Rant

[kyrie]

This may not be the right place for this....

A new raw food restaurant has opened on Williams Street, in Sydney Australia. I would be estatic except that the guy is calling it raw and fusion. His idea of fusion is to put fresh blueberries on roasted rice paper and call it raw pancakes - WTF? It's not even ironic, funny or droll - it's just off!

If that is not bad enough, he didn't peel his zucchini to make zucchini spaghetti. It looks absolutely manky and horrible. I know some of you don't peel your zucchini when you spiralize it, however I happen to think if you are serving it ( and raw food) to the paying public, you should make that extra effort, so that it looks appetizing, and not like baby food or a dog's dinner - if the dog isn't particularly fussy.

He could only show me a picture of that entree.

He was also out of carrot and zucchini balls. Maybe that's a good thing.

The same applies to zucchini ribbons and eggplant. If you don't peel it, I can tell you no one else but a hard core raw foodist is gonna want to eat it - much less pay to eat it. It just doesn't look good!

Presentation counts. If you are only feeding yourself, who cares - but if you want my cash - show me something that looks delectable and delicious!

He has only a green smoothie on the menu - that is all raw? Is he kidding - I can do that at home!!!!

Worse there are no raw desserts, nothing at all to really entice me whatsoever to come back to his restaurant!! No display cases, and he was making signs on top of the serving counter right at the front of the restaurant. Er... No I think I'll pass.

Eeek!

Carla.

[snoops]

Can't speak for the rest of the restaurant but I would always leave the peel on the zucchini. I makes it look nicer I think with the darker green bits. Otherwise it would look rather bland and pale and monochromatic:) But that's just me.

[klomasius]

Give it time, all restaurants go through a 'birthing' phase, I always give a newly opened place at least two to three tries before deciding not to go there any more.

Also, you might want to try making helpful suggestions, he might find it very helpful if customers let him know what works and what doesn't. Maybe couch your feedback as helpful suggestions rather than criticisms, this is the best form of communication.

A vegan place recently opened up here in Melbourne that is interested in serving raw food dishes, they didn't really have a clue but were enthusiastic, so I organised to go down there and give them a couple of smoothie demonstrations and give them a copy of my raw food workshop handbook with recipes, weblinks, kitchen tips, ideas, info etc.

Sometimes we just need to give places a helping hand, we can criticise all we like, but this doesn't help the cause of raw in our area and certainly doesn't help the restaurant.

I know you are frustrated, Sydney is pretty dismal for raw food at the moment, but it's all changing, and with positive encouragement it can change all the faster!

Make sure that anyone you know who goes there also gives positive feedback, tell him what you liked, maybe what didn't work so well and how it might be improved. If he's amenable and you are up to it, give him a demonstration of some basic raw dishes (sweet and savoury), recommend some good raw recipe books, help him understand what is raw and what isn't (many people not familar with raw think things like rice paper, raw tofu and hummus are raw, we just need to gently educate them).

Hope it works out!

[Revvell]

Did you tell the manager/owner?

Imo, it doesn't do good to rant here and not tell the powers that be why you wont eat there AND give suggestions for improvement ~ if s/he is willing to hear.

I agree with Snoops... some green amidst the white... much better, more colorful. For me, I don't use zucchini for "noodles" as it's too wet whether it's got the skin on or not, yet, as long as it's organic, leaving the skin on brings more color to it. Just cuz we choose to do, or not do something, doesn't mean others should or shouldn't.

Calling it raw/fusion? I give the owner credit for attempting to do something different as many wont go to a totally raw venue; at least bringing raw into the equation; opening a restaurant "in this economy" (not sure how it is there), but it's a BOLD move, I think...

Maybe his ideas wont work yet, at least he's giving it a shot. That's more than most!

If you've not done so, my suggestion ~ drop him an email or letter or give a phone call and tell what you liked (if anything) and what you didn't like knowing it's his place; he's got a dream... and what can he do ~ in your opinion ~ to up his game?

I'm curious ~ were there many people in the restaurant? Did others appear to be enjoying the food? The experience?

Sometimes we have ideas about how things "should be" and we want others to do things as WE want. It's his dream.

Oh! And .... "He could only show me a picture of that entree.".... what did you expect? Most restaurants have menus with only pictures of the entrees ~ and, not all of them. Most just have them listed.

[sport]

I agree that you should give him time. At least he is trying.

[kyrie]

I agree it's his dream. I will chat to him next time I'm in the city. And I will be very very nice about it.
The economy in Sydney is not too bad. If China doesn't tank, we may be Ok!

Carla.

[Tguch]

I can totally understand that you may have been disappointed when seeing the "raw" options, especially if you had gotten excited about the possibility of having a raw resto!

But this is a great opportunity! If he is interested in really trying to offer raw entrees, you can totally contribute to shaping what is on offer. Friend the guy, you may meet all sorts of new raw people and contribute to the growth of a raw community in Sydney. How awesome would that be?

Rawk on!

[lovenlife]

Go back on and offer to help. Offer to work there and give him lots of great ideas! Tell him all kinds of stuff that people might want or what you have seen work in other places!

Awesome you have this available to you! Happy day!

[EZ rider]

Why not eat at home where you have complete control of the process ?

[MysticTree]

ez, this is an old thread bumped for no good reason!