List of All Articles with Tag 'food'

Diwali, the festival lights, sees millions of people attend events across the world every autumn to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. Celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, Diwali is one of the most significant festivals in Indian culture and calls for a number of traditional dishes. From the popular sweet treats to the savoury main meals, here are some of the key foods eaten over the course of the five-day celebration, which this year begins on Sunday 12 November. Mithai South Asian sweets and desserts are called mithai and are a staple part of Diwali celebrations. Many of the treats are fried foods made from sugar, chickpea flour and condensed milk. They vary between regions but common ones include balushahi, which are a bit like doughnuts, laddoos and barfis. They can be eaten alongside savoury items or eaten alone as a snack. It is custom to exchange decorated boxes of mithai among family and friends during Diwali. Chivda Snacks are a fundamental part of the Diwali menu and many of them come in the form of chivda, a spiced Bombay mix that consists of a variety of dried ingredients, such as peanuts, chickpeas, fried onion and fried lentils. Sometimes, it’s eaten as part of a meal but most of the time it’s enjoyed on its own as a snack. Lapsi Halwa This sweet dish is often eaten on the very first day of Diwali and is made from large-grain cracked wheat, which is then cooked with ghee and sweetened with sugar and cardamom powder. It’s incredibly popular and is often served with a yardlong bean curry, as the beans are thought to represent longevity. Aloo Tikki These small, fried patties are made from shredded potatoes and are usually served alongside regional sauces, such as mint sauce or tamarind sauce. They look and taste a bit like potato pancakes and are usually crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, making them an irresistible traditional Indian delicacy. Samosas Though they’re eaten all year round, samosas peak in popularity around Diwali. The fried pockets of pastry usually come in the shape of a triangle and are stuffed with either mince meat, lentils or vegetables. Because Diwali is all about celebrating the sweetness of life, special sweet versions are often made to mark the festival, containing ingredients such as coconut, cardamom and of course, sugar. Read More Festival of light: Diwali celebrations around the world When is Diwali 2023 and how is it celebrated? How to get free nuggets at Wendy’s for the rest of the year Why I’m giving up sobriety when everyone else is giving up drinking

Here’s what you need to know about the art of brining a turkey—including how long you should brine it.

In northern Thailand’s mountainous Khao Kho region, Saiphin Moore, the vivacious founder of London’s ubiquitous restaurant chain Rosa’s Thai, grew up cooking and eating some of her country’s most famous dishes. From the seriously spicy som tam to the famously fiery pad kra prow, these recipes pack a punch – which also makes them the perfect winter warmer. Som tam (green papaya salad) Ingredients: 2 tbsp roasted peanuts 1-10 red bird’s eye chillies (depending on how brave you are) 5 small (or 2-3 large) garlic cloves 1½ tbsp palm sugar 2 yard-long beans (or green beans), cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces 4 cherry tomatoes, sliced 2 tbsp fresh lime juice 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (or 2 tsp salt) ½ medium green papaya, peeled and shredded 1 carrot, shredded 2 tbsp dried shrimp (leave out for a vegetarian alternative) Method: 1. In a small, dry frying pan, toast the peanuts over a medium heat until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. (There’s also a ready-toasted alternative you can find in the supermarkets). 2. Coarsely pound the chillies and garlic together using a pestle and mortar. Add the palm sugar, beans and tomatoes. Lightly pound to combine, then squeeze in the lime juice and fish sauce. 3. Lightly pound again, then add the green papaya and carrot. Pound again and toss to combine. The taste should be sweet and salty in perfect balance, with a sharp, sour and spicy tang. 4. Spoon the salad into a serving bowl and sprinkle over the dried shrimp and toasted peanuts. Pad kra prow taohu (tofu holy basil stir-fry) Pad kra prow is another national dish found on many a Thai street corner, and that includes the vegetarian version. In Thailand we use holy basil, the very pungent sister of Italian basil, which is a key ingredient in Thai cooking. You’ll notice the sudden bursts of aroma from the wok as soon as you start tossing the ingredients together over a high heat – it’s a smell that wakes up my senses every time. Serves: 2 Ingredients: 3 red bird’s eye chillies 3 garlic cloves 2 tbsp vegetable oil 150g (5½oz) firm tofu, cut into chunks 1 tbsp light soy sauce ½ tbsp dark soy sauce ½ tbsp sugar Pinch of white pepper ½ onion, chopped ¼ red pepper, sliced ¼ yellow pepper, sliced 30g (1oz) yard-long beans or green beans, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) pieces Handful of holy basil leaves 2 kaffir lime leaves, chopped Steamed jasmine rice, to serve Method: 1. Using either a pestle and mortar, grind the chillies and garlic to a paste. 