Carvery Food

Wabbit Ears · 26-07-2015 03:20PM

Carvery food is under lamps for feck all time unless its a shyte unpopular carvery. The places I go are packed and usually, if there is a longish queue, each item is refilled/replaced at least once in that short while.

TBH Carvery food is no more or less fresh then a la carte in most big places.

Banjoxed · 26-07-2015 03:33PM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Roast meat is rarely cooked rare.

Is the problem here the carvery or the Sunday roast idea? Given the pathological hatred of gravy I suspect that latter.

Steady on, "pathological"?

No just hate having dinner sloppy with gravy, or beef cooked beyond the point of flavour.

Eugene Norman · 26-07-2015 03:37PM

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

What about people that genuinely like trying different types of foods and flavours? I ate in a restaurant in Kilkenny recently and there is simply no way I would ever be able to cook something to that standard. It takes remarkable skill and I feel so privileged to be able to try things like that in my life. I eat out as often as I can and I make a point of trying foods from all over the world. No, I'm not a hipster, or from Dublin, or any other generalisation that's often thrown at people who like more than meat and two veg. I like carvery as much as the next man, but I'm not bound to eat potatoes for the rest of my natural life.

Noting wrong about that. I go to michellian starred restaurants occasionally and occasionally carverys.

I think that people don't really understand how most pub food is cooked,nor even much restaurant food. It's not cooked to order mostly, it's kept heated in the kitchen or in front of house. The latter is a carvery.

And if you are getting a stew, or a curry, it's exactly the same.

FortySeven · 26-07-2015 03:39PM

murpho999 wrote: »

Don't get this at all, when I go to a restaurant then I want food that I wouldn't be able to get at home.
A skilled chef that is creative and makes imaginative dishes that are very tasty are worth the extra money that you may pay.

For example, if you go to a Michelin star establishment, where you pay for the whole experience from service, ambienceetc
The food is more complex and unique than anything you can do at home or get in a run of the mill restarant (there are bad ones out there) then that's what you're paying for.

You see, I care about those things as much as I care about the bouquet of my wine. Wine in a pint glass tastes much the same as wine in a wine glass, ambience? I'd eat a cow in a field and be happy.

I'm a food neanderthal. As are most people, steak, well done, pepper sauce on the side is the most common meal for men in Ireland. Chicken or salmon for the ladies. Tis the bread and butter of the restaurant trade. Pasta dishes are the cream (huge margins) and vegetarian options the scurge. (I would not want to be a veggy eating out. Almost everything they get served was made on Monday)

Agricola · 26-07-2015 03:54PM

Never got the hate for carveries. Yeah, Ive had shít ones, just as Ive had shít meals in all kinds of restaurants/hotels. But a busy place serving good quality food is fine. Couple of places I go to from time to time serve up carvery food which would top any Christmas dinner I've ever eaten.

It really does smack of "If its popular, its for the great unwashed and Im soooooooo much more refined than that"

Titzon Toast · 26-07-2015 04:06PM

haveringchick wrote: »

Muck savages is what we are then

And I'm an honorary one too, a good Carvery can't be beaten.
Mountains of mash and stuffing covered in a lake of gravy.
Om nom, nom.

To Elland Back · 26-07-2015 04:13PM

Nothing usually wrong with the meat or fish selections at a carvery, but dear God, the standard of tasteless boiled mush that they serve with it defies belief

Right Turn Clyde · 26-07-2015 04:24PM

FortySeven wrote: »

You see, I care about those things as much as I care about the bouquet of my wine. Wine in a pint glass tastes much the same as wine in a wine glass, ambience? I'd eat a cow in a field and be happy.

I'm a food neanderthal. As are most people, steak, well done, pepper sauce on the side is the most common meal for men in Ireland. Chicken or salmon for the ladies. Tis the bread and butter of the restaurant trade. Pasta dishes are the cream (huge margins) and vegetarian options the scurge. (I would not want to be a veggy eating out. Almost everything they get served was made on Monday)

I'd say you're looking forward to the next Expendables film.

FortySeven · 26-07-2015 04:32PM

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

I'd say you're looking forward to the next Expendables film.

Actually I can't stand that kind of mindless drivel. Looking forward more to the next Coen brother offering, (altough their latest attemps have not been up to their usual standards.)

Just because I like my food down to earth does not make me a troglodyte.

Right Turn Clyde · 26-07-2015 04:35PM

FortySeven wrote: »

Actually I can't stand that kind of mindless drivel. Looking forward more to the next Coen brother offering, (altough their latest attemps have not been up to their usual standards.)

Just because I like my food down to earth does not make me a troglodyte.

I was just riffing on the "meat and two veg" stereotype. No offence meant.

And you're wrong about the Coen's latest run, with the possible exception of Burn After Reading.

Badly Drunk Boy · 26-07-2015 04:35PM

henryporter wrote: »

Nothing says 'muck savagery' more than carvery frequenters.

I hate carvery meals.
I'm a muck savage.

?

Paramite Pie · 26-07-2015 05:01PM

Do many people really eat out every Sunday?

I was rared by country parents and even though we moved close to Suburbia, we never ate out or ordered takeaway, unless we were out of town.

I enjoy cooking though (putting something in the oven is hardly effort anyways) and I have some roast beef in the oven right now, with some homemade gravy. I don't know why some people find sitting down in your own house, watchin' tv with a glass of beer as you smell your roast cooking away to be "effort" or a "chore". There's very little to it.:)

I enjoyed the Carvery Food when in College but since I've learned to cook, I'll never look back. It's nice but not worth 15euro. I'd rather spend that on a meal that I can't cook.

