Misleading restaurant menu description

Unrealistic

I went with my family for an evening meal to a pub that serves bar food. It is part of a hotel and has a pretty extensive menu so it isn't just a "chicken in a basket" joint. They had a kids menu and my children chose 'Chicken Goujons'. It took a long time for the food to arrive and the barman was over a couple of times to apologise for the delay. When our meal eventually arrived it was clear that what were on the kids' plates were the type of chicken nuggets you get in McDonald's. Now to me there is a very clear distinction between nuggets and goujons where goujons are whole strips of breaded chicken meat and nuggets are reconstituted chicken parts. I was really pissed off as normally I try to avoid feeding my kids mystery meat like that so I was very tempted to kick up a fuss, but we were just after a long journey and we had three hungry kids who been waiting for a long time for something to eat, and this was the start of a weekend away that was supposed to be fun, so I decided not to spoil it.

I thought about sending the food back and asking for something else but the kitchen was clearly under pressure so that would have meant a further long wait and wouldn't have been fair on the kids. The same with just walking out and going to eat somewhere else. So in the end I did nothing but it still gets to me that they can get away with misleading menu descriptions like this. Any suggestions as to what would have been a better way to handle it?

rubadub

Unrealistic wrote: »

Now to me there is a very clear distinction between nuggets and goujons where goujons are whole strips of breaded chicken meat and nuggets are reconstituted chicken parts.

All commercial ones I ever got were reconstituted, even ones which appear to be breast are usually processed. If I saw them on a restaurant I would presume they were too, unless stated, but especially on a children's menu in a pub I would think its more likely to be processed stuff.

The term "goujon" would only expect me to think they might be a little bigger and longer than what is called a "nugget".

Cabaal

Got to agree with rubadub on this in relation to the nature of chicken products sold in alot of places,
You're being somewhat naive to assume goujon means its 100% pure chicken breast and not reconstituted or formed chicken (unless of course the menu says its 100% pure chicken breast or staff tell you this)

When it comes to children you'd get better quality food if you simply look for a smaller portion of the adult menu for your kids, I know a good few people that do just this for this very reason.

In fairness i don't see what come back you have in relation to this,

Unrealistic

rubadub wrote: »

All commercial ones I ever got were reconstituted, even ones which appear to be breast are usually processed. If I saw them on a restaurant I would presume they were too, unless stated, but especially on a children's menu in a pub I would think its more likely to be processed stuff.

The term "goujon" would only expect me to think they might be a little bigger and longer than what is called a "nugget".

My understanding is different and to me long pieces of of processed chicken are called 'fingers' but 'goujons' are always real meat. And that's from spending many years in the business but outside Ireland. If the generally accepted definition in Ireland is different then I guess there wasn't much for me to make a fuss over although, in this case, the 'goujons' were shorter and rounder and virtually indistinguishable from McNuggets.

coylemj

Unrealistic wrote: »

My understanding is different and to me long pieces of of processed chicken are called 'fingers' but 'goujons' are always real meat. And that's from spending many years in the business but outside Ireland.

Any time you buy fish (fingers) or meat (goujons or nuggets) that's in breadcrumbs or covered in any kind of batter, realistically you have no right to expect anything other than reconstituted meat or fish any more than if you ordered a burger or a fish cake.

If an establishment used a term like 'breast of chicken' or 'filet steak' then there's no ambiguity but with goujons I'd say it's wide open to local interpretation and if you insist that it means whole cuts of meat, it's up to you to establish that when ordering.

I'd agree that goujons are normally longer but ultimately you're going to get the same thing as a nugget, just that it may sometimes be shaped differently.

If you want breast of chicken, ask for it. Can't see that you have any case against the hotel.

rubadub

Unrealistic wrote: »

My understanding is different and to me long pieces of of processed chicken are called 'fingers' but 'goujons' are always real meat.

