Carefree Cooking

Carefree Chef in Birmingham

I'm in Birmingham, England for the next few days so I'll get a change to try out some dishes that I don't normally get when I'm in Vancouver. For dinner yesterday, I went to a restaurant/bar beside the hotel. It was the only restaurant around so didn't really have much of a choice. It was weird going in since I didn't know what the custom is. Do I just sit myself or should I wait to be seated. It turns out that you can just sit anywhere you like. The menus were on the table so I spent some time figuring out what I want to get. I decided to get the soup of the day (Potato and Leek soup) and a Breaded Pork Shnitzel. I was waiting for the waitress to come to my table to get my order, but she never did. So I was wondering if I should be ordering somewhere. I then saw a sign near the bar that says "Ordering Post". I'm thinking I can't be ordering there, how would they know where I sit. But eventually I saw this guy go there so I followed him. The way the bar works is they will ask where you sit, then give you a big wooden spoon that has been painted with a color. The color tells the waitress which section of the restaurant you are sitting. There's a number on the spoon to identify you. So it finally all made sense to me. I didn't know what the custom is when it comes to tipping. Initially I thought that tips are part of the bill already so there's no need to put anything extra. But when I got the receipt, there was a line for tips. Since I wasn't sure what to do, I just ignored it. Besides, I thought giving tips usually happens after you finish your meal, not when you are ordering it.

The soup arrived pretty quickly. I was surprised by the large piece of bread that it came in. I think the bread was half the size of a regular loaf. The crust was a bit tough, but it was soft inside. The soup was ok, I wouldn't say it's exceptional. Perhaps my palette is not accustomed to that type of texture. I don't see myself wanting to make that at home.

I was very anxious about the pork shnitzel because I don't really know what it is. It turns out that it was the same as breaded pork chop. The dish came with fried egg on top. I wasn't sure how good the combination is, but I liked it so this is something that I will definitely try to make when I get home. Unfortunately I could only finish 3/4 of the dish because I was too full.

I know this entry is a bit unusual since it didn't really mention anything about how to cook a dish. So to compensate for that, here's a link to a pork shnitzel recipe. Enjoy.

http://www.lattaplantation.org/sugarpop/html/shnitzel.html

posted by carefreecooking @ 10:12 PM