La Bonne Bouffe

[steveo]

Who is? Fox?

[Louisa]

The last time I tried snails was 20 years ago in Montpellier. It was the worst experience of my life, a poor mans prawn (at best). If they do a decent French Onion Soup I'll definitely be in though. They seem to be doing the right things so far.

Louisa.

[titch juicy]

I love snails! With garlic butter obviously. I suppose a whelk would be the nearest comparison.

[Louisa]

I love whelks, but they can be eaten plain (full of flavour), or with vinegar and pepper on top. Snails need to be smothered in garlic butter to disguise the horrible taste.

Louisa.

[Jah Lush]

Snails in a hot garlic butter sauce is delicious. Yum yum.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

ruffers Wrote:

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> Michael Palaeologus Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > The reviewer has accurately described the

> current

> > iteration of the East Dulwich Forum. See

> above..

>

> Absolutely - especially the "Sun Tzu?s Art of War

> of advanced passive-aggressive techniques" bit

It takes one to know one, I suppose.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Nobody really likes snails. People like garlic butter that's all. People like garlic butter so much, they'll even eat it with snails in.

[JohnL]

pilsbury Wrote:

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> jesus i think he is trying (and failing) to be the

> next AA Gill. definitely want to visit la BB soon

> to show my support!

AA Gill described the welsh once.

"Loquacious, dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious

little trolls"

Anyone following in his footsteps needs to go some.

[Hoopoedi]

I wish someone would eat some of the snails in my garden....

[Jeremy]

I once saw Gordon Ramsay cook garden snails on TV. He put them in a jar with pieces of carrot to eat.. after their poo turned orange, they're "detoxed" and ready to cook. He fried them with pancetta and served them with salad. It looked pretty good..

[steveo]

Waste of a good carrot

[Louisa]

They're basically slugs that happen to have a home.

Louisa.

[DulwichFox]

Louisa Wrote:

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> They're basically slugs that happen to have a

> home.

>

> Louisa.

Yes.. and who would eat Slugs..? Even with Hot Garlic Butter.. :)

Most restaurants if not all do not call them 'Snails' They refer to them as Escargot" so it sounds posh.

.. and justifies places charging 2 quid each for them. ( not quoting La B.B price)

Foxy

[Louisa]

DulwichFox Wrote:

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> Louisa Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > They're basically slugs that happen to have a

> > home.

> >

> > Louisa.

>

> Yes.. and who would eat Slugs..? Even with Hot

> Garlic Butter.. :)

>

> Most restaurants if not all do not call them

> 'Snails' They refer to them as Escargot" so it

> sounds posh.

>

> .. and justifies places charging 2 quid each for

> them. ( not quoting La B.B price)

>

> Foxy

How do they source these snails I wonder? Are they specifically bred for consumption? It would be terrible to think of someone wandering around their back garden hunting the poor things down to boil up for food. ?2 per snail? Who in their right mind would pay that to eat a slug with a home.

Louisa.

[KidKruger]

"They refer to them as Escargot" so it sounds posh"

In the same way that 'Indian' restaurants refer to their wholegrain flour-based flat pan heated bread as "Chapati", to sound all exotic and cool.

Nothing to do with that actually being the term used for the item in that region.

[Jeremy]

French restaurant using French terms on the menu shocker.

They're not really posh, or fancy, or all that expensive - a Frenchman would probably laugh at such a thought. Maybe just accept that some people like them, and some people don't...

[Louisa]

The use of the name 'escargot', French or not, does make them sound more appetising/exotic to a native English speaker. Possibly also justifies the high end prices for them. If they just put 'snails in garlic butter' on the menu, I would argue that most folk wouldn't go near them.

Louisa.

[KidKruger]

Down Lordship Lane that French House gaff has the nerve to label their buttery pastry crescent-shaped pastries as "croissants".

Pretentious bastards.

(...or should that be bastard pr?tentieux)

[sheff]

I'm with you on them not being appetising (to me) Louisa.

But to suggest that calling them Escargot is some trickery to get more "folk" to buy them and charge a higher price is ridiculous.

I like frogs legs, but got tricked into buying toad-in-the-hole the other day. Thought it would be a meatier, larger version with a twist for my more discerning taste. Turns out it was just awful.

[steveo]

In Brixton Market there are occasionally giant snails that look good for a family of eight to all have a decent slice each. In trying to find a picture I discovered the pet snails forum where somebody is considering rescuing some of them.

Who knew?

http://petsnails.proboards.com/thread/8823/brixton-market

[JoeLeg]

Louisa Wrote:

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> The use of the name 'escargot', French or not,

> does make them sound more appetising/exotic to a

> native English speaker. Possibly also justifies

> the high end prices for them. If they just put

> 'snails in garlic butter' on the menu, I would

> argue that most folk wouldn't go near them.

>

> Louisa.

By the same token then they're charging higher prices for confit de canard, or cassoulet, because they use the French names?

And the various Indian places are doing the same by using korma, tikka and jalfrezi?

[Louisa]

Tbf JoeLeg the other French dishes you refer, especially Duck Confit, are justifiably more expensive because of the ingredients being used. Can't compare them to snails.

The Indian dishes are not overpriced for the most part, so that isn't really a valid comparison in this context.

Louisa

[LD929]

> How do they source these snails I wonder? Are they

> specifically bred for consumption? It would be

> terrible to think of someone wandering around

> their back garden hunting the poor things down to

> boil up for food. ?2 per snail? Who in their right

> mind would pay that to eat a slug with a home.

>

> Louisa.

I would be surprised if they weren't sourced from a farm. I am pretty sure that not all snails are edible, and, at least in some regions, certain snails are protected species.

I don't see what is disgusting about them. Its no different than eating shellfish (Moxon's has pretty tasty sea snails). I wouldn't cook snails at home; so, I am glad its on the menu.

Anyways, I ate at La Bonne Bouffe a few Sunday's ago and I thought it was a welcome addition to the restaurants in ED. Very nice local restaurant.

[JoeLeg]

Louisa Wrote:

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> Tbf JoeLeg the other French dishes you refer,

> especially Duck Confit, are justifiably more

> expensive because of the ingredients being used.

> Can't compare them to snails.

>

> The Indian dishes are not overpriced for the most

> part, so that isn't really a valid comparison in

> this context.

>

> Louisa

No, it's a completely valid comparison.

You're saying that they use the French term for snails to increase sales.

I'm pointing out that they use French terms all over the menu.

And that other restaurants do the same with their own ethnic food.

It's got nothing to do with price. It's how they write the menu.

Plus can you quote me wholesale prices for snails? Do you know how much the dish costs before a 65-70% GP has been applied? If you think it's ok to use a French term for duck slow cooked in duck fat, because it's more expensive, can you tell me the wholesale cost and GP margin on confit de canard, and show me why that's justified to use the French name but snails should not?

[DulwichFox]

The word escargot loosely means 'Edible Snail' and despite the French name it is not particularly French.

Escargots are usually served as a starter in Portugal, Spain and in France, and are a typical dish in the Catalan region of Spain.. and now in East Dulwich..

Perhaps eating Snails makes some people feel a little bit more continental... European..

And before K.K. or the like asks..

I do not eat Indian.. Bangladeshi.. Pakistani food to make me feel more Asian..

If I want to feel more Asian, I eat Turkish food. :)

Fox

DulwichFox