Ordering something not on the menu?

[Sigurd]

I just wondered if any of you org fellars and gals have any experience in this?

A while back I watched Get Shorty on TV with my wife. There is a segment there about celebrities and movie stars never ordering from the menu when they went to a restaurant.

Well, my wife and I went out to eat on a finer restaurant on my birthday earlier this week and had a look at the menu. We wanted to go for a starter in addition to our main meal, but there were nothing that really inspired us (mostly seafood). So I remembered the segment in the movie and asked if they could make a bowl of French fries sprinkled with bacon cubes and with tasty melted cheese on top.
I was surprised that the waiter said; we will try. He came back with the most delicious starter I have ever had. Crispy large fries with bacon and I think it was a mild version of Jarlsberg cheese melted over the lot.

If none of you have tried to order a meal not on the menu, I’ll tell you it was a fun and delicious experience.

[Pannonian]

I just wondered if any of you org fellars and gals have any experience in this?

A while back I watched Get Shorty on TV with my wife. There is a segment there about celebrities and movie stars never ordering from the menu when they went to a restaurant.

Well, my wife and I went out to eat on a finer restaurant on my birthday earlier this week and had a look at the menu. We wanted to go for a starter in addition to our main meal, but there were nothing that really inspired us (mostly seafood). So I remembered the segment in the movie and asked if they could make a bowl of French fries sprinkled with bacon cubes and with tasty melted cheese on top.
I was surprised that the waiter said; we will try. He came back with the most delicious starter I have ever had. Crispy large fries with bacon and I think it was a mild version of Jarlsberg cheese melted over the lot.

If none of you have tried to order a meal not on the menu, I’ll tell you it was a fun and delicious experience.

Don't be too extravagantly different, don't expect things to be exactly as you want them, and expect to pay a premium for the privilege. Other than that, most decent restaurants should accommodate you to some extent.

What's with all the colour settings?

[Husar]

I think you can always ask, sometimes they can deliver, sometimes they can't. But especially in expensive places I would expect them to be able to come up with something.

[Banquo's Ghost]

I do it all the time, largely because Lady Ghost has a deep aversion to western-style salads - which she characterises as "grass".

When she wants a salad, she wants vegetables and pickles not mounds of lettuce.

Her ladyship is also picky about side dishes and their freshness, so we have quite a rigmarole getting it right. Almost all the restaurants we visit are quite happy to alter things as best they can (as Pannonian noted, one is unlikely to get a pasta al forno in a Thai place) and in most cases, appreciate the opportunity for the chef and waiters to show off their skills. Of course, I appreciate their efforts suitably at bill time.

Those that can't be bothered don't get custom a second time. It's always worth asking, as it gives an indication as to the standards of the establishment, IMO.

[Sigurd]

Don't be too extravagantly different, don't expect things to be exactly as you want them, and expect to pay a premium for the privilege. Other than that, most decent restaurants should accommodate you to some extent.

Agreed...
You have to take a look at the menu to sort of get the idea of what raw materials they have. Then ask if they can make so and so.
The starter I suggested was one that we had in an Australian restaurant when visiting USA. I was supprised that it was better than I remembered.

What's with all the colour settings?

Sometimes I type stuff in Word, to utilize the power of the spell check as you type. I am not a native english writer.
Somehow it adds a lot of [COLOR] colour tags when pasting the text into the org editor.

[HoreTore]

Sometimes I type stuff in Word, to utilize the power of the spell check as you type. I am not a native english writer.
Somehow it adds a lot of [COLOR] colour tags when pasting the text into the org editor.

Use Firefox, you heathen!

[Husar]

Use Firefox, you heathen!

Isn't it the firefox who burns?

[Somebody Else]

I occasionally ask for steak tartare... If I reckon the restaurant's a good 'un.

[macsen rufus]

If you really want to go seriously off-menu, go into an Argentine restaurant and ask for the vegetarian option

[Caius]

If you really want to go seriously off-menu, go into an Argentine restaurant and ask for the vegetarian option

Rolf.

