AIBU to expect classic dishes to be served in a classical style in a restaurant?

SueDoku - yes I must have been eating improper salads too!!

YANBU but I expect the chef is trying to be 'modern' which doesn't always work. Leave it alone!

Ask for any dressing to be served separately. It's quite common now that people have realised that some salads are worse than pizzas calorie-wise due to the heavy hand with the oil.

Also, BV is indigestible but have you tried balsamic glaze? Yumsk!

Trouble is many chefs now do classic dishes " with a twist". I really dislike that phrase. If they wish to create something new, well do so. As DH says ' Don't muck about with a classic recipe'

My partner and I can't take anything too hot and chilli seems to be put in everything now. It is okay in something appropriate like a curry etc, but it even in oven chips nowadays. My partner's mouth can get very sore if he has too much, so we have to explain we a) do not like it and b) my partner is allergic to it. The restaurants are usually very good, and it does show you which restaurants cook their meals from scratch so they are quite happy to leave it out.

SueDoko, if you want an anchovyless dressing, try Mary Berry's recipe for Caesar dressing...beware the Worcestershire sauce as it contains a smidgeon of anchovy. Bon Appetit!

Oldgajin, a few prawns to someone who is allergic to them could be very serious, certainly I do not want to end up in hospital because the chef puts "a few mussels" on what should have been a plain fish dish.

Many restaurants have an on-line presence where you can check menus, prices etc. before you go. You can also call ahead when someone has dietary restrictions. I usually order dressings, butter, sauces etc. 'on the side' whenever possible. With few exceptions, I have found most restaurants to be accommodating.

GA made my point! Although not so drastic as her DGS's reaction, I have unfortunate consequences if served gluten and some restaurants assume that just means serving an alternative to the bread.

or not bothering to wash the knife between slicing ordinary bread and gf bread kitty

It may depend on where you are and where you're from. If I, as an Englishwoman, were to ask for a pasta dish in Rimini, I can hardly expect it to be the same as one served in London or Bristol.

Noir quite in the same league as balsamic vinegar,but I remember a few years ago my late DM and I were in a cafe. DM ordered a jacket potato with tuna and cheese. When it arrived she asked the waitress if she could have salt and pepper,as there was none on the table. The waitress informed her that salt and pepper had already been added! My DM was .

Not! Not 'noir'.

IMHO though Balsamic Vinegar can be delicious in the right dish, there is no way that BV on scrambled eggs would ever be a good combination. BV would overpower the delicacy of the egg flavour and ruin the dish. Each!

Grannyactivist: very recently on a TV programme one of the presenters rang several different takeaways to order a meal and specified a particular ingredient (possibly nuts) that must not be included. When the takeaways were tested the allergy ingredient was either in them all or perhaps one was safe. The others could have had dangerous consequences.

Anchovies are an ingredient in the Caesar sauce and are very often included in Caesar salads but as they can be an acquired taste eaten as they are you think they might have warned you on the menu

I think this, or any addition, comes under the modern culinary trait of 'artistic licence'. In other words, if you go to any restaurant it's their interpretation of any classic which will be presented to you. I suppose you can't blame them in that there's a lot of competition out there but I do agree it can be very disappointing.

Wow! I didn’t realise just how many like minded souls there are out there. I take all the points about ‘served with a twist’, or ‘designer food’, but then the title of the dish must be different. Cesar salad is Cesar salad, anything else, including Balsamic, turns it into lettuce with a dressing, croutons and other bits - not a Cesar salad! Similarly, scrambled eggs is or should be what it says! Rant over - feeling much mich better to know that I am not alone.

Ewwww bbq!

A chef who thinks it is the heights of sophistication to splash BV everywhere is not a very good chef. Eat somewhere else.

I loved bread and butter pudding made by my mum as a cheap pudding to use up stale bread. It is now a trendy pudding but I am always disappointed as chef has added orange or chocolate or similar

Seaside, I feel exactly the same but it's with crime brûlée. People seem to have this inexplicable need to add something to it whereas it can stand on its own two feet amazingly and is only reduced by additions in my opinion.

Must say I really don't care for balsamic vinegar - to me the taste is so strong, it overpowers everything else. A dd puts it on every salad, so unless I make a classic oil and vinegar dressing first, or maybe an oil and lemon juice - I have to grab my portion before it's swamped.

Ditto to bread and butter pudding! Why do they have to muck about with it? I did make one with a super-size brioche when we were in France last year, but that was because the bakery had given it for free - because it was stale! Which of course we didn't realise at the time - thought they were just being nice!

Why have so many cafes etc started serving savoury snacks in a brioche bun!? It’s not smart or clever, it’s wrong, brioche is sweet.

Balsamic and very roughly crushed black pepper on strawberries is delicious when they're part of a savoury meal, not with cream.