By longer I meant longer than mcdonalds nuggets, with a longer "tail", but not perfectly rectangular ones like fish fingers. Chicken fingers are rare enough here.

coylemj wrote: »

If an establishment used a term like 'breast of chicken' or 'filet steak' then there's no ambiguity

If I was that particular I would still question "breast of chicken", esp. in a pub restaurant if it was breaded, most of the cheap "chicken fillet rolls" out there are using processed chicken shaped to look like an authentic fillet.

If I had a pub serving real ones I would make a point of saying it with no ambiguity at all, probably call it unprocessed breast, as most of these are still using breast meat. I see "mini fillets" in shops more and more these days. There was a program on last night showing them making chicken kievs, they had big 500g frozen breasts that they processed to make them, think they got 5-6 per 500g breast.

dudara

Complaints are always best made on the day - but we often shy away from it. If you want to pursue it further, I'd suggest writing a letter to the venue manager.

rubberdiddies

firstly you should have mentioned it to them at the time.

i was in a pub/restaurant last year and ordered goujons from the 'adult' menu and a portion of goujons from the childrens menu.

mine arrived as expected with a single fillet coated in breadcrumbs, freshly made, and the childrens one arrived as the horrible formed chicken, despite both being sold as goujons.

it was changed without a fuss.

this is the one and only time this has happened in years of ordering goujons.

i tend to feel physically sick at even the sight of the formed ones (must have had a bad childhood experience with nuggets!)

there is an expectation that when ordering goujons, it is going to be from a single fillet and not formed chicken. there is an expectation that when ordering nuggets, you get crap!

same goes for fish.

hence they have different names.

i don't know if its a regulation or simply an unwritten rule amongst chefs, but goujons generally tend not to be of the formed variety.

then again, i'm yet to order a shepherds pie that contains lamb!

Unrealistic

coylemj wrote: »

If an establishment used a term like 'breast of chicken' or 'filet steak' then there's no ambiguity but with goujons I'd say it's wide open to local interpretation and if you insist that it means whole cuts of meat, it's up to you to establish that when ordering.

That was kind of my point above, that in other parts of the world the word goujon has a very unambiguous meaning. It is used to describe a piece of breaded chicken that is either a whole tenderloin or a strip of breast meat but not processed meat. If you served processed meat as 'goujons' in the south east US, for example, it would be just as bad as writing 'steak' on the menu and serving a burger instead. I'm not disputing that it has a different meaning in Ireland. Everyone who replied seems to be unanimous about that.

coylemj wrote: »

Can't see that you have any case against the hotel.

Agreed. I've already said that above after the first two replies when I acknowledged that it didn't seem like something I should be making a fuss over after all.

rubadub wrote: »

By longer I meant longer than mcdonalds nuggets, with a longer "tail", but not perfectly rectangular ones like fish fingers. Chicken fingers are rare enough here.

I think we're talking about the same thing. Irregularly shaped strips of breaded processed chicken. Something like in this picture.
http://cebupromos.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013-07-04-gri-fridays-half-off-chicken-fingers.jpg
To look at them they would be indistinguishable from real chicken tenderloins but the name is the give away, they are described as fingers rather than goujons so they would be understood (in that particular market) to be processed rather than real meat.

dudara wrote: »

Complaints are always best made on the day - but we often shy away from it. If you want to pursue it further, I'd suggest writing a letter to the venue manager.

I wasn't really looking to make a complaint at this stage. Just trying to understand what I could have done about on the day. Now I understand it's probably a good thing I kept my mouth shut at the time. I've been away from Ireland for a long time and I didn't realise until today that the term 'goujon' is accepted as having a more flexible meaning here than it does elsewhere. Now I know.

Unrealistic

rubberdiddies wrote: »

firstly you should have mentioned it to them at the time.

i was in a pub/restaurant last year and ordered goujons from the 'adult' menu and a portion of goujons from the childrens menu.

mine arrived as expected with a single fillet coated in breadcrumbs, freshly made, and the childrens one arrived as the horrible formed chicken, despite both being sold as goujons.

it was changed without a fuss.

