Just recently, I fear, my expectations of life have been too high, and I feel a little sad.

Sat in Carluccios having lunch after a long morning on the bike and I tuck into the soup to find a large cut off piece of plastic bag, clearly off the carton the “fresh chefs special” came in.

So totally a first world issue here and I really should MTFU.

But I’m sad 😥

What was the soup like ?

Being a chain its probably made by/for them in bulk and shipped out to stores. Or they just buy it in from somewhere. I have had some venison pasta that I could swear was the same as theirs. OH likes itvthere, I’m not fussed as it doesn’t feel freshly home made.

Pea & Ham

#prepackedspecials

😆

I had a cheese and ham toastie, freshly prepared from the finest ingredients I could find in the fridge.

#thirdworldsolution

Sorry but Carluccios is ping and ding crap along the same lines as Bella Pasta or whatever its called now.

I’m inclined to agree with you.

#isdissapoint

Carluccios? Soup? Post-ride? No proper pubs open on a Sunday round your way then? 😉

There are Pubs yes, some are really nice but I fancied Pasta n stuff… Gordon Ramseys place is just over the footbridge but it’s full of tossers… 😉

I’m not even angry. I’m just disappointed. You’ve not just let yourself down……

As for Garden Ramseys place… [/url]what did you expect?

I had a bacon sandwich post ride and it was great. Bacon from the butchers, so didn’t shrink and boil itself. Maple cured too.
Salivating just recounting it.

I think the main mistake was expecting a national chain brand to offer food made from scratch.

Pea & Ham quote made me laugh…

argghhh… just had late lunch in there (Glasgow branch) and said to the wife that dinner was served too quick. Tasty though, good service. Wouldn’t go back, couldn’t quite put my finger on it until you posted. Claims its homemade but its not!

Sat in Carluccios

To quote a sage prophet of our times;

I’m not even angry. I’m just disappointed. You’ve not just let yourself down……

Go home. Have a cheese and ham toastie or something instead of that overpriced lifestyle/marketing led pish.

Hell, you could even just order a Domino’s and have it delivered just in time to eat in the bath. With a cold one, of course.

Well I’m a little more level now, back on an even keel.

It’s just y’know.. Long ride, great company, lovely sunny day, banter, sprints n chase downs, through and off’s and just your normal roadie bash out in deepest Chilterns.. and we’re chatting about food, restaurants and such like, so I get to thinking “h’mmmm pasta, pasta I don’t have to make, pasta I don’t have to add ingredients too, pasta that someone else takes the time and effort to make ME” and so I dig hard ride the extra loop salivating.. and get home drown my body in shower gel and stick some Human clothes on and head to Canary Wharf where there is a whole world full of choice..

And choose Carluccios.. Ordinarily it’s been a bit of a favourite, it has an excellent view of the shiny tower blocks, an open courtyard full of meandering tourists and such, sun drenched covers outside and in the past (recent) it’s been top nosh.. Today was another matter.. I felt sort of “out of sorts” like somethings missing, not quite right, can’t put my finger on it.. maybe I need a cuddle.

And the food came and I so looked forward to that minty Pea & Ham soup.. eagerly I raised my spoon, balanced just so between my thumb and forefinger. A glint of sunlight ricochet off the outer edge of the metal, a glimpse of what was to come.. I tor through the focaccia with gay abandon, bit oily, and threaded the spoon though the grated parmisan with my right hand and sunk deeply into the soup with the focaccia in my left..
I lifted gently the spoon now full to the brim with green goodness and tapped gently the focaccia on the edge of the bowl to save the drips… anticipating the mellow blend, the salty Ham and what was on the spoon ?
Holy Mother of that Man up there ^^ but a manmade clear smeared with Peas plastic limited resource derived and processed through the enth degree, sharp, triangle shaped serrated edge ready to slice the soft pallet of my tender salivating mouth end of a packet just clipped enough to give the impression that my “Chefs Special” was in fact a ruse, a negative, a pale imitation, a hollow victory in the name of “Chefs Specials…

I offered the piece to the waiter, a vacuum of silence rained, I kept my mouth shut. Offered up the plastic clipping like Oliver but I stayed seated clearly not wanting More, but Less. The bowl in my right hand, the clipping in the other. I felt bereft, saddened and still bloody starving.

