I am pleased this has come up again as I missed out on the original thread. Clearly TChef is in charge of his kitchen and possibly in charge of the establishment. As Head Chef, surely he has the right to run things as he sees fit. While some people may not agree with his actions he has his own circumstances to deal with and the running of his kitchen to consider. He posted on March 19th, a Wednesday and refers to “last night’s service. This is obviously a busy restaurant being nearly full on a Tuesday night, the guy must be doing something right.
Most of us bleat on about how hard it is, how little we get paid and that we only do it because its our passion etc. etc. so why do we cater for the fussy, rude and obnoxious people who blight our establishments? …because we have to! Most of us need the business or work for a company that needs the business, if you really had the choice would you do it? Marco Pierre White used to throw them out.
At this point I would say that yes, there are people who suffer with allergies and I do sympathise with them, they usually phone in advance, they are courteous and almost apologetic. I have no problem cooking for these people and I have catered for a variety of conditions, happily. But in my experience a large percentage of them are fake attention seekers, (EEK did he really say that???) yes he did, the diabetic who asks for sugar when their partner goes to the bathroom. The person who can’t eat dairy and orders pomme puree every week, you know them well.
A Chef’s role is a demanding one, he has to think on his feet and make important decisions in a split second and when he produces a dish it is a supposed to be a perfectly balanced one. Every element on that plate is there for a purpose, it is created by a professional and it is damned hard work. So when somebody walks in asking for this and that to be removed you can understand the frustration it causes.
This is in no way meant to offend anyone suffering with an allergy of any kind, if you work with me I will cook for you, but I will not take any chances on your behalf. |