Well done on getting it resolved. Unfortunately I didn't see that as an option. As I'd mentioned, it had already taken ages for the food to arrive and it was clear that sending it back was going to result in a very long delay before the kids got something else to eat.

rubberdiddies wrote: »

this is the one and only time this has happened in years of ordering goujons.

i tend to feel physically sick at even the sight of the formed ones (must have had a bad childhood experience with nuggets!)

there is an expectation that when ordering goujons, it is going to be from a single fillet and not formed chicken. there is an expectation that when ordering nuggets, you get crap!

same goes for fish.

hence they have different names.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who understands that to be the distinction after all.

Get Real

rubberdiddies wrote: »

there is an expectation that when ordering goujons, it is going to be from a single fillet and not formed chicken.

unless you eat in a top end restaurant/ one that cooks from scratch, all goujons are just reformed meat, slightly better quality reformed meat, but how else do you think they're produced in a factory on a large scale?

Pubs, restaurants, eateries that are somewhere between a restaurant and fast food joint order in frozen goujons. There may only be two or three main suppliers in the market. They come in frozen in bags and are deep fried. Hence your starter and main for 15 quid deals etc.

I don't necessarily mind this, I mean tasty food in an ambient setting at a good price suits me. If I want better I'll go better places. But never allow yourself to be fooled into thinking one place is better than another simply by presentation/look of the place/ price.

The same goes for the likes of a popular Irish sandwich/deli chain. Lovely displays, soup, wholesome pictures etc. Do you see a kitchen in these places? That lovely lettuce on display? bought in in plastic bags pre shredded, the tomatoes pre sliced, and the cheese pre grated all in a factory. If I were in business I'd do the same, cuts out an awful lot of time in preparation, and the factories can do it in bulk and sell it cheaply.

Unrealistic

Get Real wrote: »

unless you eat in a top end restaurant/ one that cooks from scratch, all goujons are just reformed meat, slightly better quality reformed meat, but how else do you think they're produced in a factory on a large scale?

Having worked years ago in a wholesalers that had a chicken processing plant for a KFC type operation on the premises I happen to know exactly how it is done. It's not pretty but it doesn't involve reformed meat. There are rows and rows of ladies in front of circular saws taking whole chickens and portioning them in matter of seconds. Two of the portions that are separated in the process are boneless breasts and tenderloins.

Get Real wrote: »

Pubs, restaurants, eateries that are somewhere between a restaurant and fast food joint order in frozen goujons. There may only be two or three main suppliers in the market. They come in frozen in bags and are deep fried. Hence your starter and main for 15 quid deals etc.

Frozen goujons does not mean reconstituted meat. Here are some examples of chicken goujons supplied for catering in case you don't believe me and they are all made from real meat.

http://mallonspartyfood.com/shop/hillden-farm-foods-homemade-chicken-goujons/
http://www.atlanticfoods.co.uk/product/harvest/friedgoujons/
http://www.kepakfoodservice.ie/products/big-als-breaded-chicken-goujons/
Anything labelled as Chicken Goujons in catering packs is generally real breast meat or tenderloins. Reconstituted versions are labelled as Chicken Fingers or Chicken Dippers or some other made up name but not as Chicken Goujons.

Get Real wrote: »

I don't necessarily mind this, I mean tasty food in an ambient setting at a good price suits me. If I want better I'll go better places. But never allow yourself to be fooled into thinking one place is better than another simply by presentation/look of the place/ price.

Any restaurant that takes the reconstituted 'fingers or 'dippers' and sells them as Chicken Goujons is not the kind of place I'd like to eat.

Get Real wrote: »

The same goes for the likes of a popular Irish sandwich/deli chain. Lovely displays, soup, wholesome pictures etc. Do you see a kitchen in these places? That lovely lettuce on display? bought in in plastic bags pre shredded, the tomatoes pre sliced, and the cheese pre grated all in a factory. If I were in business I'd do the same, cuts out an awful lot of time in preparation, and the factories can do it in bulk and sell it cheaply.

If you were in the business you might be a bit more informed about it and you wouldn't be making so many inaccurate claims about all chicken goujons being made from reformed meat except in high end restaurants. Having been in this business in various roles for going on 25 years I can assure you that is just not true.

