Category: Food & Drink

Personal Recommendations

Architecture, Food & Drink

Here’s a list of “proper old” Brit pubs, for those who are either of a Brit persuasion or else part of a vanishingly-small number who actually want to visit Britishland.

For the record, I’ve been to four of them (The Bell, The George, The Coach & Horses and The King’s Head) and had a great time in all.  (By the way, the interiors of The George and The King’s Head are stunningly alike — when I saw the pic of the latter in the article, I thought for a moment that it was the George.)

That said:  when I was at The Bell, the beer selection was absolute shit — even Mr. Sorenson had trouble finding something decent, and we ended up drinking cider (ugh).  The George, of course, serves Wadworth 6X and their lamb pie is excellent.  I don’t recall much about the C&H because I was drinking there with either The Englishman or Mr. Free Market, and after those kind of epic sessions, memory is frequently foggy:  probably caused by sundry pints of Fuller’s London Pride, in retrospect.

I don’t know about the other pubs mentioned in the article, but they look excellent.

Missing from the list, however, is my absolute favorite, The King’s Arms in All Cannings:

…as is Salisbury’s Haunch of Venison:

Very much worth a visit, despite the lack of 6X.

Bad Math, Bad Service

Food & Drink

Let’s wander off into yet another debate about tipping (“gratuities” WTF).

Here’s something that should make everyone’s ears prick up:

A Texas Roadhouse customer has reignited the tipping debate after spotting a major issue with the automated calculation.

Recording the clip from his table as he zoomed in on the payment machine, he explained: “I’m at Texas Roadhouse, is my math off?  Because 20 percent of $66 is not fucking $16.”

The receipt on the screen showed that his order had come to $66.66.  He had then selected the standard 20 percent tipping option which showed added $16.28, rather than the expected $13.33, to take his total up to $82.94.

And the unexpected $2.95 extra left the content creator scratching his head.  He wrote a simple caption that read: “What’s going on here Texas Roadhouse?”

I never ever use the auto-tip function when paying for a meal, simply because I have no control over what happens to the tip amount — supposedly given to the server, but all too often either partially- or wholly pocketed by the manager, or shared with the other restaurant staff.

Sorry, but I’m only interested in tipping the waiter or waitress (“server” WTF) a decent amount when the service has been exemplary.  And I pay cash directly into the waiter’s hand so that he gets to keep all of it.

On a parallel theme, this one about the so-called “Texas” Roadhouse chain.

I say “Texas” because the parent company is based in Kansas, not Texas, and as with all chains, your experience in them will vary greatly depending on where you are.

Clutching our TR gift card in hand (thankee friend for the gift), New Wife and I once went to the one nearest our home for a free meal, and the whole experience was excellent:  food served hot and in good time, great service, friendly waitress and so on.

So when we found ourselves out of town a little while ago and had few (okay, two) choices for “out” food, we picked the local Texas Roadhouse largely because of our previous meal at the other one.

Oy.  We should have gone to the IHOP.

Nearly an hour’s wait*, indifferent service — food arrived late, order incomplete and the frozen margeritas which arrived midway through the meal, and only after a reminder to the waiter… and let me not even speak of the unbelievable noise in the place.

Okay, let me speak of the unbelievable noise in the place.  Since when did the celebration of a birthday or other special occasion become something that involves the entire fucking restaurant?  Loud, raucous singing of “Happy Birthday” accompanied by hammering on tables and thereafter much joyous screaming:  I’ve had quieter times at an indoor shooting range.  And by the way, all this happened over a backdrop of thunderous, earsplitting Nashville-style country music and the usual shouting of the other patrons.  (From the movie The Long Riders  comes the memorable Cole Younger quote:  “Texans sure are loud!”)

And I had no hearing protection, either, although I should have.

So when confronted by the auto-tip thing on the table-top electronic menu thing (no paper menus WTF), I promptly hit the “0%” button, and we walked out without leaving any kind of tip to the waiter whatsoever.  (In his defense, I should mention that most of his time was spent chatting up one of the waitresses:  a far more pleasurable activity than, you know, serving customers.)

So file my next visit to Texas Roadhouse under “NEVER”.

*In the normal course of events, we never wait longer than a few minutes to be seated, at any restaurant because frankly, no food — no matter how apparently special — will be worth the wait. When we arrive at a restaurant and are told the wait will be more than five minutes, we leave and find somewhere else.

That we had been forced by circumstance to wait for nearly an hour at Texas Roadhouse before being subjected to the horrorshow as described above just made us all the angrier.

