r/ireland • u/enter_the_wu • 17d ago

€42 sirloin steak, Rathgar, Dublin Christ On A Bike

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€42 “9oz” black Angus sirloin, caramelised onions, pepper sauce. Spuds and sprouts not included. I appreciate restaurants are struggling at the moment, but Jesus Christ. Would you be happy paying that amount for this plate of food?

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u/MrFnRayner 17d ago

You're right, restaurants don't pay what we do in Tesco.

When cooking at home you also don't have to pay 3 or 4 chefs, a kitchen porter, 3 or 4 wait staff, 2 bar staff, cleaning staff, public liability insurance, businesses insurance, maintenance fees, rent or mortgage on a building, the huge amounts they pay on bills etc etc.

Sure, you can make it yourself for probably about a tenner, and I'd generally implore you do (restauranteurs are obnoxious and profiteering assholes mostly) but to compare making it yourself to all the other expenses that restaurants do is rubbish.

Would you expect a caterer to cater a party for you for the cost of ingredients?

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u/howsitgoingboy Saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸 16d ago

No, not at all.

Obviously people need to be paid, I've no problem there.

But if a steak is going to cost 42 euro, it should look a lot better than that, that looks like sick on a plate.

When you let that steak out to a customer you put your business at risk to be honest.

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u/MrFnRayner 16d ago

I agree with that, as an ex chef I don't think this looks great at all for the price.

My argument isn't about that, it's the cost argument. The "well a steak in Tesco is a fiver", completely ignoring the lack of other overheads that are included with running a business.

Dining out isn't a value proposition in a direct money sense. You pay a premium to be served instead of cooking it yourself, and hoping that the chef cooking your food does a better job of it than you would.

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u/howsitgoingboy Saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸 16d ago

Do you have any issues with the portion sizes?

Like let's say that had more potato, and the salad was pine nuts/pesto/rocket/parmesan, at least then you're in the "rustic" area.

I'm just saying, it's not hard to produce better food than that, and for 42 euro I'd be complaining about it to the chef.

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u/MrFnRayner 16d ago

Again I agree. If I paid €42 and that was what I was given with an extra €6.50 per side I'd have just got up and walked off.