My own local butcher sells fresh breaded goujons for €10 per kg. He may have received them as frozen tenderloins from Thailand but they are real tenderloins, not reconstituted, and they are floppy until they crisp up when you cook them. He also supplies to a couple of local restaurants and I'm sure they are paying him a lot less than €10 per kg. Aldi sells fresh chicken tenderloins for €9 per kg (I think they label them as 'mini-fillets'). There must be 25-30 tenderloins in a kg before you bread them up. It's perfectly possible to sell real chicken goujons at a reasonable price. The group I work for has a chain of restaurants that are far from high end (think TGI Fridays or something on that level) and we serve tens of thousands of chicken goujons every year that are made from real chicken tenderloins and we still manage to keep our prices low enough that our average customer spend is under €15 equivalent. Even KFC Chicken Tenders are made from whole strips of breast meat or tenderloins. Think about that next time you go to a sit-down restaurant/pub that serves you reconstituted crap as chicken goujons. They are actually giving you a substantially worse food than if you had gone to KFC!

EDIT: This is from KFC's statutory ingredient list:

Page 4 of 11
As of January 10, 2014

Extra Crispy™ Tenders
Chicken Tenderloins Or Chicken Breast Strips, Seasoning (Modified Potato Starch, Salt, Onion Powder, Chicken Flavor [With Maltodextrin, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Chicken Fat, Dehydrated Cooked Chicken], Spice Extractive), Potassium and Sodium Phosphate. Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Salt, Spices, Monosodium Glutamate, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate), Garlic Powder, Natural Flavorings, Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, With Not More Than 2% Calcium Silicate Added as an Anti Caking Agent.
Contains Wheat.

D3PO

Unrealistic wrote: »

I wasn't really looking to make a complaint at this stage. Just trying to understand what I could have done about on the day. .

You could have complained and sent it back instead of giving it to your children eating it and paying for it.

This thread is beyond stupid. Just becasue you have an idea of what you think a goujon should be doesnt make it an absolute discription.

You had the opportunity to address the matter at the time when you realised that your and their ideas of what consists of a goujon were different the fact is you were too impatient to actualyl try sort it out by sending it back as you didnt want anothe rlong wait for food.

Thats your problem. You have no recourse. If you have a problem in a restaurant you deal with it there and then, you dont go eat and then pay for the food and then come online complaining about it.

whomitconcerns

erm i would actually disagree with teh majority of posters here. If I order chicken goujons, I would never expect to get less than a strip of actual non messed with chicken. It would never occur to me that they would be reconstituted or reformed. And I would send them straight back if they came out as such.

If they are reformed i would expect them to be called chicken fingers or something. this is why a portion of goujons is more expensive than nuggets in most places...including mcdonalds and burger king even!!

Unrealistic

whomitconcerns wrote: »

erm i would actually disagree with teh majority of posters here. If I order chicken goujons, I would never expect to get less than a strip of actual non messed with chicken. It would never occur to me that they would be reconstituted or reformed. And I would send them straight back if they came out as such.

If they are reformed i would expect them to be called chicken fingers or something. this is why a portion of goujons is more expensive than nuggets in most places...including mcdonalds and burger king even!!

Yes, it kind of reminds me of the scene from Fawlty Towers where the tourist sends back his 'Fresh Orange Juice' complaining that it isn't fresh. Basil Fawlty gets all indignant and says "of course it's fresh, I just opened a new jar". God be with the days when orange juice in a jar made from concentrate, served in a whiskey tumbler on a saucer with a paper doily, was considered an acceptable restaurant starter in its own right. I guess as long as there are enough customers in Ireland willing to accept being served reconstituted chicken then its only natural that less scrupulous restaurants will serve it.

Unrealistic

D3PO wrote: »

You could have complained and sent it back instead of giving it to your children eating it and paying for it.

I could have but I explained the reasons why I didn't.

D3PO wrote: »

This thread is beyond stupid. Just becasue you have an idea of what you think a goujon should be doesnt make it an absolute discription.

It may not make it an absolute description in your eyes but it is the dictionary definition and it is the accepted definition internationally within the food service profession.