Good idea ever! But, you know, we do have another food than beef.

[Papewaio]

The starter I suggested was one that we had in an Australian restaurant when visiting USA. I was supprised that it was better than I remembered.

Since I cannot remember seeing fries covered with bacon and cheese at any Australia restaurant, I really wonder how 'authentic' this Australia restaurant was...

[Samurai Waki]

I decided to take my older brother/wife/Kids to a very classy little Italian Place when I was in Montana about a month ago. This place is a jewel, even the best rated (by friends) Italian Restaurant on this side of the Country pale in comparison. So we get there, we're all preparing to order, and my niece really didn't want anything they had, we kept asking her what she wanted for when we ordered. Well finally the Waiter arrives and we all take our Orders, and my Niece very politely looks at the Waiter and asks "Can I please have a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich." My sister in Law sort of turned a little pink in the face, but embarrassment aside; My Niece Maintains that it was the best PB&J she's ever had.

[Pannonian]

Since I cannot remember seeing fries covered with bacon and cheese at any Australia restaurant, I really wonder how 'authentic' this Australia restaurant was...

Do they serve prison food at the most "authentic" Australian restaurants?

[Proletariat]

Since I cannot remember seeing fries covered with bacon and cheese at any Australia restaurant, I really wonder how 'authentic' this Australia restaurant was...

There's a chain in the US called Outback Steakhouse. It's about as Aussie as McDonald's is French. On the menu there are things like "Bloomin' Onion" which I'm pretty sure is a purely American side dish and in the radio commercials they play digeridoos and have voices that make the late Steve Irwin's accent sound posh in comparison. Not sure if that's where Sigurd went, but it sounds like it was or maybe a spin off sort of joint.

The bacon-cheese fries Siggy describes sounds like something you can get in almost any American restaurant, but I've never seen them in Australia either.

[Kadagar_AV]

Ordering peanutbutter and jelly sandwich at a good restaurant?

On one hand, a good restuarant should always try and please the customer. On the other hand, it's VERY insulting to the chef.

What I guess I try to say is that if you just crawled out from under a rock mcdonalds is probably better suited to serve your needs.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

I just wondered if any of you org fellars and gals have any experience in this?

A while back I watched Get Shorty on TV with my wife. There is a segment there about celebrities and movie stars never ordering from the menu when they went to a restaurant.

Well, my wife and I went out to eat on a finer restaurant on my birthday earlier this week and had a look at the menu. We wanted to go for a starter in addition to our main meal, but there were nothing that really inspired us (mostly seafood). So I remembered the segment in the movie and asked if they could make a bowl of French fries sprinkled with bacon cubes and with tasty melted cheese on top.
I was surprised that the waiter said; we will try. He came back with the most delicious starter I have ever had. Crispy large fries with bacon and I think it was a mild version of Jarlsberg cheese melted over the lot.

If none of you have tried to order a meal not on the menu, I’ll tell you it was a fun and delicious experience.

But totally depends on the restaurant.

[Kekvit Irae]

I once went to a McDonalds and ordered a golden shower with a chocolate chaser, as a joke. The girl behind the register just looked at me with a blank face, obviously not knowing what they were. She went back to the cook and manager to ask if they were on the menu. By the time she returned, I had discreetly slipped away.

[Sigurd]

I once went to a McDonalds and ordered a golden shower with a chocolate chaser, as a joke. The girl behind the register just looked at me with a blank face, obviously not knowing what they were. She went back to the cook and manager to ask if they were on the menu. By the time she returned, I had discreetly slipped away.

...

[Louis VI the Fat]

If you really want to have fun, bring your own bottle of wine and ask the restaurant to build a main course around it for you. (Well actually, if you really really want to have fun, ask for this and then hand them over a EUR. 3,99 bottle of Californian wine).

Any specific requests I have depend on the nature and quality of the restaurant I'm at. At a steaked grill house, I don't bother. My wishes are limited to 'medium please, no ketchup' and if they manage that I'll be quite happy. In a more upscale reastaurant, I might have more specific requests.