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"Worst of" Tasting Menu 2012

31/12/2012

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Overall, 2012 was an excellent year for food over three continents. It was far harder to come up with a small "Best of" list than a "Worst of " but there were still dishes that I'd never want to touch again. Some came from establishments that I would never, ever visit again. However, there were also some that were massively disappointing when compared to other dishes at the same venue (see dessert) and others suffered from calamitous presentation.

The worst settings are still the dining rooms with insufficient light that seems to be an unfortunate fad with no sign of disappearing. For a meal like this there would have to be a cover charge and only one place I visited implemented this blight - Plane Food at Terminal 5.

There were no bad amuse bouches in any of my meals, which was nice. The most disappointing finger food was the chicken samosas with tamarind sauce from Mia in Ithaca. The puff pastry casing and a generally flavourless filling with a lack of any real spice meant it resembled a sausage roll that wouldn't stand comparison with your typical offering from Greggs. The worst bread course would have to be the bread at Hilton Garden Inn near Indianapolis airport appearing for the second year in a row. Classically disgusting American sliced bread that refuses to crisp when toasted or resemble anything edible with butter, marmalade or any other topping.

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To kick of the menu proper it would have to be a bowl of cream of tomato, mushroom and lamb soup from The Heights Cafe in Ithaca. Bad on many levels with the cream flavour crushing all other tastes in its path and the use of lamb mince a particularly grisly touch. 

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Next up would be an order of boneless wings with Shanghai sesame sauce and spicy fries from P.J. Whelihan’s in Lehighton. They claim nobody does Buffalo style like they do and for that we should all be very grateful. Bizarre sauce with more than a hint of antiseptic and flavourless spicy fries ensured their inclusion here.

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The Kowloon Adventure from Kowloon in Boston consisting of pork strips, egg roll, barbecued spare ribs and crispy wontons was probably the most unpleasant dish I had all year. Egg rolls that had been cooked a long time in advance of the order and strange zombie pork flesh slices the worst items in what could have been a nice combination platter.

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A lighter course to follow is the roasted beets and chestnut salad with citrus vinaigrette, goat’s cheese and grilled salmon. Over-salted salmon, limp croutons and tastelessly chewy chestnuts were poor but the massive topping of overwhelmingly bitter frisée helped ensure that he dish was never going to be finished.

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Salt and pepper shrimp from Chifa in Philadelphia were scuppered by a leaden, doughy batter.

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Last of the appetisers is the marinated venison medallions and parsnip mash with a berry and orange reduction from Casa Mia in Dumfries. Although the venison was delicious other parts of the dish negated it especially the awful cold fruit reduction.

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The major problem with the turf n surf from EVOO in Boston was the presentation.  On paper, the combination of crisp fried chicken stuffed soft shell crab with grilled and chilled red onion & local tomato salad and sweet pickle, potato salad, although wordy, sounded good. But when your main course turns up looking like two erect scabrous penises either side of a mountain of salad then you have to wonder what the kitchen was thinking. The dish would have to be stellar to overcome that first impression and this was a long way from being stellar.

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 Squid ink risotto with head-on tiger shrimp, shrimp bisque, peas, fried squid tentacles and radish from IPO in Chicago struggled due to the huge portion of dreadful cloying undercooked glutinous risotto and the topping of cold squid tentacles that just did not work here. This would count as my worst main course of the year.

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Steamed sea bass with courgette salad and avocado from Plane Food at Heathrow Terminal 5 was a huge disappointment. Poor presentation with a bizarre tasteless avocado purée ringing the pulpy fish added up to a poor dish where mint was the dominant flavour.

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The main course at Kowloon was almost as bad as the starter. Hunan chicken had no spicy heat and the texture of the chicken was a weird combination of mush and cotton wool. 

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My first visit to the Bandwagon Brew Pub in Ithaca included a really superb grilled soy & Worcester sauce marinaded beef heart that almost made it onto the “Best of” list. Unfortunately the second visit introduced me to their house cured pork belly with ranchero sauce and poached egg over polenta. The dish looked really good but unfortunately the pork belly was awful. It was much too chewy and tough and lack of crispness on the edge made the fat layer seem interminable My impression that my complaint about it wasn’t taken seriously by the wait staff didn’t help.

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Time for a pre-dessert and the lemon sorbet from Casa Mia with its weird antiseptic flavour sits just right here.

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To round things off, the worst dessert of the year was the chocolate sorbet, chocolate puff crumble and Meyer lemon crème from Eleven Madison Park. A dreadfully disappointing end to what had been a really superb meal on the day.

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On reflection, though, the good in 2012 far outweighed the bad. 

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