Yamanoto · 26-07-2015 05:02PM

Roast beef with the consistency of a carpet tile cooked 'til it's sickly grey & veg that's been industrially steamed for 143 hours prior to serving are unfortunately what passes for carvery in our pubs & hotels.

We've an awful fcuking fetish for mediocrity in this country "Shure 'tis a grand feed".

awec · 26-07-2015 05:08PM

Carvery is awful. Just appeals to people who think the quality of a meal is determined by how much food can be fired on the plate.

Mediocre muck.

Eugene Norman · 26-07-2015 05:57PM

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

I hate carvery meals.
I'm a muck savage.

?

So is Henry porter.

Even the idea that it's a culchie thing surprises me. I see lots of besuited dubs in Dublin carverys.

xzanti · 26-07-2015 05:58PM

henryporter wrote: »

Nothing says 'muck savagery' more than carvery frequenters.

I'm a Dub and I love an oul carvery!!!!

Eugene Norman · 26-07-2015 06:01PM

awec wrote: »

Carvery is awful. Just appeals to people who think the quality of a meal is determined by how much food can be fired on the plate.

Mediocre muck.

There no defeating the argument that meat cut in front of the customer is always worse than meat cut in the kitchen, or that vegetables kept warm outside are always worse than vegetables kept warm in the kitchen, is there. It's a religious belief system.

Fact is pub food is pub food. Often crap, sometimes not crap. Where the final bit of preparation is done can have no affect on that.

Ted_YNWA · 26-07-2015 06:07PM

Where is everyone going to be getting carpet tiles, dodgy gravy & mushy veg?

Have you contacted Food Safety about this?

If the food is sitting under the lamps for hours at a time, this proves low turnover of food.

Places down here serve top notch food with a roast or 3/4 other options as well.

Comparing carvery to sitdown menus is daft, quick service & comfort food.

For michelin stars, they would often have some of the food cooked in advance & reheat upon orders coming in. 4 orders come in for beef, 10 minutes later 6 more come in for chicken, 5 mins later 4 more for duck. Restaurant would not be long running out of pots & pans to cover all these orders.

OldMrBrennan83 · 26-07-2015 06:15PM

This post has been deleted.

c_man · 26-07-2015 06:17PM

Lads, I had a savage carvery a few weeks ago. Roast beef, all the veg and a few different types of potato with gravy on top. Said fuk it and went with a side order of chips too. Yer one dishing it out had a surprise in store and threw on a Yorkshire pudding! Washed down with two pints of Heineken, I was well over the night before.

My companion didn't like the look of the roast and insisted on his bit being cut from the other end. Now he's a muck savage :P

awec · 26-07-2015 08:15PM

I always feel sorry for chefs who end up cooking carvery.

Go through catering college and whatever other training but then end up working in a place where you're stuck cooking carvery. Must be depressing.

Paramite Pie · 26-07-2015 08:32PM

c_man wrote: »

Lads, I had a savage carvery a few weeks ago. Roast beef, all the veg and a few different types of potato with gravy on top. Said fuk it and went with a side order of chips too. Yer one dishing it out had a surprise in store and threw on a Yorkshire pudding! Washed down with two pints of Heineken, I was well over the night before.

Heineken with beef? Surely a darker ale would be more palatable with dark meat...

hattoncracker · 26-07-2015 08:33PM

I normally hate roast dinners, but i do get the odd craving for one..

There is a place in Glasgow that I went to and it was like carvery on crack. You paid a price for the plate and then u could get whatever you wanted (and have all 3 meats), they give you your meat and you put on whatever else u want yourself, and it's top notch, best carvery I've ever had in my life!!

Polly Sonic · 26-07-2015 08:36PM

Paramite Pie wrote: »

Heineken with beef? Surely a darker ale would be more palatable with dark meat...

Maybe they don't like a darker ale and like a Henieken?

Paramite Pie · 26-07-2015 08:42PM

Polly Sonic wrote: »

Maybe they don't like a darker ale and like a Henieken?

Yeah but I just can't imagine it..... each to their own

Polly Sonic · 26-07-2015 08:42PM

This thread was done before and it's gone the exact same way. A good busy carvery is fine, it's something for a Sunday afternoon on the beer or bringing the family out for the same price as a takeaway.
Just because somebody likes a carvery doesn't mean they don't go to proper restaurants and eat quality food.
It's like slating somebody for getting a fish and chip supper.

Polly Sonic · 26-07-2015 08:44PM

Paramite Pie wrote: »

Yeah but I just can't imagine it..... each to their own

If I had a roast dinner at home I'd have a glass of milk or a Coke with it because that's what I like. It's food and drink not science.

OldMrBrennan83 · 26-07-2015 08:45PM

This post has been deleted.

the groutch · 26-07-2015 08:49PM

I'd take a carvery any day over some of the stuff people eat in restaurants that is rabbit food in all but name.

26-07-2015 08:50PM

A decent carvery is fine for what you pay for it. You don't go to a carvery expecting a fine dining experience, you go for basic food at a value price, and some carveries do that very well and some not so much.

It probably helps that I like meat well done and I love roasties, but if your tastes are so sophisticated that a carvery is beneath you, then just don't go to one.

I enjoy almost every meal that I don't have to cook.

Carvery Food

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