2. Heat the oil in a wok set over a high heat. Add the chilli and garlic mixture and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until nice and golden brown. 3. Now add the tofu chunks, both soy sauces, the palm sugar and white pepper and cook, tossing everything around in the pan, for about 1 minute, until the tofu is well coated and has taken on a little colour from the sauces. 4. Once everything is mixed well, add the onion, peppers and long beans and cook for a further 30 seconds, all the while tossing the mixture together. Throw in the basil and lime leaves and stir-fry for a further 30 seconds. Serve immediately with jasmine rice. Grilled whole sea bass At home in Petchabun, in the north of Thailand, we would cook this dish with whatever freshwater fish we caught that day. It’s always been one of my favourite go-to barbecue recipes because it’s super quick and easy to put together! This dish has always been on our menu from day one but I’ve tweaked it slightly from what we serve at Lao Café to make sure everyone can easily make this at home. It’s great just by itself with the spicy dipping sauce, or add sticky rice or rice noodles, and leafy green salads on the side to make it a complete meal. Serves: 2-3 Ingredients: 1 whole sea bass, scaled and gutted (or other sustainably caught medium-size white fish like sea bream or tilapia) 1 stalk of lemongrass, sliced 4-5 stalks of coriander (save the leaves for dipping sauce) 1 galangal, sliced (available from Asian supermarkets, leave out if you can’t find it) 2 cloves of garlic, whole A handful of Thai or Italian basil leaves For the marinade: 2 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp black pepper, crushed For the dipping sauce: 2-3 bird eyes chillies, finely chopped 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped 1 tbsp fish sauce 2 tbsp lime juice 1 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar) A handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped Method: Rub the marinade mixture liberally on both sides of the fish skin. Stuff the lemongrass, coriander stalks, galangal, garlic, and basil inside the fish. Wrap the fish in foil and place on the barbeque for 15-20 minutes depending on the size, until the flesh flakes easily. While the fish is cooking, make the dipping sauce by combining the ingredients together. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved completely. Serve the fish from the foil, set a bowl of sticky rice or rice noodles and salads on the side, and dig in! Read More Move over Nando’s – how chicken restaurants became cool Long live British scran: Three classic dishes for autumn Four delicious ways to use up leftover pumpkin this Halloween The best foods to forage in November and how to cook them Why ‘chain’ restaurant shouldn’t be a dirty word Starbucks customer reveals comical result of her request for half sandwich

An amused Starbucks customer has exposed the uniquely cut sandwich they got at the coffee chain. Thinking she could split the lunch item with her husband, one Redditor asked to have her turkey pesto cut in half – but didn’t expect the outcome she received. On 6 November, Vivian Hargis (u/natasbby) took to the online network to reveal the unforeseen lengthy, half-cut Starbucks sandwich. In the image shared on the platform, Vivian’s sandwich was settled on top of the Starbucks branded bag. The turkey, provolone, and pesto offering was served on a long ciabatta roll. However, rather than being split in two horizontally, the Starbucks attendant had cut the bread vertically, resulting in two ultra thin halves. “Hubby and I wanted to split a sandwich. I asked if it was possible if they could cut it in half. The barista said ‘of course no problem!’