D3PO wrote: »

You had the opportunity to address the matter at the time when you realised that your and their ideas of what consists of a goujon were different the fact is you were too impatient to actualyl try sort it out by sending it back as you didnt want anothe rlong wait for food.

Thanks for passing judgement without offering any useful suggestions.

D3PO wrote: »

Thats your problem. You have no recourse. If you have a problem in a restaurant you deal with it there and then, you dont go eat and then pay for the food and then come online complaining about it.

As I've already said on multiple occasions earlier in this thread I'm not looking for recourse now. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I might have handled it better in a way that didn't have to involve three young kids going for another hour without food.

vicwatson

It's more than worth making a call to the manager now and explain your concerns.

amdublin

There is nothing in the word "goujon" that would suggest to me that it is going to be pure chicken meat/breast etc.

If anything, if I saw chips and goujons on a menu I'd assume they were the ones that you buy in the bag from a wholesalers. God only knows what is in them! (and I mean that with no respect - I likes them )

If I was concerned about only giving my children pure meat I'd be like " do you see your goujons there, are they pure meat covered in breadcrumbs? Or are they the more processed kind made from all different meats/parts?"

slimjimmc

Unrealistic wrote: »

As I've already said on multiple occasions earlier in this thread I'm not looking for recourse now. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I might have handled it better in a way that didn't have to involve three young kids going for another hour without food.

Perhaps you could have called the waiter over and explained that you received nuggets not the gougons as ordered. At that stage you could have explained your concern that a re-order might take a long time because the kitchen seemed busy. Let the waiter make a suggestion, most decent waiters want happy customers (they often give tips) and can be quite resourceful.

If they couldn't offer you what you asked then at least you'd been no worse off than now, and they might even not charge for the kids by way of apology.

whomitconcerns

amdublin wrote: »

There is nothing in the word "goujon" that would suggest to me that it is going to be pure chicken meat/breast etc.

If anything, if I saw chips and goujons on a menu I'd assume they were the ones that you buy in the bag from a wholesalers. God only knows what is in them! (and I mean that with no respect - I likes them )

If I was concerned about only giving my children pure meat I'd be like " do you see your goujons there, are they pure meat covered in breadcrumbs? Or are they the more processed kind made from all different meats/parts?"

the definition and accepted meaning globally of the word goujon is either the strip of meat located just below the breast (in one piece) or strips of the breast. Certainly nothing that is reconstituted or reformed

amdublin

whomitconcerns wrote: »

the definition and accepted meaning globally of the word goujon is either the strip of meat located just below the breast (in one piece) or strips of the breast. Certainly nothing that is reconstituted or reformed

I hear ya.

But funnily enough the word does not suggest that to me.

Particularly in a fast food place/pub/casual restaurant.

Frynge

rubadub wrote: »

If I had a pub serving real ones I would make a point of saying it with no ambiguity at all, probably call it unprocessed breast, as most of these are still using breast meat. I see "mini fillets" in shops more and more these days. There was a program on last night showing them making chicken kievs, they had big 500g frozen breasts that they processed to make them, think they got 5-6 per 500g breast.

I think you are explaining the Kiev bit a little out of context, I buy in 2000-3000 chicken breasts each week and I have never come across 500g chicken breast, it must be a monstrosity. Most of the chicken we buy is rated 150-170g, 170-190g etc up to a 240g breast which is Huge, (all without added water) so it is not inconceivable for 5-6 Kiev to be manufactured from one 500g breast. Also if you take a look at tesco's website they have moy park Kiev that are 141.5g each on average which includes breadcrumb and filling and if you take into account that the program you were watching was probable taking a slight sensationalist view towards the manufactur of kievs then 5-6 from the one breast really isn't such a bad thing.

Also just to add all the goujons we sell are from chicken breast the is breaded in house by the chefs. I think they use the loose bit of the breast that is cut off of it so they essentially get one goujon per breast. But if there is a high number of goujons needed then they just cut up the breast. I think.

rubadub

Frynge wrote: »

I have never come across 500g chicken breast, it must be a monstrosity.

