Eric Asimov is the New York Times wine writer, and wrote an interesting article on restaurant trends. His observations about the New York restaurant scene could almost equally have been written to describe that of our country, in describing popular menu ingredients, the role of the critic, and the impact of Social Media.
Asimov wrote after having taken on the role of ‘analytical eating’ as restaurant critic for his newspaper over a three month period late last year. Writing for the paper for more than seven years already, he observed that while many things have changed and restaurants have come and gone in New York, what they have in common is that they are ‘fragile businesses staffed by dedicated, incredibly hard-working people. Most are passionate enough to accept living on the nightly adrenaline rush that supplements their marginal paydays, except for the few visionary chefs and executives who manage to get very rich’, words that could equally describe our local restaurant scene. He writes that almost all restaurants serve food with a ‘same handful of ingredients’, being pork belly, bacon, ‘eggs on top of everything’, ‘cuts of beef for two… and alleges to have been dry-aged for 28 days, which is meant to rationalize the exorbitant price they fetch’, a change from the salmon and lentils, and seared foie gras of a number of years ago. The quality of ingredients has improved, he observed, and he wrote that it is rare to not see the origin of the produce on the menu, usually coming with a ‘surcharge’ , which he believes restaurant patrons are not always willing to pay. Wine lists have improved, no longer featuring large distributors’ wines, beers and spirits only. Craft beers have been a welcome addition in restaurants, as are creative cocktails.
But it is technology, and Social Media specifically, that has changed. “Social media and smartphones allow the real-time chronicling of any restaurant meal, by anybody, always”. Here restaurant critics face a new dilemma, in that they are expected to review restaurants faster, in competition with ‘instant opinion-givers’ ! He believes that the restaurant critic has a role, given that the social media reviewers and commentators “are not bound by the same standards and ethical obligations that, theoretically at least, give greater weight and credibility to the professionals“! It is clear that Asimov has a dim view of the ethics of bloggers, perhaps feeling threatened by the plethora of blogposts written about restaurants, on blogs which have a strong following given their less technical and often more honest writing.
Staying anonymous as a restaurant critic is far harder, he says, with the greater presence of photographs of critics on the internet, in contrast to the ‘creased copies of ancient photos’ which appear to be common in top restaurant kitchens! Asimov prefers to be treated anonymously, even if recognised by a restaurant, and to not be sent extra dishes to be impressed, even though intended as ‘deeply generous impulses but nonetheless make the task of the analysis more difficult’.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage
The new ëlgr. restaurant which has taken over the space of the former Janse & Co is a breath of fresh air, having moved more of its restaurant seating to its newly created outside seating area, bar and pizza counter area. It opened on Kloof Steeet two months ago.
Other countries are ahead of us in terms of timing, in being allowed to serve meals in restaurants again. How restaurants will amend their food offering and service will depend in part on the law of the country/state concerned, and the hygiene expectations of restaurant patrons.
A.A. Gill passed away in London on Saturday, by far the best known and revered restaurant critic in the world. His passing leaves a huge gap, in that Gill was not only a critical critic, but he was a wordsmith of note. I am sad that I did not read him more regularly,but am trying to catch up. 