... guess I should’ve been more specific,” Vivian’s caption read. Flocks of humoured Reddit users headed straight to Vivian’s comment section, admitting they’d been guilty of cutting sandwiches the uncommon way too. One user said: “One time someone asked for a spinach feta wrap cut in half and my coworker cut it like this and then forgot to give her the other half.” “I love this because it was so much harder for them to cut it like this,” another Redditor wrote. “It’s giving malicious compliance lmfaooooo,” someone else quipped. A curious viewer questioned whether Vivian had asked for her food to be “cut in half” or “cut in two,” noticing the direction printed on the Starbucks ticket which read: “Cut in two.” “We actually got two sandwiches, both cut in half. (He couldn’t decide which he wanted so we split both) and I asked for them to be cut in half. The other one was cut in half like I expected,” Vivian said. “I expect whoever was on food was irritated the barista on (drive thru) told me they would cut them.” “Not going to lie I’ve done this before,” a fellow service worker admitted to which Vivian replied: “We got a good chuckle out of it. Watching him shove half of it down it one bite was quite the picture.” Speaking to Today, Vivian further expressed her amusement, noting how her parents convinced her to post the picture on Reddit. “It was hilarious, we both had a good laugh about it, and my parents thought it was hilarious, too,” Vivian told the outlet. “They were like: ‘Put that on Reddit!’ That’s when I put it on,” she added, referring to her parents’ pleas. The Independent has contacted Vivian and Starbucks for comment. The popular coffee chain recently launched their lauded holiday drinks, reviving fan favourites from years past and re-introducing one drink that hasn’t been around for a while. The Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, and Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte all returned to the Starbucks seasonal menu on 2 November, as well as an Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai – adding a bit of spice to their 2000 original Gingerbread Latte. Read More Fans shocked as resurfaced photo shows Ben Affleck ditching Dunkin’ for Starbucks Starbucks adds new menu item to Holiday drink lineup Martha Stewart reveals how she truly feels about pumpkin spice flavouring Martha Stewart reveals how she truly feels about pumpkin spice flavouring The best foods to forage in November and how to cook them Rachael Ray shares expert cooking advice for Thanksgiving dinner

Ever wondered if yams and sweet potatoes are the same thing? Read this before sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.

'Christmas creep' is getting stronger, with chocolate Santas popping up the second Halloween wraps. Here's why.

“This is one of those quick and easy recipes that can be thrown together in next to no time,” says British-Iranian chef and author, Sabrina Ghayour. “I love this kind of dish with a green leaf salad and a simple vinaigrette on the side, but you can also cut it into smaller portions and serve it as snacks or light bites with drinks, too.” Courgette, lemon, feta and pine nut tart Serves: 4 Ingredients: 200g feta cheese, finely crumbled 250g ricotta cheese 1 tsp dried mint 1 tsp dried wild oregano 2 tsp lemon extractfinely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon 1 x 320g ready-rolled puff pastry sheet (about 350mm x 230mm) 1 courgette, very thinly slicedolive oil Handful of pine nuts 2 tbsp clear honey ½ tsp pul biber chilli flakes (omit if you prefer) Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan), gas mark 7. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. 2. Put the feta, ricotta, dried herbs and lemon extract and zest into a mixing bowl with a good seasoning of salt and pepper and beat together until smooth. 3. Place the puff pastry sheet on the lined tray and score a 1cm-wide border around the edges, then spread the cheese mixture across the pastry up to the scored border. 4. Lay the courgette slices, slightly overlapping, on the cheese mixture, season well with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Scatter over the pine nuts and bake for 16-18 minutes until the pastry edges are nicely browned. 5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly, then drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the pul biber before serving. Crispy sticky harissa lamb “Cantonese crispy shredded chilli beef is one of my all-time favourite dishes,” says Ghayour. “This is very much my own creation and my nod to that wonderful combination of sweet and sticky, crispy and chewy bites of meat, but using lamb and adding peppers to the mix instead of carrots. It’s an explosion of flavour that ticks every box.” Serves: 3-4 Ingredients: 6 tbsp cornflour 350g lamb leg steaks, cut into 1cm-wide strips Vegetable oil, for frying 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced into half moons 1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and cut into very thin strips 5 spring onions, thinly sliced from root to tip, reserve some for garnish Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper Steamed white rice, to serve For the sauce: 5 tbsp clear honey 4 tbsp rose harissa 3 tbsp rice vinegar 2 tbsp light soy sauce 2 tbsp cornflour Method: 1. Mix the cornflour with a very generous amount of salt and pepper in a mixing bowl, add the strips of lamb and really work the cornflour into the lamb for a minute or so. Set aside. 2. Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, pour in about 2.5cm vegetable oil and bring to frying temperature (add a little bit of a lamb strip: if it sizzles immediately, the oil is hot enough). Line a plate with a double layer of kitchen paper. 3. While the oil is heating up, place a small saucepan over a medium heat, add all the sauce ingredients and whisk together until no lumps of cornflour remain and the mixture is smooth. Heat the sauce through, but do not let it bubble or burn, then remove from the heat. 4. Fry the lamb strips in batches in the hot oil for about two to three minutes, or until very crisp on the outside. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the paper-lined plate to drain. 5. Heat another large frying pan over a high heat, add a drizzle of vegetable oil and stir-fry the onion and red pepper until browned a little. Add the lamb strips followed by the sauce and toss together until evenly coated with the sauce, then add the spring onions and combine well. Serve immediately scattered with the reserved spring onions and alongside steamed white rice. This needs no accompaniment. Tahini, almond and chocolate crumble cookies “I cannot tell you how satisfying these cookies are – so much so that I usually have a bag of the cookie dough balls stashed in my freezer ready for baking whenever the craving hits,” says Ghayour. “The texture is crumbly in an almost sandy way and the absolute optimum moment to enjoy them is 30 minutes out of the oven, when the cookies have cooled down, but the chocolate is still gooey.” Makes: 14 Ingredients: 125g salted butter, softened 125g soft light brown sugar 75g caster sugar ½ tsp ground cinnamon 100g tahini (use the solids and avoid the oil as much as possible) 150g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 50g blanched almonds, roughly chopped 200g dark chocolate chunks (70% cocoa solids) Method: 1. Beat the softened butter, sugars and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Then add the tahini and mix until smooth. Next, add the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix until evenly combined. Finally, add the almonds and dark chocolate chunks and mix until evenly distributed. 2. Weigh the cookie dough, divide into 14 equal portions and form each into a ball. Chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours, or overnight if preferred. Once chilled, you can then freeze the cookie dough balls for later use. 3. To bake, preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan), gas mark 4. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 4. Place your dough balls, well spaced out, on the lined tray and gently flatten them (omit this stage if using frozen dough). Bake for 16 minutes (or 18 from frozen). Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 30 minutes, then enjoy. ‘Flavour’ by Sabrina Ghayour (Aster, £26). Read More Four delicious ways to use up leftover pumpkin this Halloween World Pasta Day: Nigella Lawson’s spaghetti with Marmite This speedy king prawn pasta has a supermarket secret weapon Midweek meals: Baked pasta Siciliana with meatballs How to make a classic lasagne Jack Stein’s Cornish mussels with spinach and cider

The wait is finally over. Starbucks has officially unveiled its new menu items for the holiday season, complete with pink holiday cups. Beginning Thursday 2 November, coffee lovers will be able to order their favourite festive flavours from Starbucks, as well as one brand new drink offering. Making its return for the holiday season is the classic Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, and Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte. A new addition to the holiday menu is the Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai, which takes the nostalgic flavour of gingerbread and combines it with creamy oatmilk and a blend of chai spices. The original Gingerbread Latte launched in 2000, and was a mainstay on the Starbucks holiday menu for nearly two decades. “It’s a love letter to gingerbread and ginger,” said Matt Thornton, senior beverage developer at Starbucks. “The gingerbread flavor amplifies the spice of the chai.” Starbucks stores in the United States that serve Oleato, Starbucks coffee infused with olive oil, will offer another new menu item - the Oleato