millionaire. And I'm not.
I'm pretty certain there's nothing in the world I'd eat no matter how amazingly well cooked and presented in opulent/trendy surroundings that I'd pay that much for.
I actually find eating a chore, I probably wouldn't eat if I didn't have to, I don't eat vegetables and it's pretty much meat and potatoes (I know but they don't count) for me and I don't drink alcohol so that'll all be a factor too.
£300 I could spend better elsewhere.
 


chickens

Have you considered masterly inactivity?
NSC Patron
Oct 12, 2022
2,688
Stopped eating out (except for special occasions) post-lockdown. Too many places serving food that I’d be unhappy with if I’d prepared it myself, at a hugely inflated price.

I simply couldn’t justify the prices vs what I was getting. A shame, because I used to enjoy a good restaurant, but I feel priced out of anywhere I’d actually want to eat at now.
 




jordanseagull

Well-known member
Feb 11, 2009
4,151
Really enjoy eating out with my wife. As others have mentioned, the experience is diminished significantly if you’re elbow to elbow with another couple or group! The food to me is secondary. The one thing that can really aggravate me is shit service.
 




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