Avocado, goat's cheese, mushroom, olives, red onion...

[Loony BoB]

I agree. That something? It's goat's cheese.

[Miriel]

Listen.

If you are at a nice restaurant, unless you viscerally loathe an ingredient or if it's an actual allergy, don't go around trying to "fix" a plate to suit your needs exactly.

If you're at a nice restaurant with a talented chef, then just let them take care of you.

You will never learn to like new food if you never try it. Research has shown that children need to eat an item of food 7-15 times before they will willingly eat that item. Think of yourself as a child whose taste buds are still developing.

I thought I hated cauliflower until 2 weeks ago. Then I went to one of the best restaurants in San Francisco and one of the girls I was with tried to substitute cauliflower puree for mashed potatoes. The waitress INSISTED we leave the components of the plate alone. She said that the cauliflower really worked on the plate and that we might regret substituting it out.

And guess what? It was one of the best god damn thing I've eaten all year long. It was smurfing DELICIOUS. So now I like cauliflower. I loved it so much I made the recipe for Del Murder the other day and he liked it too! And this is not a man who loves vegetables!

It's funny that you mention goat cheese because at this exact same meal with the cauliflower, my friend wanted the ravioli but it came with a goat cheese stuffing. She tried to get them to swap it out for another cheese. ANY other cheese. My friend hates goat cheese. I can't say that I like it very much either. But again, the waitress insisted and again, the goat cheese ravioli was fabulous and my friend loved it.

So reserve your pickiness for the things that you seriously can't stand to eat. Like, the stuff that you've tried several times and each time, they make you want to barf. Those are the only things you should ever actively try to avoid. The other stuff, give them a chance. You might like them if they're just prepared in a new or different way.

Del Murder hated asparagus for a long time too. Try asparagus that's been butter poached. It's amazing. Seriously BUTTER POACHED. How can you not like that?

[Loony BoB]

I'll ask the same thing I asked Phil - what if you don't like it, Miriel? I don't get why anyone would order something they clearly don't like.

I've grown up trying new things, it's nothing unusual for me. I happily try out new things - if it's cheap or free. It's at fancy restaurants that I simply refuse to pay a large amount of money towards something based on an ingredient I dislike.

[Pheesh]

The point that Miriel and I made is that when it comes to cooking, every ingredient is incredibly diverse, so you can't possibly know that you won't like it a certain way just because you didn't like the last time you had it. Eg. You mentioned that you hate mushroom sauce, but if you've never tried mushrooms in a wild mushroom and cheese risotto then how could you claim to not like them. They taste completely different because you've cooked them a different way and paired them with completely different ingredients.

And that's not even going into the fact that you may just have been cooked really bad mushroom sauces. If you had a mushroom sauce at a 3 Michelin star rated restaurant I am pretty sure it would be a very different experience to the one's you've tasted previously.

[Miriel]

Well I mean, if it's something you hate, then don't order it!

But you're talking about small things, not big ticket items. Like, if you hate steak, then there's no point at all in ordering steak.

But if you order steak and it comes with a caramelized red onion sauce, then just eat the god damn sauce. Why? Because chefs (good chefs) don't add components onto a plate unless there is a specific reason. On well balanced dishes, everything on the plate is there for a reason. Because the chef wants you to get specific flavors when you bite into something.

So even if you don't like the sweetness of red onions, maybe there's a bitterness on the plate that the chef wanted to balance out. Maybe it works in this particular case.

And the only reason you would order something that might have one thing on it you don't like, is if you like pretty much everything else. In which case, why does it matter that there is this one small thing that you typically don't care for?

If you're ordering something where you don't like ANY of the components, then that just makes you a dummy. And if you can't look at an entire menu without finding something wrong with EVERY dish, then that does mean that you are being way too picky.

[Loony BoB]

The point that Miriel and I made is that when it comes to cooking, every ingredient is incredibly diverse, so you can't possibly know that you won't like it a certain way just because you didn't like the last time you had it. Eg. You mentioned that you hate mushroom sauce, but if you've never tried mushrooms in a wild mushroom and cheese risotto then how could you claim to not like them. They taste completely different because you've cooked them a different way and paired them with completely different ingredients.

And that's not even going into the fact that you may just have been cooked really bad mushroom sauces. If you had a mushroom sauce at a 3 Michelin star rated restaurant I am pretty sure it would be a very different experience to the one's you've tasted previously.

Mum was the head chef for the Lord and Lady of St. Michael's Mount castle and has always been praised for her cooking by pretty much everyone, but if I don't like it, I don't like it. I've certainly been forced to eat it more than once because she and my Dad love mushroom sauce. I've eaten mushrooms in all kinds of ways because of my Mum's cooking over the years, and it's probably why I've stated that trying new things is something normal for me because Mum would frequently come up with new things (sometimes we'd just throw something together randomly, she and I enjoyed creating new recipes and has a couple of recipe books put together).

But yeah, I know what I don't like because I try new things!

EDIT: Speaking of trying new things, I'm still waiting on a reply from Miriel about that Korean food stuff.

[Jinx]

I'm with Miriel.

One time I ordered a rare steak at a really expensive restaurant, and it came with a bleu cheese sauce. I hate bleu cheese. Loathe it. And it was amazingly wonderful and trout.

You're just a bad customer, BoB.

[Loony BoB]

You're just a bad customer, BoB.

Why?