Gingerbread Oatmilk Latte - for a combined flavour similar to freshly baked gingerbread and olive oil cake. “The combination of the Starbucks Blonde Espresso with the steamed oatmilk infused with olive oil is nice and balanced with the gingerbread syrup uplifting all those spice notes,” said Billy Altieri, senior product developer. “It’s cozy and warming with an enjoyable dash of holiday flavors.” To make matters even more festive, the American coffee chain debuted its design for this year’s holiday cups, which include a touch of pink. Bridget Shilling was the artist behind the 2023 holiday cup collection, which comes in four designs: party plaid, peppermint swirl, ribbon spool, and bauble wrap. Meanwhile, iced coffee cups come with ornament-inspired baubles and white sparkles. Each cup also features a gift tag to write notes or share a seasonal sentiment with friends or family. “When we were looking at trends when designing this year’s holiday, we kept seeing bright, bold, uplifting colours,” said Kristy Cameron, creative director at Starbucks. “We found that magenta alongside the holiday reds and greens lifts the traditional holiday colours and makes the red look even brighter.” The theme behind this year’s Starbucks holiday cup collection was “Share the Joy”, highlighting how the “shared human experience and togetherness” is what makes the season so special. “Starbucks red cups are like little wrapped gifts for our partners and customers,” Cameron said. “My hope is that they feel excitement and joy when they see the cups, and that they want to share them with family and friends.” As always, Starbucks included a few festive treats to its holiday menu. The gingerbread loaf, peppermint brownie cake pop, cranberry Bliss Bar, snowman cookie, and the sugar plum cheese danish are sure to get anyone in the holiday mood. Starbucks holiday beverages and pastries are available to order in the US beginning 2 November. Read More Four delicious ways to use up leftover pumpkin this Halloween Restaurant menus are spoiling eating out: ‘They’re supposed to entice, not humiliate’ Best burgers in London: Where to eat top patties in the city

Children who run amok at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant might earn their parents a fine.

The most spooktacular time of the year is here but – as exciting as Halloween is – shockingly, a whopping 18,000 tons of pumpkin goes to waste every year in the UK. That’s the same weight as 1,500 double-decker buses, which is pretty frightening. Pumpkin isn’t just for making spooky faces out of on Halloween, though – not only are they delicious in a wide range of recipes, but did you know pumpkins also have a whole number of health benefits too? Pumpkins are packed with health benefits. Rich in vitamin C, vitamin A and fibre, this versatile vegetable is really good for eye, gut and heart health, and that’s just the flesh! Pumpkin seeds are a great source of good fats, iron and B vitamins – all important nutrients that support heart, muscle, skin, nervous system and immune health. If you eat enough of them, the seeds are also a good source of protein and fibre – both of which help to regulate blood sugar. Ready to enjoy some yummy pumpkin goodness this Halloween? From classic soup to fancy fondue, here are four recipes that are to die for. Hearty pumpkin soup Serves: 4 Ingredients: 3 cups of pumpkin/vegetable/chicken stock 500g pumpkin puree Large knob of butter 1 chopped onion 2 chopped carrots 1 finely chopped garlic clove 1 cup of cream ½ tsp chopped thyme, salt and pepper Method: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then add the garlic, onion, carrots, thyme and a pinch of salt and cook for 5-8 minutes or until softened. When cooked, transfer to a food processor and blitz together with the pumpkin puree until smooth, then return to the saucepan, add in the stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to very low and add the cream and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Season to taste and serve. Pumpkin ravioli with sage butter Serves: 4 Ingredients: 4 eggs 400g “00” pasta flour 4 tsp olive oil 350g roast pumpkin flesh 100g grated parmesan 15g fresh sage 75g butter Salt and pepper Method: For pumpkin filling: Add the roast pumpkin, grated parmesan and a big pinch of salt and pepper to a food processor and blitz until smooth. For the ravioli: Add the eggs, pasta flour and olive oil to a food processor and blitz until a crumbly mixture forms. Knead the mixture for 10 minutes or until it becomes smooth and elastic, then wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for 20 minutes. When ready, cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll out into thin