Finding the perfect gourmet experience involves taking into account many factors, and looking for one in the U.K. is no exception.
The U.K. has a thriving culinary scene, especially so in its capital, London. But for an aspiring gourmet, it can be pretty overwhelming to find your way around. To help you out, here are a few things you need to look out for when finding the best gourmet experience in the U.K.
1. Make sure the menu items are in season
Making use of fresh ingredients is a must for a good culinary experience, and one of the hallmarks of freshness is whether an ingredient is in season. Before you make an order, you’ll need to check whether the ingredients used are in season. If a restaurant is serving you a salad that has tomatoes in it, for example, and it’s in the middle of winter, then you should probably reconsider the restaurant you’re in.
2. The staff are knowledgeable
Another good way to see if a gourmet restaurant is a good one is by checking whether the servers know a lot about food. They can give you recommendations of which food items pair best with which wine, or which dishes have ingredients that are in season. It also helps that the restaurant and its crew are recommended by the right Gourmet Guide. There’s nothing better than having food that is recommended and served by a fellow gourmet.
3. Food comes out at once
If you’re going out with friends, it’s important that the food is served in one go. You wouldn’t want to have the food served one by one, and have that one friend who hasn’t been served yet, and none of you can eat until everyone has their dishes. A good restaurant is able to time the way they cook their dishes in order to serve them out at once.
4. Find good ambiance
A good restaurant should have the perfect atmosphere for you. Whether it’s the arrangement of the chairs and tables, or the number of people in the building itself, the atmosphere should add to your dining experience. A good restaurateur should have designed the arrangement of the tables as well as the sound in order for you to get the most out of your dining experience.
5. The chefs are accommodating
As a gourmet, you should have your own preferences with your food, and a good restaurant adjusts accordingly. Within reason, of course. If you’re allergic to nuts, for example, it should be a reasonable request to ask the chef to either find an alternative to nuts, or to take them out completely. A chef that doesn’t take any special requests is basically a polite way of telling customers with more sophisticated tastes to take their business elsewhere.
When it comes to finding a good gourmet restaurant in the U.K., the devil is in the details. The smaller details will add up to a bigger picture that separates the good restaurants from the bad ones. If you find plenty of the little things that make you comfortable in a particular restaurant, then you should know that you are well taken care of.
