Writing Restaurant Reviews is Difficult and Uninspiring

Jamie Goode takes a break from writing wine reviews to think about writing restaurant reviews, and he rightly claims it is a very difficult job. For him the difficulties are:

• Remaining anonymous
• The fact that an undeserved negative review might really harm the business.
• The inability to evaluate a restaurant’s consistency over time
• And most importantly the challenge of writing interesting reviews given the predictable nature of their form.

The people who can do it well are rare.

All of this is certainly true. But I have a bit more to add to this list.

I’ve done a few informal restaurant reviews for this blog and began many more that were never finished  because they were tiresome to write and probably dull  to read. For me, the main problem is that food is ephemeral. Food obviously disappears when it is consumed and one seldom has the opportunity to revisit a dish in the way that one can revisit a painting or piece of music. It is sometimes very difficult to capture a dish’s complexity or understand how and why a dish works (or doesn’t work) in that short period of time. In many cases, it isn’t apparent what ingredients are included in the dish so a conversation with the chef is the only way to know how the dish is constructed or what the idea behind the dish is.

Of course one can simply react—either its tastes good or it doesn’t—but a review should give insight into why it tastes as it does and give some indication of what the chef was trying to achieve. When eating unfamiliar dishes, I’m often unsure whether I’ve successfully grasped what is there on the plate to be appreciated. This is especially true at Michelin-level restaurants where complexity and innovation are the norm.

But the main problem is that it is tedious and cumbersome to take copious notes while trying to enjoy the meal and interact with companions. (Or dine alone which is dispiriting.)

A job as a restaurant reviewer sounds like a great way to make a living. But dining for the purposes of writing a review is really nothing like dining for the pleasure of enjoying the meal.

The job strikes me as not only difficult but uninspiring.