pasta sheets (approx 2mm). On one sheet, spoon out a couple of teaspoons of filling every few inches, then brush around each mound of filling with water, place the second sheet on top and cut around each mound with a sharp knife. Crimp the edges of each to seal them. Repeat until all the filling or pasta sheets have been used up, then add the ravioli to a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes or until they float to the top of the water. For the sage butter: Heat the butter in a frying pan until melted and foaming, then add the sage leaves and cook until the leaves crisp up and the butter browns. Season to taste, and drizzle over the cooked ravioli. Pumpkin pickle Ingredients: 500g pumpkin 1 red onion 2 garlic cloves 1 red chilli 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds 1 tsp turmeric 15g knob of ginger 250ml cider vinegar 250ml castor sugar 1 tsp nigella seeds Method: Peel and slice the onions, garlic and ginger. Peel and chop the pumpkin into small bite-size pieces. De-seed and finely chop the red chillies. Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with a drizzle of oil and cook the onion, ginger and chilli for 10-12 min or until softened. Add the mustard seeds, garlic, and turmeric and cook for 1 min. Add the pumpkin, sugar, cider vinegar & a splash of water and cook for 8 min or until the pumpkin has softened and the pickle has thickened. Season with a pinch of salt, sprinkle in the nigella seeds and transfer the mixture to sterilised jars. Pumpkin fondue Ingredients: 1 whole mid-large sized pumpkin 300g of grated mixed cheeses (traditionally gruyere, Emmental and cheddar) 2 tsp cornflour A peeled garlic clove A few glugs of white wine Method: Cut the top off the pumpkin and scrape out the fibrous strands and seeds, then replace the lid and bake in the oven at 180C/160C fan for 1 hr to 1hr 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin flesh is cooked. Meanwhile, mix the cornflour with the grated cheese until it has fully coated the gratings. When the pumpkin has mostly cooked, remove from the oven, take off the lid and place the grated cheese, white wine and garlic clove inside, giving it a mix to combine. Increase the oven temperature a little higher and bake for a further 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling away. When cooked, remove from the oven and serve with bread or crudites for dipping. For more Halloween tips and recipes, visit the Gousto website.

What does a “smacked cucumber” look like? What is a “rutabaga”? Why does a “spiny caldereta” sound so threatening? Is “blackened” just a fancy word for “burnt”? These are some of the many questions diners have to grapple with when they look at a menu in some restaurants these days. But Britons are a shy bunch who would rather curl up in a ball and disappear than actually have to utter these queries out loud to a waiter. I would know – my husband is one of 41 per cent of diners who would choose to google an unfamiliar menu term under the table instead of asking for clarification, according to recent research from reservation service Resy. Whenever me and my husband come across an obscure word on a menu, my suggestion of asking the waiting staff to explain is swiftly shot down by the appearance of his phone, followed by a muttered definition from a search engine. Navigating a menu has become harder in recent years. It’s not just the use of lesser-known techniques, nor the use of alternative words for common ingredients (a rutabaga is a turnip and a cep is a porcini or pennybun mushroom, by the way). With Covid came menus only available via QR code, a development that’s now the bane of eating out – some restaurants still use them. It means having to point our stupid camera phones at stupid, alien-looking squares and scroll through the menu in stupid silence, as if we need to be even more enslaved to our devices than we already are. And then, if menus do get printed, they’re impossible to see because restaurants insist on turning their lights down lower and lower. Or they print the text in smaller and smaller typeface, making it a struggle to read even with 20/20 vision – which I haven’t had since I was 10. I’ll never forget trying to read the menu at the ever-trendy Smoking Goat in Shoreditch in 2019, me and five of my companions sat squinting in the dark with our phone torches on. Going to a restaurant should be a relatively easy endeavour, an experience free of stress and embarrassment. But recent menu trends might be off-putting to the customer, says Gavin Rankin of the Mayfair-based French brasserie restaurant Bellamy’s. “Restaurant menus are supposed to seduce you, to persuade you,” he tells me. “There’s a