"After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."
Dear Oscar Wilde,
How wrong could you be!
Recently, as part of Mademoiselle Dodo's birthday celebrations I decided to invite the extended family out to dinner.
I have attempted to take the family out of their home-cooked environment on a number of occasions, and all have been disasters at various levels. At one superior Italian restaurant my brother-in-law asked for "proper" bread when served focaccia and my mother stood up and started to clear the table when the wait staff did not appear immediately to do so. At others there have the complaints about small serves, the suspicious looks at unfamiliar food, the heated arguments about the bill and other events fortunately too painful for me to remember.
The one dinning out experience my family participated in regularly while I was growing up was the annual "feast" at the all you can eat smorgasbord restaurant located in the Dandenong Ranges where you queued and jostled for food while being serenaded by yodelling and repeat renditions of the chicken dance. While as a child I thought this was fun, I now enjoy a more diverse culinary experience.
Armed with the knowledge gained from previous failures I chose a restaurant that has recently opened to good reviews. It was Hungarian, so there would be no problems with unfamiliar food. It was local, so there should be no problems with access. It was reasonably priced, so there should be no complaints about the cost. The menu was diverse enough to cater to most tastes. Surely I had hit a winner. And those of the family who dine out regularly thought so too.
Maybe this time my family's prided belief in speaking "the truth" would be supressed by good manners.
After three hours of criticisms of the menu, complaints about the slowness of service (my family can eat a three course dinner in 20 minutes flat) and loud comparisons to the home-cooked versions of the various dishes, I admitted defeat.
And as to forgiving my family? Well Oscar Wilde, what do you think?
4 comments:
From my sample size of 3 (4 including yours from this anecdote), I suspect all Hungarian families are like this.
ie. my kid's maternal grandfather's family, the maternal grandmothers family and kids' mothers best friends family.
When we were in Budapest, we were almost forbidden to eat out cos they could cook better at home. *sighs*
We suspected that may happen to us, so we slipped into Budapest unannounced before visiting the rellies. There are great places to eat in Budapest [provided you avoid the tourist traps].
I think Oscar Wilde never met our family.....
You forgot to mention that birthday girl - who's birthday was the reason that the dinner was organised - could only eat one of the main course dishes on the menu, due to vegetarianism, yet certain family members did not take into account the birthday girl's extremely limited choices available when they complained miserably about one dish having carraway seeds in it.
Oh well, it's a once in every 3 or so years experience, it is a lesson we will learn over and over again. Would having cooked the entire family dinner made for a better experience? I think not.
anonymous, I only asked if the dish had caraway seeds in it.
ms dodo, thank god we don't have to go to the Dandenongs to visit that restaurant again. Why, oh, why do they think that the food is any good??????
So let us never speak of these dinners again. At least you don't get hammered for not being married yet. The matriarch seems to slip that in at every opportunity. Eg, Fathers Day dinner.
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