It was, the presenter commented on it, and I was amazed to see the supervising factory person say she did not consider it to be surprisingly large, when it obviously was. Dunno where the factory woman usually shopped.

Frynge wrote: »

the program you were watching was probable taking a slight sensationalist view towards the manufactur of kievs then 5-6 from the one breast really isn't such a bad thing.

the program (channel 4 food unwrapped) is often trying to be sensationalist, I certainly wasn't trying to be though, why I clearly mentioned the grams and that it was large. It was weird as the presenter asked how many they would get and they had to all the workers go off and discuss it. Then the program was trying to make out like they were squeezing 5-6 out of 1 breast, neglecting to mention again that the breast at the start was 4 times the size of your typical butchers "10 for €10" breasts. I have gotten 350g breasts off large chickens in dunnes.

D3PO

Unrealistic wrote: »

. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I might have handled it better in a way that didn't have to involve three young kids going for another hour without food.

You could have complained. Thats how you could have handled it better. You didnt and you fed it to your children instead and payed for it.

You made the choice to allow your children eat these reconstitued goujons over making them wait for a new dish to be made that was entirely your choice, but you cant expect to then complain about it after the fact.

If Im in a restaurant and something isnt as it should be I call over the waiter / waitress and I raise my problem and I have it dealt with.

I dont go and eat the dish and then complain after the fact. Regardless of how hungry or how little I want to wait for the problem to be rectified there and then.

I think the argument over what a goujon should or shouldnt be detracts from the main point of this thread and that is based on getting something form the kitchen eating despite not being happy with it and then wondering what recourse you should have after the fact.

rubadub

Unrealistic wrote: »

I'm not disputing that it has a different meaning in Ireland. Everyone who replied seems to be unanimous about that.

Some who posted here seem like they might actually continue going on thinking it only means "proper" chicken, even though it should be now blatantly obvious to them that this is not the case.

Unrealistic wrote: »

Frozen goujons does not mean reconstituted meat. Here are some examples of chicken goujons supplied for catering in case you don't believe me and they are all made from real meat.

http://mallonspartyfood.com/shop/hillden-farm-foods-homemade-chicken-goujons/
http://www.atlanticfoods.co.uk/product/harvest/friedgoujons/
http://www.kepakfoodservice.ie/products/big-als-breaded-chicken-goujons/

I would still not be 100% certain the first 2 are not reformed, the last is big als, maybe those catering ones are different, but the 2 big als goujons in tesco are from "Marinated chicken breast fillet chopped and shaped", which I presume is the nice way of saying pumped with water and reformed.

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=277909475
http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=277910052

Many of the reformed pumped up breasts still look like real ones.

whomitconcerns wrote: »

If they are reformed i would expect them to be called chicken fingers or something. this is why a portion of goujons is more expensive than nuggets in most places...including mcdonalds and burger king even!!

But McDonalds have nuggets AND goujons. If I saw a childs menu in a pub, which remember is the case here, and if it had chicken nuggets, and goujons at twice the price or more then I might reasonably think they are more likely to be breast, I would still ask if I thought it was important as I would have my doubts. Checking all of the 8 types of goujons on tescos site I do not believe any are unformed chicken, but could still be a fair bit more expensive than the really cheapo nuggets.

Nonoperational

Goujons and nuggets/dippers etc are different and I'd agree with the OP. I thought this was obvious to be honest.

Zulu

Sweet baby jesus this is a retarded thread.

Look: Goujon

and here: goujon

and here: goujon

But really: who gives a ****. Childrens menu in a pub?!? FFS.

P. Breathnach

Zulu wrote: »

...
But really: who gives a ****. Childrens menu in a pub?!? FFS.

So there is something wrong in caring about what your children eat?

Zulu

Thats exactly what my post reads :rolleyes:

If you care so such about it, there is something wrong with doing fu*k all and then grumbling anomalously in the interweb after, looking for "better ways to handle it".

...which, frankly, amounts to just about the single worst way to handle it.