tendency now to list vegetables or ingredients nobody’s ever heard of, but I don’t like it and people don’t like having to ask questions about what something is because it makes them feel foolish. Restaurants aren’t out to humiliate the diner.” Descriptors that give an idea of texture or flavour are important, but they don’t have to be complicated. It’s definitely possible to achieve a balance between having your menu be stylish and still informative Hugh Richard Wright, restaurant PR But could it be a good thing for menus to spark conversation between a diner and the restaurant? When I ask Rankin this, he blows a raspberry down the phone line, though not rudely – just in exasperation. “There’s something a bit… aggressive about it,” he says. “You can see on some menus they are deliberately choosing to list things that will force people to ask. Keep it simple, in my opinion. It’s different if you’re trying a really unfamiliar cuisine, but not when you go to an English or French restaurant. You should be able to look at a menu and be happy to eat 90 per cent of it with pleasure.” I’m someone who’s quite happy to have a chinwag with the waiter and ask questions about a menu. I also like it when a menu provides the opportunity to learn something new. But Rankin is right in pointing out that many diners don’t like asking questions at all, and menus shouldn’t force a diner into having to enquire about every single item. Hugh Richard Wright, leading restaurant PR and man-about-town with years of eating and consulting experience under his belt, says restaurants need to be mindful of striking the right balance with their menus. “A menu is more than just a list of dishes,” he says. “It should tempt you and excite you, so the descriptions should be tantalising. A menu that makes you want to have a conversation with your server is nice but it’s a balance. You don’t want to have everything explained to you and to go through every dish asking, ‘What’s this, what’s that’. That’s what a lot of places get wrong.” He adds that a menu should give the diner a “realistic impression of what you’re getting on your plate” – a reasonable enough expectation that some restaurants have foregone in favour of just listing ingredients. “For example, ‘pork, leek, kumquat’. It should describe how the pork is cooked. Is it pulled pork? Or roasted? Descriptors that give an idea of texture or flavour are important, but they don’t have to be complicated. It’s definitely possible to achieve a balance between having your menu be stylish and still informative.” David Paw, international editor at Resy, advises that we shouldn’t be put off by a sparse menu. “It may be deliberate,” he says. “The restaurant is setting up the chance for a guest and the front of house staff to engage in a dialogue. I lean into these moments as opportunities to have a chat about ingredients, techniques, and the kitchen’s creative process. I’d encourage diners to always try to ask for more information. Even frequent diners are always learning and expanding their food vocabulary.” It comes down to what kind of experience we’re looking for when we dine out. For some, like Paw and myself, it’s fun and exciting to come across new things on a menu. But for many, given that eating out nowadays is much more of a pricey indulgence than it used to be, relaxation is key, not being challenged. This isn’t to say that every single restaurant should acquiesce to simplicity, but it would be no small potatoes to consider ways to make a diner feel less like they need a thesaurus before sitting down. It doesn’t diminish a fine restaurant to make its menu more accessible – instead, it would make it so much more appealing, bringing incredible food to the many instead of the few. That said, we go to restaurants to eat food we wouldn’t normally cook ourselves, and often food that we’re not familiar with. There is so much joy to be had in allowing new flavours and textures to colour your palate, and the culinary world has never been more creative or diverse than it is right now. So in a time where suspicion of anything unfamiliar is rife, perhaps it would do us all some good to try something new on our plates. Next time you’re stuck, ask your waiter for assistance. I promise they won’t bite. Read More Best burgers in London: Where to eat top patties in the city Why ‘chain’ restaurant shouldn’t be a dirty word Three ramen recipes to change your life Best burgers in London: Where to eat top patties in the city Why ‘chain’ restaurant shouldn’t be a dirty word Three ramen recipes to change your life

We look back at the history of Thanksgiving to explain how turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie got on your plate.