tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post7863821471263223083..comments2024-03-27T11:45:40.393+00:00Comments on Cheese and Biscuits: Degò, Fitzrovia (revisited)Chris Poplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02668565800857295023noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-18656257754750654732011-12-03T10:57:11.170+00:002011-12-03T10:57:11.170+00:00mf0ster: Could you turn out a perfect dish just be...mf0ster: Could you turn out a perfect dish just because someone asked you to!? That's all I'm trying to say, that it was shocking to me how much better the food was out of the same kitchen. The presence of a food blogger can not turn a bad chef into a good one - it just can't.<br /><br />I actually agree with most of the points you're making, though - it would have made a fairer review if I'd gone incognito and not sat with the PR people but that's not what happened. If you think the post is pointless or self-serving, that's fine. And believe me, there won't be too many more of these things - I just thought it would be interesting that's all.<br /><br />Point taken though.Chris Poplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02668565800857295023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-53849529371297836502011-12-03T00:47:22.912+00:002011-12-03T00:47:22.912+00:00Chris - surely you get my point?
For your follow ...Chris - surely you get my point?<br /><br />For your follow up, "it's actually really great" report to have any integrity, you'd have to play it the way I suggested.<br /><br />I love your blogs, read pretty much all of them, but this latest one did grate. <br /><br />Because the only way to approach it was incognito. <br /><br />You say...<br /><br />"how could are they suddenly mysteriously better at cooking?" <br /><br />Seriously? <br /><br />"Mysteriously"?<br /><br />What's so mysterious about a PR bod going into the kitchen and telling them to turn out a perfect dish for the food blogger on table X?<br /><br />It's awful that they can be bothered to do that for a "VIP", but for all the others they clearly can't.<br /><br />Who are you writing for?<br /><br />Seriously - who are you now writing for?<br /><br />I very much enjoy reading your blog, and rarely feel compelled to comment, but that review stuck in my craw.mrf0sterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15580434123215882781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-51498035244802084622011-12-01T12:25:53.502+00:002011-12-01T12:25:53.502+00:00mrf0ster: I made it as clear as I possibly could t...mrf0ster: I made it as clear as I possibly could that I was sat eating my dinner with the PR people, so of course my experience wasn't representative. But the big mystery remains - just because they know I'm a blogger, how are they suddenly mysteriously better at cooking?Chris Poplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02668565800857295023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-33912007507132860252011-12-01T00:33:23.902+00:002011-12-01T00:33:23.902+00:00I'd be more convinced if you'd told the PR...I'd be more convinced if you'd told the PR company that you'd go anonymously at a time it suited you and send them the bill to be reimbursed.<br /><br />The fact is you were Gill/Winner/Rayner etc. walking into the place and were treated as such.<br /><br />And I suspect you know that.mrf0sterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15580434123215882781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-45973677083157630062011-11-30T17:53:17.847+00:002011-11-30T17:53:17.847+00:0080s bachelor-pad chic -mmmm.
Props to Lotus for tu...80s bachelor-pad chic -mmmm.<br />Props to Lotus for turning the PR situ around but like Hugh, I'm still not convinced I'd want to spend an evening sitting in that black-n-red basement. Sorry Dego!Katy Salter @ Pinch of Salthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05103587582968068222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-77904228997394147462011-11-30T14:41:46.879+00:002011-11-30T14:41:46.879+00:00I'd be more convinced to try the place if you ...I'd be more convinced to try the place if you had paid for this meal yourself, or if you later attempt dining there a 3rd time, unannounced and paying your own way.<br /><br />Still, appreciate it that you're upfront about disclosing that this meal was on Dego / PR tab.<br /><br />WenGoing With My Guthttp://www.goingwithmygut.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-45244207219405406342011-11-29T23:08:43.559+00:002011-11-29T23:08:43.559+00:00Good on them for trying (and evidently succeeding)...Good on them for trying (and evidently succeeding) to win you over with a nice slap-up feed cooked by someone who evidently knows how, but I'm still not (De)going. One evisceration and one paean still only gives Dego a 50% satisfaction rate, and if the steak's the same price but only almost as good as somewhere that doesn't have that hideous decor and knows what a T-bone is, what sort of masochistic spendthrift would choose the latter?<br /><br />Incidentally - steak tartare? Souffle? This is an *Italian* restaurant, right?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14948980890459312618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-54281907804137356692011-11-29T16:00:16.711+00:002011-11-29T16:00:16.711+00:00Respect to you Chris for going back and reporting ...Respect to you Chris for going back and reporting honestly and at risk of putting yourself in a bad light (the "lose-lose").<br /><br />I'd like to suggest that in future perhaps it would be worth getting in touch with restaurants which you are about to give a terrible review to, so that they have a chance to rebut/respond on your pages. While the falling out that you had with Dego was admittedly humorous for us to read, in light of the mitigating circumstances that you've outlined in this post avoiding such emnity might not only save you and them grief but also allow for a fairer reflection of restaurant quality.<br /><br />This doesn't take away from the fact that such shockingly poor standards as were exemplified in the first instance are deeply disrespectful to the customer. The response, in its snobby declamation of your right to comment, reinforces my original sense that the proprietors' priority is not customer satisfaction but self enrichment.rizlanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-25066283818480571142011-11-29T13:32:46.156+00:002011-11-29T13:32:46.156+00:00Walshy/Lizzie/TPT: Yes bit weird calling it a T-bo...Walshy/Lizzie/TPT: Yes bit weird calling it a T-bone when it was just a bone-in Sirloin. Maybe they'd cut the fillet off for the tartare and thought I wouldn't mind?Chris Poplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02668565800857295023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-91568193859617591512011-11-29T13:14:06.960+00:002011-11-29T13:14:06.960+00:00Ditto on the 'T-bone' skank. It's a si...Ditto on the 'T-bone' skank. It's a sirloin with bone left on!<br /><br />Great story though.The Perfect Troughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13823320056312413405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-83391782604231112822011-11-28T22:01:58.168+00:002011-11-28T22:01:58.168+00:00I would be a bit fucked off if I spent £50-odd on ...I would be a bit fucked off if I spent £50-odd on that T bone and it came without the most expensive bit!<br /><br />As good as the food may now be, that decor does, indeed sound hideous. I wonder what they were thinking when they decided on that...Hollow Legshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07152329184111658897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-6494036795765331732011-11-28T15:56:33.437+00:002011-11-28T15:56:33.437+00:00Well done for going back, I get the feeling it rea...Well done for going back, I get the feeling it really pained you to enjoy the meal and the review is actually tempting me to go to just how bad the decor is...PDHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01285211840621002331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-16387346087202156052011-11-28T15:41:55.972+00:002011-11-28T15:41:55.972+00:00I thought a T-bone had to have a fillet on one sid...I thought a T-bone had to have a fillet on one side of it, not just the sirloin on the other? Or is that just in America? Or am I just talking bollox?Walshynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1588051831069283523.post-17220496292918522782011-11-28T14:25:10.940+00:002011-11-28T14:25:10.940+00:00You were stalked by a restaurant! How entertaining...You were stalked by a restaurant! How entertaining! Do you feel just the tiniest bit dirty for having capitulated?Susanhttp://www.susaneatslondon.comnoreply@blogger.com