Monday 9 April 2018

"Restaurant diner cheesed off by Asda baked camembert"

From The Times:

A diner who ordered a £13 baked camembert at a restaurant was served one costing £1.15 from Asda which was still in its round supermarket box. Emma Daniels chose the sharing starter at Severnshed to eat with her partner.

It arrived on a board with bread, chutney and the cooked cheese sitting upside down inside the Asda wrapping. She went on the TripAdvisor website on Saturday and left a two-star review for the Bristol restaurant.


OK, it was a bit naff to leave it in the supermarket box, rather than prising it into a "terracotta dish", but apart from that, so what? Don't people know that when you eat in a fancy restaurant, the retail price of the food you eat is only 10% - 20% of the final price of the meal incl. VAT and tip?

Either it tasted nice or it didn't, end of. The £13 price is meaningless, they chose to pay that much.

Unless this is all a clever ASDA marketing campaign..?

8 comments:

Graeme said...

The dish is usually called "Box-baked Camembert"-so many menus go into irrelevant details on the precise implements and utensils used in the preparation- but I have never bothered to scrutinise the box in which it is served.
However there is no way I would pay £13 for it. Call me cheap

MikeW said...

Mark,

'the retail price of the food you eat is only 10% - 20% of the final price of the meal'

So are you saying these were 'baked in' the final price of the Camambert? Or as in the case of the Yorkshires delivered with my Sunday Roast, disappointing 'Sunken Costs'?

Bayard said...

"Don't people know that when you eat in a fancy restaurant, the retail price of the food you eat is only 10% - 20% of the final price of the meal incl. VAT and tip?"

Yes, but they don't like to be reminded of it. You don't want to know what the bloody cheese cost them. There's nothing more annoying than dining out with someone who says about the wine "you can get that for £3.99 at ASDA". Part of what you are paying for when you eat out is the ambience and no-one wants that shattered by harsh economic facts, even if they already know them, in fact, especially if they already know them.

Mark Wadsworth said...

G, you're not cheap, you're sensible.

MW, I can't top that.

B, eating out us conspicuous consumption. People want to overpay.

Bayard said...

Mark, but they don't want to be reminded they are doing it. That's why most normal people don't leave the price tags on their Christmas presents: it's just too blatant. (although I was once given a dressing gown with the receipt in the pocket).

Jonathan Bagley said...

I read that that the women enjoyed eating the cheese. There wouldn't have been a problem had she not seen the label.

Mark Wadsworth said...

JB, exactly.

MikeW said...

MW, I can't top that :)

Less of the sauce on this thread please