I must say that after seeing "The Chopping Block" on channel 9, I personally think it is a terrible show and far worse even than "My Restaurant Rules" or that tv show about Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant the name of which has slipped into obscurity.
I feel sorry for these restaurant owners who put their hearts and souls into their family business to be told what to do by a bunch of snobs.
The last thing I want to see is for some of the great ethnic restaurants in Melbourne turn into Docklands style yuppy havens without any character.
For those who didn't see the first show, it had two family owned restaurants in Sydney, one Greek and one Egyptian named after their owners. They visited by a mystery critic and told what was good and bad. The problem was that the really harsh critic would probably be better off going to one of the upmarket restaurants in town. Rather than talking about the value, they simply slagged off about the decor and the traditional cuisines. Then they were paid a visit by a high profile restauranteur who told them how out of their element they were, to change their traditional meals, increase their prices and modernise their restaurants. While the winners were awarded $20,000, they probably had to spend that much in renovating their restaurants to become the very plain that the critics were after, and one of them ends up being both stressed and shattered. Regardless, both restaurants received 3 stars out of 5 or less. The restaurants were already vibrant and packed. I don't think this sends the right message to some of the restaurants I love. These places have their own character. The ones on the show lost much of that character which makes them unique and much loved in the process, and ended up being influenced by upmarket taste. Sure, the money and the television exposure would be worth its weight in gold, but does that guarantee that in 12 months these restaurants still have their loyal customers and stay open ? I wonder.
They would be much better rating some of the restaurants in Melbourne Docklands, Southbank, Brisbane's Riverside or Southbank or Sydney's piers where they have high price tags, pretentious foodies and hospital style atmosphere. Family run restaurants don't have to compete with these guys and shouldn't be reviewed or judged by the same people. It is simply condescending.
Next week they travel to Richmond in Melbourne (Bridge Road is one of my favourite restaurant areas) and I hope they don't have too much negative influence on the restaurants there ... just my 2 cents ...
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If you think your restaurant offers that kind of great value and you'd like to see your restaurant reviewed here with all my best restaurant recommendations, email: starjayde@hotmail.com
And make sure you check out our Highly Recommended list for some of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne.
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5 comments:
you'll probably think I'm a snob too but anybody can see that the "before" food was pretty awful and many of these places needed a spruce-up. Not all but some failed to meet basic hygene standards. And none have been doing well. These people knew what they were getting into by joining this show and all entered because their businesses were in danger of failing because they weren't quite doing well enough. The crowds were drawn to the restaurants by the show and its producers especially for the final night. Nobody is trying to turn any of these restaurants into Docklands restaurants which are also awful and not the kinds of places that proper yuppies hang out. They want good food and service, atmosphere and, the clever ones at least, value for money.
With all due respect Ed, but you seem to be brainwashed by your TV and the show. I was always under the impression that it is the local council's role - not some TV show that ensure restaurants meet hygiene standards.
Ed, how can you tell what the food is like? I don't know what sort of TV you have if it is a smellovision or a tastevision, but mine doesn't let me taste the food.
Ed, how do you know that the businesses were failing ? Did you get a look at their balance sheets ?
They might have thought they knew what they were getting into, but as it was a debut of the series, they would hardly have known exactly what they would be going through. They might think twice having been through it and if they are another restaurant watching the show, they might not really think it is worth it.
I definitely aggree with you.
The sad thing is that these so-called famous chefs know shit and all.
My whole family are chefs including myself. Cuisine is sophisticated and broad spectrum where no one is entitled to tell the other how to cook something that would certainly take decades to superb. Instead, I have seen plenty of arrogance.
To start off, this is not the first reality TV in Australia so I don't think any of these restaurants haven't considered that the critic will be tough. I haven’t been to any of these 2 restaurants so I can’t criticise any of their food.
If their business is doing well already I don’t think they want to sign up for the show. TV series will be recommending them rather than signing up for a show competition. The show will definitely help attract customer to their restaurant. Restaurant is a touch business and if you are doing just ok then you are not going to last very long because they are pretty of good restaurant in Melbourne. A bit of criticism will help them to improve or at least you get to know what other people really think about your food.
I dine out at least once a week and most of the times I am very keen to try out different restaurant. I have came across some restaurant that I will not be recommend to other people because of the poor service and over prices food. When I refer to over prices food, I don’t mean $75 for a main course is over price but it is over price for some restaurant ever they charge me $25 for a main course.
Good service will help the restaurant, good food will definitely help the customer to talk about it and customer is your best advertisement. One think about this show is they told the restaurant when the critic will be coming rather than just turn up without telling them. Decoration is mainly important for attracting new customer off the street, if you are on a street that a lot of restaurant, you will pick the restaurant with at least a decent look rather than some dodgy restaurant on the street.
Hey i was wandering for Download Greek and stood by tis blog...quite interesting one which glare my eyes here..
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