WhyTheFace

Unrealistic wrote: »

As I've already said on multiple occasions earlier in this thread I'm not looking for recourse now. I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I might have handled it better in a way that didn't have to involve three young kids going for another hour without food.

a) You should have known not to expect much when you are buying processed, reformed deep fried chicken in a pub.

b) You had two options.
1) return the food and wait
2) refuse to eat and refuse to pay and go elsewhere

It seems your impatience and poor restaurant choice are the only things to be at fault here.

Suck it up, move on and think more about what you feed your children in the future.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I just don't know why you didn't say it to the bar manager at the time.

SteM

WhyTheFace wrote: »

a) You should have known not to expect much when you are buying processed, reformed deep fried chicken in a pub.

But that's one of the points of this thread - the OP didn't think they'd be getting 'processed, reformed deep fried chicken'. They were expecting something else. Did you not read the original posting?

WhyTheFace

SteM wrote: »

But that's one of the points of this thread - the OP didn't think they'd be getting 'processed, reformed deep fried chicken'. They were expecting something else. Did you not read the original posting?

But sure that's what goujons are!

Unless you went to some top quality restaurant of course, in which case they probably wouldn't be on the menu. :pac:

A pub of all places, I mean ffs...the OP is very misguided.

noodler

I am only going to chime in and say I didn't necessarily think a Goujon was different to a nugget or dipper in tems of meat content unless stated.

The main difference that springs to mind is a nugget would be usually in batter whilst a goujon would be breadcrumbs.

Five Lamps

Why is it that in every restaurant you go to go the childrens menu is utter sh1t? Sausages, pizza, gougons/nuggets.

Parents, do yourself a favour. Bring your own food or order from the regular menu.

MagicMarker

I always considered goujons to specifically be the tenderloin in breadcrumbs.

In saying that, this whole topic appears to be pretty pointless. If you care about what your kids eat, don't bring them to a pub.

chin nuts

Five Lamps wrote: »

Why is it that in every restaurant you go to go the childrens menu is utter sh1t? Sausages, pizza, gougons/nuggets.

Parents, do yourself a favour. Bring your own food or order from the regular menu.

bring your own food to a restaurant ??? whats the point in going then..

homemadecider

Don't feed your kids pub food. Problem solved.

Greenmachine

Can't remember ever getting real chicken piece in chicken goujons.

SteM

WhyTheFace wrote: »

But sure that's what goujons are!

Unless you went to some top quality restaurant of course, in which case they probably wouldn't be on the menu. :pac:

A pub of all places, I mean ffs...the OP is very misguided.

No they're not 'processed, reformed deep fried chicken' as you put it. They're not supposed to be reformed a far as i'm concerned.

I was doing the weekly shopping yesterday and out of interest took a look in the freezer cabinets of two large shops and the local butchers. The only things called goujons do not say on the packaging they are reformed/processed cuts of chicken. Things that are called dippers/nuggets etc do seem to be processed chicken parts. Was taking to the butcher about the ones he sold and he said they were 100% chicken breast although they were more expensive than the shop one.

You can argue til the cows come home about whether kids should be eating pub food or not but if I saw chicken goujons on a menu and ordered them I'd. expect whole pieces of chicken, breaded, seasoned and fried. If anything else came out I'd send it back.

SteM

chin nuts wrote: »

bring your own food to a restaurant ??? whats the point in going then..

They're talking about bringing kids food with them obviously. The adults would still order from the menu. Have done that myself recently because I'm sick of just seeing sausage & chips on the kids menus.

WhyTheFace

SteM wrote: »

No they're not 'processed, reformed deep fried chicken' as you put it. They're not supposed to be reformed a far as i'm concerned.

I was doing the weekly shopping yesterday and out of interest took a look in the freezer cabinets of two large shops and the local butchers. The only things called goujons do not say on the packaging they are reformed/processed cuts of chicken. Things that are called dippers/nuggets etc do seem to be processed chicken parts. Was taking to the butcher about the ones he sold and he said they were 100% chicken breast although they were more expensive than the shop one.

You can argue til the cows come home about whether kids should be eating pub food or not but if I saw chicken goujons on a menu and ordered them I'd. expect whole pieces of chicken, breaded, seasoned and fried. If anything else came out I'd send it back.

