I'm wondering if people have any favourite 'tarted up' language remembered from restaurant menus!
In the current thread about cochineal, a poster's plea for plain English got me thinking about 'menu language' and I Googled and found this:
"Anyone who has been to a pricey restaurant has seen the highfalutin language: 'cappuccino of forest mushrooms' for mushroom soup (Per Se, in New York City); 'fork crushed' potatoes for mashed (The Foundry on Melrose, in Los Angeles); squab that is of the 'rare Moroccan' variety (Gary Danko, in San Francisco). When the description is elaborate, diners typically see the food's quality as higher and will pay more for it.
Brian Wansink, author of 'Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think,' agrees. He conducted a study in which cafeteria patrons were served identical dishes with slightly different names: 'seafood fillet' and 'succulent Italian seafood fillet', for example. Fancy lingo boosted sales by 27 percent, and customers judged those foods higher in quality. Separating the baloney from the meaningful can be hard. Jennifer Purcell, associate dean of restaurant education and operations at the Culinary Institute of America, acknowledges that some descriptions are fluff—farm-fresh eggs, asparagus au jus, and seasonal vegetables, for starters.
Terms that might matter, at least to hard-core foodies, fall into several categories:
Place of origin, as in Tahitian vanilla. Breed or brand, as in Berkshire pork (an old breed given a fancy diet). Method of procurement, as in diver scallops (snagged by a human being, not a dragged chain). Foreign words, though they can become nonsensical when gussied up. (Fumet is a concentrated stock, but what's 'thyme fumet essence'!) "
Has anyone got a particular favourite!
Edited to add: Excerpt is from a US Consumer Magazine report
oopie,
Mar 18, 4:31pm
Have been noticing on menus, 'w' to replace 'with' and '11.5' instead of '$11.50'.
elliehen,
Mar 18, 4:33pm
11.5 sounds a whole lot less expensive, doesn't it!
davidt4,
Mar 18, 6:01pm
One of my pet hates is "crispy", instead of "crisp".
mwood,
Mar 18, 6:11pm
Flashed under the salamander.
shop-a-holic,
Mar 18, 7:49pm
Shirred Eggs or Link Sausages
cookessentials,
Mar 18, 7:51pm
Soup of the moment LOL
elliehen,
Mar 18, 9:58pm
Might have guessed that Monty Python would have satirised restaurantese ;)
CRUNCHY FROG "We use only the finest baby frogs, dew picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in the finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple-smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope and lovingly frosted with glucose."
(Terry Jones in episode six of Monty Python's Flying Circus, 1969)
baalamb,
Mar 18, 11:16pm
My husband went on a seminar where lunch was provided.was all keen to see what delights were served. Menu stated "grilled panini" followed by "creme brulee"; husband's version.! "Toasted sandwiches and poofy custard"!
carriebradshaw,
Mar 18, 11:30pm
My pet hate is "served on a bed of" eg-creamy mash.
davidt4,
Mar 19, 12:07am
"nestled on a bed of" is even worse
mwood,
Mar 19, 6:31pm
Lashings of Whipped Cream - always strikes me as a bit Plumley-Walkerish
kay141,
Mar 19, 7:55pm
Oh yes. The cream will be lashed, beaten and then whipped. And then you get a small teaspoon full.
deus701,
Mar 19, 8:22pm
I had to write a dessert menu, as we eat with our 'eyes' I arranged the dessert from the lightest (ice cream at the top) and heavy pudding at the bottom. And there was emphasis on 'brand names' also characteristic of the desserts a customer can expect with regards to flavours, texture, cooking methods, etc. It was a struggle, yet fun
Then again, you have menus at Meredith where you get keywords of the flavours combination.if you like it, you order it. Their desserts goes like this:
Some people like to lay blame at the door of the French language.or rather at those who use its exoticism in this euphemistic and manipulative manner.
"Cookbooks, restaurants, and cafes sometimes offer fine examples of this kind of inflated language. Much of it is French-inspired vocabulary to connote culinary refinement. How much classier a meal becomes when a leek tart is changed to flamiche aux poireaux, oxtail to queue de boeuf and tossed salad to salade composée. Soup versus potage de whatever, stew versus casserole, slice versus tranche, aged versus affiné, swimming versus nageant, in aspic versus en gelée, reheated versus rechauffé--all distinguish the mundane from the elegant. . . ."
baalamb,
Mar 20, 12:46pm
.and as a result, can be charged at a dearer price!
baalamb,
Mar 20, 12:48pm
There was a programme on tv last night talking about such things - I have no idea what the programme was called, but thoroughly enjoyed the part I saw of it, made me snigger in agreement several times!
kuaka,
Mar 20, 3:12pm
I was quite intrigued when I discovered this thread.Reminded me of the voyage my first husband and I did, Southampton to Auckland, 40 years ago when we came to NZ to live.We were on board just over a month.Every day the potatoes had a different fancy name.Every day the potatoes were the same.Chopped into cubes, partly boiled and then drowned in oil.Yuk.
".At the top of the pile so far is the description of baked crab hand rolls at Japanese restaurant, Katsuya, in Los Angeles. According to the menu, the rolls have been "lightly kissed with Chef's signature sauce" a description which, at best conjures up images of the sushi chef snogging seafood and, at worst, well I shall leave that to your active imaginations. Suffice to say I couldn't be persuaded to try them, not least due of the terrifying prediction that "one taste will leave you wanting more".
I would love to add to my collection. So, what are the best and worst menu descriptions you have encountered, and which are the cliched adjectives that really drive you nuts!."
davidt4,
Mar 20, 6:41pm
It's menu nouns that presently drive me nuts."Soil", "Foam", "Smear".
".At the top of the pile so far is the description of baked crab hand rolls at Japanese restaurant, Katsuya, in Los Angeles. According to the menu, the rolls have been "lightly kissed with Chef's signature sauce"
Lol makes the mind boggle
lurtz,
Mar 20, 10:57pm
My dislikes.
"To die for"-(giving this a wide berth;thanks for the warning). "Mouth watering" -( for the too old or tooyoung, and a bib is needed). "Sexy" - (avoid, unless unless it involves chocolate, and consenting adults). "Devine"- (it's a surname. I want proper food)!
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