Beer was nice though.
😀

I had pasta tonight. Two rashers of dry cured back bacon from a local farm. Tagliatelli and Philadelphia cheese. God I felt dirty. But so right. 15 minutes to cook perfection.

Oh dear.

😆

I hope you’ve learnt a valuable lesson today. And it sounds like you have, my friend.

I’ll just leave 3 words for you to mull over. 3 simple words that should be the only ones that come to mind after a ride

Pub

Beer

Pie

I was persuaded into the wonder of a Wetherspoons curry night for the first time in my life last week. One of the curries came out with a blue bag of rice on the plate.

But in Wetherspoons you had a curry and a pint for the same price as an expensive pint in any other pub.

My wife’s cousin is the co founder/owner of Carluccios. We’ve never eaten there.

Hell, you could even just order a Domino’s and have it delivered just in time to eat in the bath. With a cold one, of course.

Everything about this smells of victory. Including fishing escaped bits of pepperoni out of the bath and eating them.

By contrast, this does not:

and head to Canary Wharf where there is a whole world full of choice..

And choose Carluccios..

😀

you went in a chain restaurant, what do you expect?

rule of thumb for italian restaurants: is the grandmother working in the kitchen? if not, avoid.

I know this will sound like blasphemy, but having been to Italy a lot, I still reckon Pizza Express does better Pizzas than anywhere in Italy (that I’ve been to).

There I’ve said it. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Oh no! I expect you’re about to be put right by the ‘i built a wood-burning pizza oven in the back garden’ crew 😀

I once found a bit of plastic in a burger, looked kind of “ear taggy”.

rule of thumb for italian restaurants: is the grandmother working in the kitchen?

it was a sad sad day when our local Italian restaurant owners decided they’d earned/had enough and went back to italy.

“Fresh Chef’s Special” clearly means not frozen or made in the last 2 days. Being generous they could have made it on the the premises and just sealed it in a bag to keep it fresh but it was probably made off the premises and shipped in. Made by a chef is a bit like an architect designed house, someone who designs houses is by definition an architect.

As an aside we went for a walk around the Chilterns yesterday (near Pricness Risborough/Coombe Hill/Chequers). Location chosen by me as a reccy for MTB-ing 🙂 , seemed to be an XC event on.

EDIT

@footflaps, not entirely surprising as Pizza isn’t really Italian, more an American/New York invention/development (happy to be pointed to numerous web pages to say otherwise 🙂 ). Have had lots of fabulous Italian food in Italy from cheap and cheerful to very fancy and never choose “Pizza” or even see it on the menu that often

Op, I hope you didn’t pay for that meal, what was the waiters response?

It was the Bucks Off Road yesterday. Done it in the past – a big day now they’ve upped the long-un to 150km.

Most restaurant food is delivered in the mornings in ready packed portions in a white refrigerated van with Brakes, 3663, Food Service or Ribble Valley Farm Foods (around here anyway) on the side.

On holiday in the Hebrides we were having trouble finding fresh fish anywhere. A fisherman told us we’d need to be in Barcelona or Madrid the next day to eat his catch. Then we saw a pub with a blackboard that said “Fish of the Day” on it. When I asked the barman what the fish was he shrugged and replied: “I dunnno… whatever we took out of the freezer this morning!”

I have to agree with Footflaps, went to Pizza Express in Cambridge the other night, absolutely lovely Pizza and Eton Mess cheesecake for Pud. most unexpected, lovely setting too at the Jesus Lane branch. Even betterer on Tesco vouchers! Memo to self– must get more vouchers.

Never even heard of Carluccio’s, is it new??

I can understand how a reasonable expectation can be easily crushed by the weight of modern life, leaving one bereft and empty in their soul.

It was the Bucks Off Road yesterday. Done it in the past – a big day now they’ve upped the long-un to 150km.

@aP, yes just checked it was the 150km route which came past 😯 100k and 50k available too. I have to say they where going at a decent speed given the distance, respect !

Bucks Offroad Sportive

I feel your pain. Carluccio’s went to the dogs the minute they gave Carluccio the boot.

A ‘kitchen’ that can’t even make consistent pea and ham soup FFS.

We had a nice afternoon tea in Bath on Saturday. However, asking for an Assam created literally minutes of profound confusion and consternation.

The sandwich shop round the corner from work is great. Apart from the fact that one of the employees literally CANNOT make a sandwich. If you work in a sandwich shop, you’d think if there was one thing you could do, it’d be make a sandwich.