La-Di-Da Date

Tomorrow night KJ and I are going on a hot date to a very fancy restaurant. We wouldn’t normally head to somewhere as posh as this place is, but we were given a gift certificate as a present a little while ago, so we’re going on Saturday night.

We booked online – you know, coz we’re nerds, and that’s just the way nerds deal with dates – and when they emailed back to confirm the booking, they also sent a copy of the menu. It’s probably a pretty good thing they did, because after a quick browse through the starters, I realised it would require some translation.

Ordinarily, If I wasn’t sure what a food-related term meant, it wouldn’t really bother me. I like most foods, so a bit of mystery in a meal isn’t a bad thing as far as I’m concerned. But in this case, I came across a menu item that made me decide to do a bit more research just in case. That item was ‘Caramelised Sweetbreads’.

‘Sweetbreads’ is a term that I’m familiar with. I know that it’s trick terminology designed to make something really un-appetizing sound more appealing. If they wrote ‘Caramelised animal glands’ on the menu, people might be slightly less likely to order them. It’s a little bit evil if you ask me, because if you forget what it really means, sweetbread sounds like something really tasty.

Another thing that I found really odd was that a lot of the starters seemed to include items that people don’t usually want to eat - things like ox tongue, sweetbreads and snails. Do they do this because their superior culinary skills can turn these somewhat unappetizing items into something spectacular? Or do they do it as a secret in-joke, just to see if people will eat it because it’s on the menu in a posh restaurant and they don’t want to seem un-sophisticated?

The great thing about this particular restaurant is that their specialty is steak. According to their website, they “showcase Australia’s finest beef from Victoria, Cape Grim Tasmania and the Clare Valley South Australia”.
So I’m looking forward to seeing what a $60 steak is like. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is working out what to drink – their wine list is over 30 pages long. I might just have to stick with beer, otherwise by the time I’ve selected a wine, the kitchen will be closed.