Latest news with #cheapfood
The Sun
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘Did you expect smoked salmon?' Brit slammed for complaining his staggeringly cheap Benidorm fry-up tasted ‘low quality'
A BRIT expat has been roasted by online comments after slamming the "cheapest" Full English breakfast in Benidorm. Louis Grier, who lives in the popular holiday hotspot, tried out the staple fry up for just £3.90. 6 6 6 The 32-year-old "Benidorm Fanatic" was stunned when he found a place that sells such a hearty breakfast so cheap. He shared his findings with his 43,000 TikTok followers - although he was less than impressed with the end product. Louis paid a total of £3.90 (€4.50), for the meal, but it failed to meet his expectations. "I visited Marianos, a renowned restaurant in Benidorm," he told What's The Jam. "It is celebrated for its exceptional chicken, considered by many to be the finest in Spain, and is also highly regarded as the best take away in Benidorm. "Considering its popularity among both English and Spanish speakers, this establishment has consistently provided excellent food to British patrons for numerous years, and I have thoroughly enjoyed many wonderful takeaway meals. "However, I regret to say that the breakfast was quite unappetising, and I was unable to eat it – it was that bad. "It tasted undercooked and of very low quality. "I would maybe go back but only for its famous chicken." The video shows him sat outside the cafe as he orders his low-cost Full English breakfast. Flooding leaves cars underwater and turns streets to rivers as hols hotspot in Spain is lashed by thunderstorms The plate had two pieces of toast, one sausage, two eggs, two mushrooms, a tomato, a hash brown and two rashers of bacon. But Louis called it "gross" and the "worst breakfast" he's ever had. However, commenters on his video were divided on the matter, with some voicing their support and others roasting the expat. "What do you expect for that money? Smoked salmon," one user posted. "Never thought of Mariano's for breakie haha," another said. "What was wrong with it, everything looked fine, that's not a fair review," a third posted. But other commenters were in full agreement with Louis. One user said: "That's all I've tried there. "It's terrible, so I've never been back. The place is a dump." "Mariano's has gone right down hill to what it used to be," another posted. It comes after a Brit gran was accused of "fabricating complaints" by a Corfu hotel boss after she moaned her stay was a "nightmare" thanks to "no bacon, sausages or chips". The OAP was accused by the hotel of fishing for compensation - and the manager even claimed she had blamed the staff for bad weather. 6
Sky News
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
'We charge diners £225 for our tasting menu - here's why it's worth every penny'
Our Money blog team interviews chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks and more. This week, we chat to Isaac McHale, the owner of the two Michelin-starred restaurant Clove Club in London's Shoreditch... My go-to mid-week dinner is... a fried egg on Japanese white rice with furikake, which is the Japanese seasoning mix for sprinkling on a bowl of rice. You can buy this on Amazon or get it from an Asian supermarket for a couple of quid, and buy some Japanese rice while you're at it. I cook the rice and fry an egg gently, then serve the rice with the furikake sprinkled over and a fried egg on top. On the side, I steam some broccoli and stir-fry it with a tiny bit of butter, garlic and a teaspoon of soy sauce. You can always use non-Japanese rice too if you want, and try a few different furikake mixes until you find your favourite. A 50g bag for £4 or £5 will do you eight bowls of rice so it's about 50p a portion - great value for money. My favourite cheap place to eat where I live is... Singburi, the amazing Thai place that raced into the National Top 100 restaurants. I can't remember which critic reviewed it, but all of a sudden it was even more rammed and impossible to get into than before. Industry folk loved it, they'd all go and suggest only ordering from the blackboard. You could get salted fish and rice for £9.50, or poached squid salad for £13. I am sad to say chef Sirichai Kularbwong has closed down his site here, so I'll be travelling to Shoreditch for the new opening instead, which is just round the corner from Bar Valette and The Clove Club. And the one to watch is... Short Road Pizza, which our neighbour Ugo started in lockdown. For now, you can find them at 199 Cambridge Heath Road at the 3 Colts Tavern in Bethnal Green. Amazing pizza, especially with the major pizza hype happening at the moment. Thin base, good crust. I order the Mark Buffalo, with pickled habanero chilli, from the specials' menu. You really don't get much for a wine under a tenner now... but I buy a Chilean pinot noir for £9.75 on GoPuff sometimes and it is great. Rio Rica pinot noir comes in about 15 minutes straight to your door with other groceries. One restaurant in the UK worth blowing out for is... The Ledbury - I am biased after six years working there, but it is the best. The restaurant is 20 years old this year but gets better every time you visit. The impact of the budget means... at Bar Valette, we're taking the very same ingredients you find at The Clove Club (with two Michelin stars) and serving them in a simpler way in a more relaxed setting. We're by no means reducing the quality of what we're working with so that we can provide a cheaper experience. There's a misconception that running restaurants is always very profitable... If more people understood the costs of running a restaurant, and what the impact of new government regulations are having in terms of staff costs and importing produce, they'd be a little more receptive towards our ethos at Bar Valette. I am cooking whole fish, supporting the small boat fishermen who risk their lives every day going out to catch the freshest fish, and I am happy to pay fair prices so they can live a life, and then charge fair prices for them in the restaurant. I also want to make sure my staff are paid well enough and that their salaries reflect the mass inflation we're experiencing everywhere at the moment. The best city in the world to eat in is... Tokyo. You can eat well from high-end restaurants to simple noodles ordered from a vending machine, like at Butagumi (the original old shop location). The last time I was there, it was around £20 for the breaded pork cutlet, rice, soup and salad set meal lunch. And I love great soba restaurants like Ittoan. Sushi counter restaurants often have cheap lunch sets too. Special mention to Mexico City too for delicious tacos and bright sunny happy vibes. Check out El Higualdense for