Restaurant portions

[Two_Sheds]

Most main courses are too enormous ... OH is too full to have a pudding, and then i feel bad for wanting one

I nearly always order a starter and a pudding (no main). Can't be missing a pudding

[Pumpkin Becki]

I nearly always order a starter and a pudding (no main). Can't be missing a pudding

Why didn't I think of that?

[OllieMartin]

I nearly always order a starter and a pudding (no main). Can't be missing a pudding

I'm more of a savoury kind of person. I'd rather have a starter, a main and then another starter...

...or if I'm in a chinese:
Prawn Crackers, Hors d'oeuvres (as they call them in mine), Crispy Duck Pancakes, Main Courses and then another Crispy Duck Pancake at the annoyance of the staff who make very little profit on it! (It's an eat as much as you like that they cook each dish seperately just for you, not like the ones where it sits in a tray for hours)

[HeyWayne]

I'm more of a savoury kind of person. I'd rather have a starter, a main

With you on that.

[janeyo]

We did have 3 courses and he came away hungry! And he isn't a very big man so doesn't eat masses.

OH said when he visited the States they would regularly bring him an entire loaf of bread with his meal! Just for him!

My Grandma, sadly departed, although I am becoming more and more like her each day, would routinely bring doggie bags home from restaurants and my mother was always mortified at this! I don't get it... if you've paid for it then take it home!

[Alice]

Well, JaneyO, if you had been where I have been you would have thought that was a great serving of vegetables.
I've just come back from a holiday in Italy. Staying in a lovely 4* hotel with a gorgeous dining room and hardly a vegetable to be seen and absolutely no salad.
Any vegetables that did appear were a spoonful of something out of a tin, and the soup came from a tin too. Very disappointing.
The price of vegetables in the shops was astronomical (so was eveything else).
A very small cauliflower £3
A kilo of runner beans £5.80
A lettuce I would have put on the compost heap £2.80
In that area people were living in nice big houses with quite a bit of ground around them. The ground was uncultivated and they were growing NOTHING - neither flower nor food. Amazing.
Just to make up for the lack of vegetables whisky was £10 a shot at the bar.
If you were prepared to compromise the local brandy could be had for £8 a shot.
To finish it all off, came home with a stinking cold.
I think if I stayed long enough I would be lucky to escape with scurvy.

[Two_Sheds]

a lovely 4* hotel with a gorgeous dining room and hardly a vegetable to be seen and absolutely no salad.

I saw a bit of Michel Roux on his (Masterchef?) show telling a contestant off for putting too much veg on the plate (which had a slab of meat and barely a couple of tablespoons of the green stuff)

[smallblueplanet]

Fascinating article here about overconsumption...

Exercise? A fat lot of good that is for weight loss - Times Online

Lying on the sofa does not necessarily make you fat, but if you’re fat, you’re more likely to lie on the sofa.

We were quite struck by our results; they are quite clear. It is obesity that is leading to inactivity in children, and not the other way around. This is fundamentally important. Even if you could change the physical activity of a child, and there is no intervention study in the literature that shows you can, it may not lead them to lose weight...

When President Obama said the incontrovertible this summer, “There’s no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda,” he was effectively knocking the heavily subsidised sugar industry. It felt like a radical act. Rather like the tobacco industry, there is tremendous power in the food industry. It is much easier for politicians to talk about physical activity, which is politically fairly neutral...

The whole economic system is built around consumption, we’ve responded, we have overconsumed, and we’ve got an obesity and environmental crisis to prove it...

[bramble]

Oh Alice, what a shame. Hope the cold is getting better by now.
We went to Lake Garda a few years ago and like you we never say a proper fresh veg.
To add to it the food was always served lukewarm.
Don't think I could live on Italian cuisine.

[Alice]

Thanks Bramble.
The food was so basic and not a vegetable or salad in sight and everything so expensive.
I've been googling since I came home to find the reason with no result.
The cold is a little better - if only at the level of I don't think I'll die.
Hope all goes well with you.

[SlugLobber]

The only thing that has EVER phased me was in Vegas... I ordered a 'Lite' portion of chicken goujons and still had enough chicken pieces to feed a family of four!

That reminds me of when I went to the US for 3 weeks, visiting 4 states and various friends. My first night, in Owosso MI, we went to a Mexican restaurant. By the end of the 'starter' I was absolutely stuffed. A few bites into the main course and I thought I was a Foie Gras Goose. I felt really ill! Everyone around me was American, so they were going at it like a load of sows at feed time.

After 3 weeks, I was ready to do time if it meant getting a nice Jacket Spud with a salad!

[organic]

To finish it all off, came home with a stinking cold.

After the nearly complete lack of veg there that does not come as a surprise!

Where exactly did you go? I'd like to make a point of avoiding it!

[ginger ninger]

OH and me went to Vagas 4 years since for his 40th the food was amazing, OH ordered a steak and I ordered the king crab one night, WOW unbelievable the sheer size of the portions, the steak alone must have been at least 36oz and my crab was massive.

[beefy]

Sounds to me like you all need to get out and explore your local area a bit more . After a few years and a waistline to match I have a list of local restaurants that covers my whims where I know the owners and some of the staff quite well.Extra portions of veg are not required as they send good sized portions out with the meals and with a vegetarian nephew I've often ordered the same as him just cos it sounded so good - and it usually is.
If anyone is coming to my part of the world drop me a line and I'll guarantee a great meal .No names on line - we don't want the secret getting out.

One recommendation I will give is the cafés at Westmorland Services on the M6 at J38. Might seem like a strange place to recommend but its all locally sourced and freshly cooked . It's not cheap but it's good with a good selection and its clean.Upset stomachs and long distance truck driving don't really complement each other.

[Rhona]

One recommendation I will give is the cafés at Westmorland Services on the M6 at J38.

We stop there en route home from visiting sis. 'Tis very good. Often has decent farmers stuff for sale too.