Try somewhere different...

OK, this one is really simple. Many years ago I worked, for quite a while, in a certain pizza chain that many of you may be aquainted with. For many years after I stopped working there I didn't eat their food, infact I rarely eat their food now either. The reason then was partially that I'd had the same thing every weekend for the last two and a half years and part of it was that I knew what went on in the kitchens.

Now, I don't want to get into the whole thing where we bash this chain and that chain for being evil. Frankly every business with shareholders and a whole bunch without are evil so don't get on your high-horse here. Hmm, I think I have a topic for my next rant in fact...

No, my problem is with the food. For those of you that don't know me very well, I love food. It is one of my great passions and I believe that food is something that should be treated with passion. Food should be an experience and I have generally found that the experience is a lot better in a small restaurant.

Big chains cook by proportions and by rote. 1 small cup of this prechopped thing and 1 teaspoon of that premade sauce from the packet in this pan for that long and serve. Everything has to be the same, every time. The same plasticky sauces out of the same big cheap tubs like you get in the cash and carry. The nasty cheap stuff that you wouldn't even cook with at home, but because we're at "Tech's-Mex" tonight it must be OK!

Sod that. Go to a nice little restaurant like the one at the end of the street that you've been meaning to go to for the last 2 years. Take a chance and try something different. Sure it might not turn out to be great but even the "Dope Pun Pizza Company" gets it wrong sometimes so really you haven't missed out. (Cranberry sauce on a pizza base, I ask you...)

Some of the best food I've ever eaten has been from family run restaurants. Don't believe me, ask my staff about where I take them for the company nights out.

I think though that this applies doubly so at this time of year. Fancy a Christmas night out? Don't go to the same old places and chains. Go somewhere you've never been before. Take a chance. When was the last time you tried Brazilian or even Jamaican to mention just the two restaurants I can see from here? Fancy something different but a little closer to home? Try Phenecia opposite the Pear Tree pub. They do a great mix of Mediterranean and North African cuisine.

McLaughlins restaurant on West Preston Street is pretty good if you want something a little closer to home. Oh, and we can't forget my two favourite restaurants (in Edinburgh) either. La Favorita, the gourmet Pizza and Pasta restaurant, and Vittoria's. I have never been to either of these restaurants and come away less than completely happy. As a hard man to please, especially when it comes to food that takes some doing but these guys just get it right all the time!

So in conclusion, next time someone says "lets go to Pizza Hot" say no, go somewhere better where the chef might actually give a damn about the food and where the owner might just care more about the customer being happy than keeping the company profits above 26.5%.