RFI: Wetherspoons

Food & Drink, Travels

This one is especially for my Brit Readers, and it was sparked by this article.

Since visiting her first Wetherspoons with her now husband Andrew in 2024 — it was The Moon Under Water in Watford, in case you’re wondering — Stacey Gitten has now visited 71 Wetherspoons up and down the country. It’s a mission that has seen her travel as far as Edinburgh from their home in Southampton, and she ‘even went to Wales just to go to a Wetherspoons’, she tells me. 

But despite having visited 71 of the chain’s carpeted pubs — a mission that she has documented on TikTok under the handle @staceyintheUK (she moved from Chicago to be with her husband) — Stacey has tried surprisingly little of the menu. In fact, she has a go-to order; her control she uses to compare across the ‘Spoons outlets.

(It’s Eggs Benedict, by the way.)

For my Murkin Readers, Wetherspoons (or “Spoons”) is a budget-friendly alternative to the typical pubs and restaurants Over There, with a common menu across almost all establishments, with some local variations.

Okay, I have an admission to make:  I’ve never been to a Wetherspoons pub.  There’s no reason for this, unless it’s a subconscious desire not to go to any chain restaurants when I’m Over There.  I remember being tempted by The Bear in Melksham (I went to that town often because it’s just down the road from Free Market Towers), but never went inside.

Perhaps I should have.  (Unless it was because they didn’t serve Wadworth 6X?  I dunno.)

Anyway, is our Murkin transplant in the article an idiot?

All input will be gratefully received.

Snowball

Food & Drink, Health

This one’s interesting:

Americans saw a 2% drop in overall drinking and 8% in heavy drinking in just the 2022 to 2024 window. Total drinking dropped most dramatically among Gen Z, with rates falling nearly 6% from 2022 to 2024, compared with about 2% for Millennials. Heavy drinking fell by roughly a fifth in both generations.

Doesn’t surprise me.  The Snowflake Generation(s) are more likely to be disturbed and/or frightened by all the Nanny Government Bullshit© about the dangers of, well, just about everything.  Small wonder, then, that they’re going to go all Carrie Nation about the Demon Booze.

However:

Older Americans, however, went in the opposite direction, with those in the 50 to 64 age group seeing an increase of 4% in overall drinking, and 36% spike in heavy drinking from 2018 to 2024.

Only 4%?  Sheesh, we need to work harder (hence the title of this post).

Never mind all that “Cheers!” bullshit.  Get stuck in.

 

Aaaargh

Economics, Farming, Food & Drink

So much for my BBQ:

America’s ranchers are facing their smallest cattle herd in 75 years, a shortage now rippling from pastures to some of the nation’s largest meatpackers.

USDA data shows the U.S. entered 2026 with about 86.2 million cattle and calves, the smallest herd since the early 1950s. That’s down from roughly 94.7 million cattle and calves in 2019, a decline of more than 8 million animals.

And therefore:

Tyson Foods announced last week that it will close beef facilities in Illinois and Utah and pursue the sale of another in Washington as it reshapes its beef business amid what the company called one of the most historic cattle shortages the country has ever experienced. Tyson said recent USDA data suggest supply constraints are likely to persist.

And the reason:

“The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, previously told Fox News Digital.

He said years of dry weather have depleted grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds. Many have been forced to sell cattle early, including cows needed to produce the next generation of calves, making the road to recovery even longer.

The effects are reaching beyond ranches and into grocery stores, where consumers are paying more for beef.

Tell me about it.  Beef has long been a staple chez Du Toit, but I think our current consumption of steak, burgers and such has been more than halved over the past year or two.  As for going out for a steak dinner?  Not since B.C. (before Covid).

I can’t even afford to make my own biltong anymore.  No wonder New Wife has been cranky recently.

Worse is that I don’t much care for chicken, unless in toasties… but I guess that will have to change.

As much as I’m reluctant to let Gummint be involved in anything, I do think that cattle farmers could do with some help from that quarter.  (I don’t know where because I’m not a cattle farmer.  But no, it can’t come from tax relief because that just benefits Big Beef Inc., who controls most of our beef production.)

I have to tell y’all, though:  I’m getting kinda cranky myself every time I go into the store and see those beef prices.  Beef shouldn’t be a luxury foodstuff;  but it’s become one, and I don’t like it.

Thank you, Mother Nature, you dried-out old bitch.

Slacking

Food & Drink

Sorry about the paucity of posts today.  It being Doc Russia’s birthday, we (Doc, Combat Controller and I) went out for a spot of carousing last night, and the old gulliver’s feeling the effects thereof.

Normal service should resume tomorrow.