After going out for a very nice (and expensive) meal for a friend's stag weekend tonight, I can confirm something I've suspected for quite some time now: I'm not a foodie.
It's not that I can't appreciate food that has had care, attention, time and effort expended on it to make it look, taste and smell great. It's just that I don't think these expensive restaurants are significantly nicer than something simple. If anything, I find fancy food too fussy — there are too many flavours for me, when I much prefer something simple, homely and enjoyable.
Take steaks. I love a good steak. Steak is one of the most delicious meats there is when just cooked nicely and served up by itself, perhaps with some chips and/or a bit of salad. Smother it in some sort of sauce or marinade, though, and it becomes considerably less appealing — the delicious taste of the steak is, more often than not, overwhelmed by the taste of the sauce, and that's not the reason I wanted to have steak in the first place.
The menu this evening had a lot of delicious things on it — steak, fish, chicken, pasta, gnocchi. And yet I found it very difficult to pick something I actually liked the sound of, because for every item that was based on something I enjoy — steak, fish, chicken, pasta, gnocchi — it was promptly made far too fussy by rubbing rosemary all over it, festooning it with onions or incorporating herbs and spices I'd never heard of.
This may sound like being a fussy eater and I guess it sort of is — my longstanding violent dislike of onions precludes me from eating a lot of fancy food, which is often riddled with them — but more than being fussy, it's simply the fact that I just don't really enjoy food that's too "complicated", for want of a better word. I don't know whether this is because I don't have a particularly refined palate, or because I'm not used to food of this type, or because it's just my particular tastes, but regardless of what the reason is, I think I would, in most cases, much rather have a pub lunch or a nice roast dinner than anything that been anywhere near the word "jus".
I wonder how you refine your palate for things like this? I often contemplate this question when confronted with an impressive-looking cheeseboard, none of which I have the slightest inclination to eat, or am invited to appreciate a salad as being anything more than just bland leaves… or, indeed, as with this evening, am presented with a number of individual ingredients I like by themselves that are smothered with things that I either actively dislike or don't really appreciate in conjunction with the things I do like.
So there you have it. I'm not a foodie. Consequently, I'm something of a cheap date, too.
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Personally, I think you've hit it, at least in the sense of what most people who go to restaurants will like. Gordon Ramsay's convinced me that relatively simple food is much more accessible to every person, rich or poor. If you're overdoing it, people can't tell one flavour from another and figure out exactly what they've eaten.
Now, as a "foodie", I respect (and completely understand) your opinion however I would argue that great restaurants (fancy or not) are able to enhance the main ingredients properly without masking the taste of said dish. If the spices or sides they utilize don't allow the main protein to shine, then the dish is poor and they are just using the guise of tons of ingredients to charge you higher.
My favorite restaurants here in Montreal do this perfectly and do so with unique items that one may have trouble making at home. This is where I accept to pay a good price – experiences one can't make at home.
As for refining the palate, my experience tells me it is just a matter of trying it. Too often we stick to what we know – always going for a steak or spaghetti with meat sauce – because it is a safe option that we know we will like. I have made amazing discoveries simply by giving it a shot. Now sometimes that will backfire on you but generally if you go in with an open mind and no pre-conceived notions on said item, it will turn out well for you. The classic example of this for me was veal sweetbreads (look it up). Seems weird but tried it one thing just for the heck of it… now I love them and have moved on to other offal cuts of meat to experiment further.