barbacoa goat tacos and pulque, open for breakfast and lunch. I remember vividly watching the 2012 Olympics there at 8am while eating delicious goat tacos and saying no to the fermented pineapple pulque drink. And go to El Turix in upmarket Polanco for Cochinita pibil - a yucatan braised suckling pig, served on panuchos, bean-filled toastadas. Michelin food is not the tastiest food there is... the tastiest food is cooked with care, love and skill, and that could be anywhere, stars or no stars. But a Michelin star is a recognition of a level of skill and quality in the level of cooking. The tastiest things I've eaten in the past 12 months have been from all parts of the world, from tiny neighbourhood places to high-end ones. The pesto pasta at Chez Davia in the French town of Nice was life-changing... and they haven't got a Michelin star or official recognition of any kind. Ganbara in San Sebastian also doesn't boast a Michelin star but is one of the most recognised pintxos bars in the world. At the same time, you can go to The Chairman, Hong Kong, which is near impossible to get a table at, with no Michelin star but it's ranked in The World's 50 Best Restaurants. The whole meal there was amazing. If fine dining is going to have a prosperous future, we need... lower interest rates, wealth inequality, energy prices and the budget deficit and higher GDP and disposable incomes. Easy right? Apart from that, the industry needs to adapt, as it always has, to an ever-changing landscape politically and financially, while keeping its feet on the ground so that it doesn't become so expensive that it is completely out of reach of most people. That doesn't mean being cheap. It's an industry of labour-intensive, high ingredient cost experiences, that bring people loads and loads of joy. But the headwinds facing the industry risk us having to increase prices so much in order to still be viable businesses, and in doing so we price out the vast majority of people who used to be able to come to a fine dining restaurant for a special occasion, and might not be able to in the future. This is caused by... factors way out of our control from tariffs and the reduction in business spending caused by it, from real estate price changes caused by hybrid working and upward only rent reviews, from government policy to Labour trailing doom budgets for six months in the news before they happen. Growth slows as a result of the drip feed of bad news. But people aren't going to stop eating. And people aren't going to stop appreciating delicious food and wines and great service, so there will always be a demand for fine dining and the best places will always remain. We charge £225 for an eight-course tasting menu... that sounds like a lot but it pays for 16 to 18 people working from morning to night, to make fresh bread, fresh butter, chocolates, ice cream and everything else fresh, using the best ingredients we can buy, rare breed meats aged in-house and line-caught fish, to create delicious, amazing food and special memories for our guests every day. It also includes six small bites before the meal, and chocolates and small cakes after. It isn't cheap, but you get a lot of labour and hard work for your money, along with an unforgettable meal. The weirdest request a customer ever made was... a person who wanted Tabasco sauce on each course - we didn't have any in the kitchen but we offered the guest some of our homemade chilli sauce we use for staff meals. She went home and wrote us a one-star review on Google saying the restaurant is awful because we didn't have Tabasco for her to drown her food in. Or the no dairy person asking if she could have the creme brulee after we jumped through hoops to make alterations all through her meal. "Sorry, it has cream in it." "Oh that's ok, I'll have it anyway." Grrrrr.
The Sun
25-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Britain's ‘cheapest chippy' flogs famous feast for just 7p with hundreds descending on seaside town to get their fix
HUNDREDS queued up to enjoy fish and chips for just 7p at Britain's 'cheapest chippy'. The British classic was available at a 1928 price point for one day only on May 24. 3 3 3 Harry Ramsden's offered the bargain deal at its Bournemouth branch, exclusive for takeaway orders, as hundreds of residents eagerly awaited their portion. A post on their website said they were: "celebrating the golden age of fish and chips", by rolling prices back to their 1928 value - the year the company was founded. They added: "This exciting launch event celebrates the rich heritage of the Harry Ramsden's brand with a fresh take on seaside dining." The discounted prices were also accompanied by a new retro-inspired restaurant menu. The new menu includes the brand's iconic classic beef dripping fish and chips which helped the company attain worldwide fame. Describing the unique menu change, they wrote: "We're also proud to announce the return of beef dripping as our frying method in Bournemouth; just like the original Harry Ramsden's did in the Golden Age of Fish and Chips." They do still have a separate fryer available for those with dietary requirements. Although the event didn't begin until 11:30, residents had already begun to queue before 10am. Mohammed Shaikh, the General Manager at Harry Ramsden's told the Bournemouth Daily Echo: "We've got five to six people working in the kitchen and four on security." Fish and Chips: Where to Find the Cheapest and Most Expensive in the UK The team began preparing for the event eight months ago, with 1,928 portions prepared on the day. Mohammed added: 'Seven-pence fish and chips is about taking it back to how it was back in the day. It's nostalgic. "We expected a lot of people, maybe not quite this many, but it's fish and chips, so I'm not surprised.' Attendees were excited to try the new beef dripping version, and to make the most of the sense of community the event had inspired. One customer said: " 'Everyone's here, it's just beautiful. You can see the sea while you queue – can't beat that." Others described the event as "exciting" and "nostalgic." Another said: 'I know all about their history – my grandma, my granddad, we all love their fish and chips, and we love a good queue in this country, don't we?' Alongside fish and chips, the store also offered a sweet and beach shop on the day selling traditional sweets and exclusive merchandise. Families could also keep their kids entertained with the retro-style carnival complete with seaside games and a photo booth. Those who signed up to the loyalty programme on the day will receive additional benefits, including a 20% discount and a free dessert voucher. It comes after restaurants and pubs across the country lowered their prices to celebrate VE Day earlier this month.
