Just seen this on a sample menu for a hotel we are visiting soon

Bloody hell, listen to yourselves!

Do you know that your children and grandchildren inwardly groan when you start whinging on about this, don't you?

I went out for lunch in a gastro pub on Monday, I chose beer battered cod and chips served with crushed minted peas. Why crushed I wondered, bit silly and pretentious, but when they came I realised what a good idea, they didn't roll off my fork and were exceptionally easy to eat, think I might do this at home in future!!

I would imagine that most of us think of 'fried' as in a frying pan so why not use 'fried' rather than 'pan-fried', which irritates me too. Anything else, not so often offered, could be presented as 'deep-fried'. I love brown/black butter though. In a series of books written in the 1930s the main character often ate 'shirred eggs in black butter'.
As for food in France forget it. It's deteriorated radically over the years. There are still some good little home cooked cafés if you know where to look but much of the food is now bought in. My jaw dropped one time when I saw a Brake Brothers van delivering pallets of ready meals to a horrendously expensive swanky restaurant.
The French have recently brought in a rule that a menu has to state if the food is not cooked from scratch on the premises. It's like the bread. Unless you find an 'artisan bakery' the dough is brought in frozen and the croissants and baguettes are nowhere as delicious as freshly prepared. A bit like bread in the UK really - not what it used to be but the speciality breads there are better than in France.
Also in France if you live in an area with fiercly regional food there's an overdose of it in the restaurants. Much as I love magret, duck breast, it gets a little wearisome if it is on every restaurant menu. They aren't nearly as adventurous in their tastes as the Brits.
Even wine, my French friend who is a wine collector buff says that wine from Chile is much better than French.
There's a lot of snobbery involved around food and drink.

Why are people so scared of trying new stuff? Come one Grand challenge yourselves to try something new and keep an open mind about it!! Chocolate soil is just chopped up to look like soil, how can you seriously be put off by that?

Google has the answer to everything! www.hillthwaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/January-BAR-Menu.pdf

In the spirit of try everything once, I have eaten snails, frogs' legs, oysters, ostrich.. There is a vegetarian restaurant in Brighton called Terre a Terre run by Australians. I ate something there called Ockatucka. Translation: Australian food!

I think it describes exactly what's in the dish, I don't see the problem

Oh do give the chefs a chance. They're just trying to be creative and inventive. And if the choice of words really worries people, then go to your local fish and chip shop where you know what's what.

Has someone invented another way to fry food?
Well, yes. I have always assumed that 'pan fried' is used to indicate that it isn't 'deep fried' which isn't done in a frying pan but in a deep fryer.

jillyco - that's an interesting menu and much cheaper and more varied than it would be in an equivalent restaurant in France!

Don't you just love it when a dish is described as "pan-fried"?

Well, what else would you fry it in? Your hat?!

Elegran.
Agree Nice to visit eateries where you can experience more that your average pub type meals.

I too dislike pretentious descriptions of food. I am happy to try new things but like to know exactly what I am ordering!!

I recall some 30 years ago my brother in law refused to come to us for a meal because he said I put garlic in everything (well, not everything - I never put it in porridge!) and we had ideas above our station because we drank wine with Sunday lunch! Now that's what I call unadventurous

Quite right tothose of us who love cooking and eating out. I really love trying something I don't make myself. I think it's inverted snobbery just to want plain food if someone's trained for years to cook well why shouldn't they tell you about it.

If they are doing it to blind you with jargon and bamboozle you into thinking that they are better than they are, then I don't like it either.

Other clues are sneering to themselves as you choose the carrots as a vegetable when they have recommended the fennel in some fancy sauce (happened to me many years ago at a trendy London restaurant where we had been sent free by our hotel because of some mixup about bookings. Apparently it was frequented by a lot of celebrities, which may have been true but we were teribly ignorant and uncool and didn't recognise anyone) Or taking your coat and holding it with fingertips as though they think it may be contaminated with - horror - cat hairs.

In proper restaurants with knowledgable staff, you are welcomed whatever you want to eat, and if you don't know what a cheffy term means they are happy to explain it. That is their job.

Marionk you have totally missed the point people aren't saying they won't try new things as I said above I m very adventurous in my food but I hate pretentious titles I don't mind French titles if the food comes from a French background and warrants it but these awful names that are given simply TO BE trendy are annoying When they talk about a bed of wilted lettuce I just see this little lettuce leaf with a quivering bottom lip

Many years ago OH and I ran a village pub. I only cooked lunchtime, our customers were mainly from the local factory. They seemed to like my homemade food such as steak and kidney pie, cod and chips and other unadventurous dishes!!A friend, who was also a landldy had her photo on the cover of the brewery magazine, showing off her steak/kidney pie topped with puff pastry.Little did people know that she bought her ingredients from a local freezer company. She defrosted the filling, added the cicle of frozen puff pastry and cooked it in the oven.She advertised it as "home cooked" Don't always be fooled by the description of the meal on the menu.

Hey to everyone who is moaning about those of us who moan!
We enjoy a good moan, that's what we come to Gransnet for - but we do heaps of other fun things - don't we?

Maryxyx - I agree ; my children have explained to me that 'ponce' or .poncy' is considered extremely insulting these days. But it was not always - it used to mean something a bit pretentious. It's hard to keep up these days. I think there's another thread on this topic.

Another illusion shattered. I had assumed that Panfried was a character in Wagner's Ring der Nibelungen.

Grumppa

Grumpa PMSL not literally of course !

Not pretentious at all (I don't like the use of poncey here) burnt butter is delicious and skate with black butter is also lovely.

I'm late to the party, but have just seen the comments re skate wing. I tried it at a very upmarket restaurant and it was absolutely foul. It reeked of ammonia and tasted of it too. Apparently this happens with skate occasionally and opinions differ as to why. I should have sent the horrible thing back, but was influenced by my foodie friend declaring it delicious despite the smell. The taste and stench seemed to be with me for days (shudder!).

That apart, I think we have fabulous food choices in this country now - you can get great food from any area or cuisine imaginable. I don't care how they describe it as long as it tastes good .

And I think that wild mushroom dish sounds delicious. Left over corned beef hash for us tonight