I guarantee you the vast majority of goujons are reformed, even if they say "100% guaranteed Irish chicken breast" no more than Supermacs etc. say in their burgers.

As you said yourself, you'd send it back. Which is what should have been done. Not make your kid eat it, pay for it and then go to the internet to vent your anger.

Perhaps if the bar knew of such feedback they might review their menu. If they don't know customers are not happy, they can't improve upon it.

Frynge

Just to make people aware, goujons is in no way a protected term and I can basically put anything onto a plate and call it a goujon wether anyone likes it or not.

The best solution to the issue the op has is just ask the server when ordering. If that was done and you then received the processed meat there would be grounds for a serious complaint to management.

Someone commented on why pubs only have nuggets and sausages on the children's menu and the sole reason is if they are taken off the menu they are still what is ordered 70-80% of the time. We have about 90% of our main menus available as a half portion or child's portion and still it is either sausage chips, nuggets chips, or egg chips. We also give beans with each of those but most people order them without.

ThisRegard

MagicMarker wrote: »

In saying that, this whole topic appears to be pretty pointless. If you care about what your kids eat, don't bring them to a pub.

Plenty of pubs do fine food for both adults and kids alike.

mitosis

By definition goujons are thin strips of meat fried. They are NOT reconstituted. OP, you were misled and effectively served something other than you ordered.

WhyTheFace

mitosis wrote: »

By definition goujons are thin strips of meat fried. They are NOT reconstituted. OP, you were misled and effectively served something other than you ordered.

There is nothing to say that the strip cannot be formed from reconstituted chicken.

What part of a chicken do "strips" come from?

Michael D Not Higgins

mitosis wrote: »

By definition goujons are thin strips of meat fried. They are NOT reconstituted. OP, you were misled and effectively served something other than you ordered.

According to whose definition? Is there a legal definition of what a goujon is? Is it a protected item like Parma ham or Champagne that has strict guidelines on origin and production?

rubadub

D3PO wrote: »

I think the argument over what a goujon should or shouldnt be detracts from the main point of this thread and that is based on getting something form the kitchen eating despite not being happy with it and then wondering what recourse you should have after the fact.

Prevention is better than cure. I would think the main thing to have learned from this thread is that marketing people & retailers can use loose terminology on items and so you should be aware of this and question it. You should hopefully not get to a stage where you have to complain.

Many were ignorant of the fact that goujons are often made from reformed meat. The worrying thing is some of them are going on like they will stubbornly refuse to accept that they were ignorant, and might go on feigning ignorance about it.

Your "fresh cod" in a chipper is usually from frozen fish, the "smoked cod" is more likely not to be cod at all. The "chicken fillet" in your <€3.50 chicken baguette is very likely to be reformed chicken.

I am guessing many here have had processed goujons and might just not have copped it.

SteM wrote: »

I was doing the weekly shopping yesterday and out of interest took a look in the freezer cabinets of two large shops and the local butchers. The only things called goujons do not say on the packaging they are reformed/processed cuts of chicken.

What supermarket? tesco had 8 types of "goujon" and all of them appeared to be from reformed meat.

mitosis

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

According to whose definition? Is there a legal definition of what a goujon is? Is it a protected item like Parma ham or Champagne that has strict guidelines on origin and production?

It is a cut of meat. Is there a legal definition for what a "chop" is? I doubt it.

Oxford "Strip of meat"

Freedictionary "Strip of fish or chicken"

Recipe

WhyTheFace

mitosis wrote: »

It is a cut of meat. Is there a legal definition for what a "chop" is? I doubt it.

Oxford "Strip of meat"

Freedictionary "Strip of fish or chicken"

Recipe

You are quite simply deluded if you think goujons are pure chicken.

ThisRegard

WhyTheFace wrote: »

You are quite simply deluded if you think goujons are pure chicken.

If you buy the right ones they can be, same as way you can get chicken nuggets made out of breast. Like what already has been said, you just have to check either when buying them yourself, or when ordering them when eating out.