When Your Dining Recommendation Turns Sour

woz on 05/09/2015 - 20:13

Don't you hate it when you tell someone about a really good eatery, treat them to a meal there, and the experience is unexpectedly underwhelming?

I visited my brother in Sydney, and was trying to educate my unimaginative meat and potatoes kin about the glory of a well-made curry laksa. Not knowing Sydney at all (I'm from Melbourne, and now Albury), I googled highly-rated Laksa hangouts and came across one that was universally acclaimed. The Laksa was uninspired and looked as they they'd simply thrown in whatever ingredients they had left over, while substituting Keen's curry powder for about half a dozen other key flavours.

My brother never said a word, but his look spoke volumes, making me feel like a prize twit. The saddest part is the unlikelihood of ever getting him to try something exotic (for him) ever again.

PS. The forum is trying to tell me my new topic looks similar to the existing topic, "Need Help Finding The Best Place to Get a Birth Edition of Newspaper for My Son as He Turns 21 Next Week"???????!

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • Findo on 05/09/2015 - 21:23
    +1

    These things happen. It's the same as him taking you to the best steakhouse in town and everything being underwhelming. I'm sure your brother will be able to move on. Maybe rely on word of mouth more than the Internet in the future for eating options?

  • [Deactivated] on 05/09/2015 - 21:44
    +1

    Darn. Where did you take him for the lousy laksa here in Sydney?

    Have a solid browse of this blog: http://www.b-kyu.com/search/label/malaysian (check out all the labels on the left hand side - note the 'laksa' label doesn't actually cover all the mentions throughout the blog of laksa dishes they've tried, unfortunately).

  • spychiatrist on 05/09/2015 - 22:30
    +4

    Mine is worse, many times I would recommend someone for a promotion/pay rise then colleague suddenly becomes a jerk/knucklehead. Many times. I stopped doing it now because it's like I'm putting a hex on them.

  • Diji1 on 05/09/2015 - 23:46

    If you haven't worked it out yet: a normal part of business promotion is having shills on social media including Hangouts.

  • try2bhelpful on 07/09/2015 - 08:37

    A bit more difficult in your case but I normally scope a place out before I take other people there. We usually look at Zomato and go through both the positives and negatives before taking the plunge. That doesn't stop the restaurant having a bad night. We have been relatively fortunate in our choices and have had some really good results; we tend to be "go to" people for recommendations now. (We are located in Melbourne which does make it a bit easier). Keep trying with your brother.

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