Sunday 10 April 2011

Apropos Of Nothing...

So, out for a family dinner yesterday and a situation presented itself that I really wasn't prepared for. It was a little pub restaurant, the usual sort of selection was offered on the menu...all looked acceptable and plenty of choice was available...nothing odd there.
Drinks were ordered first, then the food and I plumped for the chicken fillet "burger"...with chips (fries) and salad...it was now that a fateful choice was made...which in turn has lead to this post. At the bottom of the menu were a series of "additions" that could be had to accompany the various burgers, such as cheese or, what I opted for, a chili coating.
Now I was assuming a chili dressing/sauce would be lightly spread over the meat, perhaps a sweet chili dressing Thai style....what I wasn't expecting, nor anyone else round the table for that matter, was a bun containing a broiled chicken breast covered in chili con carne!!
I have to say that the acronym WTF was all I could think, I mean who in their right mind would a) think that chili con carne should go in a bun or b) that it was/is a suitable partner to grilled chicken???
So what did I do? Well the English thing obviously...I ate it with a knife and fork, without a word to the staff! As it happens, the chicken was really good, as was the chili...they just really, really didn't belong together.
The moral of the tale is a simple one...make sure you check what it is you're ordering when you go out for dinner!
Easter and May weekend updates for you some time next week....once I've finished sorting out the May weekend.
TTFN

5 comments:

Elise Fleming/Alys K. said...

On a trip to the UK I ordered a tuna fish sandwich at a small cafe. "With mayonnaise?", asked the girl. Thinking that the bread would have an additional slather of mayo before adding on the tuna salad, I said no. What arrived was just tuna and a little chopped celery with no binder - the mayo. I didn't say anything either. But, how can one make "tuna salad" without a binder of mayonnaise or "salad dressing" (which is similar to mayonnaise?

Anonymous said...

Maybe this is a British thing, since I would never expect anything other than the plain tuna (or possibly with some sweetcorn) loose between the bread having said "no mayo". It's a bit more tricky to eat, but if it's compressed a bit, not too bad. Butter or spread may or not be present.

I ought to point out, when I make tuna sandwiches, I season with ground black pepper and vinegar (irrespective of mayo), so perhaps the extra mashing up beforehand makes a difference?

Anonymous said...

Every time I read this it makes me smile,it was just what we needed after a difficult morning love as always no.1 fan xxxxxxxxxxx

Diane said...

The corn added to tuna salad was a revelation to me in Britain, as was sliced cucumbers on the sandwich I once ordered. We usually do it with chopped onion, pepper, sweet pickle relish and mayo on toast with sliced tomato and lettuce. Giant ladles of Chili on burgers or hot dogs (Pinks or Tommy's or In-N-Out)is a big thing here in Los Angeles, but I don't think I've ever seen it come on a chicken sandwich.

Diane said...

The corn in tuna was a revelation to me in Britain. Also the sliced cucumber added to my sandwich. Here we add chopped onion, sweet pickle relish, mayo and lots of pepper, and serve it on toast with sliced tomato and lettuce. As to the Chili - here in Los Angeles it is very common to have a ladle of it on top of a burger or hot dog (Pinks, Tommy's, In-N-Out) but I can't say I've ever seen a chicken chili burger.