Originally Posted by
lancebanyon
That's a pretty bold contention. I am sure there are lesser restaurants where this may be the case, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that for the class of restaurants under discussion in this thread - top 100 or so in the world - most are not staffed by 'lazy cheap chefs'. Some tasting menus have indeed disappointed me (Le Calandre and The Square come immediately to mind), but the vast majority have been outstanding. And, I have to ask, why is trying to minimize food waste a bad thing?
All good chefs try to minimize food waste. But the best IMO don't do it by forcing all their diners to eat the same thing. They do it by using leftovers (either things that didn't "sell" the previous day or parts of products not featured in main dishes) creatively - sometimes in tomorrow's "amuse courses". Today's pates and terrines are often yesterday's leftovers.
BTW - on our last trip to Germany (your listing says you're from Germany) - none of the restaurants where we dined forced tasting menus on us - not even the best/best known ones like Vendome or - IIRC - Dieter Muller (the latter now has a new name and a new chef). Aqua (we didn't go there) does have tasting menus only - but you can choose the number of courses you want. FWIW - I think Germany is - for some reason - a somewhat overlooked under-appreciated dining destination. We had close to 2 weeks of excellent dining there (from high end to low end - although I never did develop a taste for currywurst
). Plus - there's a ton to see and do there. And the train system is ^ in terms of getting around to most cities. Robyn