Different strokes for different folks

Chatting with a work colleague yesterday highlighted to me yet again, how different we all are, and how much we underestimate that importance in our day-to-day lives.

He is a guy who I often talk about food with (and who frequently takes the piss out of me with my blog site!). He told me his wife had got dinner the other night at that drive-in Chinese takeway at Kingston, near the Maccas - I forget its name.

It struck me that was one thing I would never, could never, bring myself to do. Ever. In my whole life. In fact if someone posts an entry on this blogsite claiming to be Rita and claiming to have gone there - call the police immediately!

I admit to once-yearly doses of Maccas and Hungry Jacks. They're shit food. We all know it. We all know, intrinsically, on some level that they are bad for us. That's OK. But they fulfil some kind of function within society. In fact, they do bloody well! And that's what you get for serving the crappiest, most tasteless and unhealthiest food I can imagine!

But after that base level of food delivery, what are we left with? Next up the food chain I suppose would be the suburban fish & chip shops, complete with rancid old cheap oil, crappy reconstituted fish and chip products and if you're lucky, someones hair. Along with that level of gastronomy would have to be the suburban takeways, and Chineses.

I long ago stopped patronising suburban fish & chip shops, and takeaways. After half a lifetime of observing the most disgusting of hygiene practices in these places, I could NEVER eat from them now.

Hence my post on the good old Lee How Fook a few months ago.

Now at this stage I must re-iterate that this is just MY opinion. For those amongst you who dine nightly at your local Chinese, or Fred's Hamburger joint, and swear by the food, and their hygiene practices, that's fine. That indeed is your 'bag'. It's your life, and you'll do what you want - to quote Eric Burden and The Animals. Argue with me here. Dispute it if you must. But in the end, all we're doing is just pointing out our differences!

I would have to include suburban Italian places in that category too, but I also would have to say that generally I find them to be of a much higher standard than the other suburban eateries. Basically, what the hell can you possibly do to make pasta not taste great?

My next level upwards I suppose would be the average sized, and average priced restaurants and cafes that abound, as well as pub restaurants.

Then on to the top of the range places, like Marque IV, Lebrina etc.

Now please note that all the above are generalisations - I am speaking very generally here. There ARE quite a few different places that do not adhere to those generalisations. They are NOT the norm. They are the ones we like to tell everyone about. The gems. The little places where some hard-working and well meaning person wants to do their own thing, to improve the dining out options for all of us. Those are definitely not ones I am speaking about.

So much for my thoughts for this morning. Happy dining out to you - wherever it is you end up!