Most overrated - a thread about overrated things

My partner is Japanese and her and her friends have an affectionate term for the food found at most UK weddings as "the beige spread".

Funnily enough now some of them have moved back to parts of Asia she keeps getting requests to send them such UK classics as cheese puffs, Mccoys and custard creams.

I'd have Bon Jovi in my list for sure... Queen I've never been a fan of either and saying that, The Beatles as well... I think you needed to be in their era to appreciate what they did... Guns N Roses are just fuckin deplorable... Axel Rose's balls clearly haven't dropped and Slash literally wanks his guitar off instead of playing it... all those 12 minute solos are played out... don't get me started on Green Day, I'll be here all night

Yep. Love beige food.

Funerals, office parties, weddings.

Mmmmmmm beige.

Spent a week just out of Pontecaldelas a couple of weeks ago. Galicia is a gem. Food was amazing. Going to spend too much money learning how to cook octopus and cuttlefish now...

Just got back from a supermarket in a small mountain town in Austria. Everything is better than in the UK. The veg, meat, the lot. It's not more expensive.

I think British people just don't have very discerning taste when it comes to food. Our produce is shit because people put up with it.

I agree with you that there is less of an obvious class split (can only really speak to France and Spain), but it's not like that everywhere and importantly across the generations. Attributing importance to eating and family time definitely changes peoples attitudes to food.

Galicia is wonderful, especially for seafood, an Tbh I've never had a bad meal there, but I have had some pretty average greesy stuff in remote places in both North and South Spain.

It's not more expensive.

Interesting.

Cost is something I always notice in France, and have also noticed in Italy. Yes you can buy wine and whatever random local specialty at a shockingly lower prices (eg oysters in SW France), but overall I'd say a shop is cheaper in the UK.

To clarify, I find that by weight things are more expensive but packets tend to have smaller quantities of nicer things. Quality over quantity.

Quality over quantity.

I do notice this in France, where people will often have one expensive thing in a meal, then various "filler" items. All still cooked well mind you.

(Obviously not in Spain where their portion control is on par with the US).

It's not a Christmas Market without Lebkuchen.

Never tried Lebkuchen from a crimbo market. I imagine it’s about 5x expensive as anywhere else and no better.

Lidl Lebkuchen is the daddy though. The bags of the little shapes and the big round half chocolate coated stuff....

As for food, I usually hate weddings, especially big ones coz the scran is shite. It’s one of the main reasons we went for a very small do in a good hotel. Anyway, one if my mates who is Italian got married last weekend and I have never tasted food so good. It was a fairly big wedding, catered by one of the groom’s schoolfriends but Nona made the pasta, the wine was from the family vineyard... i honestly struggled to waddle away from the dinner table!

The Italian food rule for a tourist is as follows:

If the establishment looks like a restaurant...the food will be mediocre.

If the establishment looks like a launderette, a hovel, a poly tunnel, a cave, a shed and the food is served on a polystyrene plate and the menu is extremely limited, ..the meal served will most likely make you cry it will be so good.

So true. Also a good rule of thumb for places with children's plastic furniture in south-east asia. Just don't ask what you're eating.

That rule stands for anywhere really .. english menu = no go. Ideally don't go to Venice.

Have had this experience in Barca.

First night, ridiculously expensive mediocre tasting meal on the Ramblas.

Next night, little place on a back street that had no frontage, just a door with a (Spanish) menu beside it. Funny looks when we walked in but amazing veal and chips, creme Catalan and non stop beer, all served at the bar coz thats about all there was and I’m pretty sure that we put in €10 each and the barman/waiter/chef was pretty happy with his tip!

Our produce is shit because people put up with it.

It seems like most Brits gave up on fruit and veg a long time ago.

Same with fish.

FWIW, produce in UK still better than most of North America. Not overrated: the British strawberry.

Overrated: USA

Similar experience in Barcelona, found a vegetarian tapas place near where my hotel was, crazy cheap, amazing food and then they gave us free booze because they had to move us before the last course to accommodate a larger group (we didn't mind, there was only 2 of us)
Left there and found a non descript bar that had quite an extensive rum selection. Got leathered and spent minimal Euro.
I keep meaning to go back.

This.

Da Augusto in Rome is a perfect example. Paper tablecloths written on like Nandos, outdoor seating in a carpark, waitresses literally throw the food at you.

Best food I've eaten anywhere on the planet, 4hr lunch with what seemed like endless red wine cost me under €12

I also ate at a fish restaurant in Thailand that was essentially a concrete slab in front of someone's house. You picked your fish out of plastic bucket and handed it to a half-naked man in an apron who BBQ'd it and brought it to the table. The bathroom involved climbing through a chest height hole in the wall of the house, and walking through their living room.

I ate probably 2kg of fish, prawns and something that looked like a facehugger from Alien, all astoundingly delicious, and it cost me £1.80. With a beer.

They only open for 2.5 hours.

After litres of red wine that's cheaper than water, time loses all meaning.

So basically, restaurants that look like restaurants: overrated

Tl:dr avoid shit restaurants. Do your research on where to eat regardless of where you are going

One exception: Japan where you can eat almost anywhere and it will be at least acceptable - unless it’s not selling Japanese cuisine in which case avoid.