Bernard’s article made me think of a family member who message texts enthusiastically and frequently, but the only word she ever abbreviates is ‘you’ – and yes, it’s always to\u00a0‘u’ !!!\u00a0 I can hear her voice in my mind whenever I read something from her, so even in a text ‘u’ always sounds like and awkward stop in the flow of what she’s saying – face to face she just talks normally, and that’s an interesting effect.<\/p>\n
Writing one of my occasional fan emails to Bernard, I said:\u00a0\u00a0 “I want to mention another menu phenomenon a group of us came across only just last night, here in Montevideo, Uruguay.\u00a0 After being seated at a restaurant, we were each handed a small iPad – a tablet I guess, I’m a bit behind in the technology department, a late adopter you might say.\u00a0 Anyway the whole menu was on it!\u00a0 Bernard, you’d have loved it – pretension taken to a slightly more sophisticated level.\u00a0 You could select whatever language you wanted – and as Australians and Brasilians were present, and all speak at least some Spanish, we agreet to have the waiter give the nightly specials in that.<\/p>\n
My menu experiences to date had been confined to the infinite variations on the written of printed format, (w\/wo plastic sleeves\u00a0and binders, including blackboards and\u00a0the verbally delivered take it\/leave it limited choice in some places.\u00a0 As a late adopter, I had to be shown how to select a menu section of an item from a group, click twice and then scroll from side to side, but I got the hand of it easily enough.\u00a0\u00a0 Each menu item was photographed in colour with descriptions in Spanish and the chosen alternative language.\u00a0 I noticed the photos really matched up very well with what we each received on our plates.\u00a0 Great use of technology.\u00a0\u00a0 One thing I did find a little unsettling was that you couldn’t run your eye down the whole menu and get a feel for the total offering that night;<\/em><\/span> there was no little ‘tonight’s specials’ slip tucked somewhere to let us know that the chef found particular foods either great quality or great value at the markets..<\/p>\n Now we had been there before, but over\u00a0a year or more ago.\u00a0 We’d liked the interesting cuisine with European and Asian influences,\u00a0lots of herbs and spices, and creative presentation plus good value.\u00a0 It’s still like that.\u00a0 The owner\/chef’s a creative man indeed – a Uruguayan returned home, bringing\u00a0 influences from his world travels with him.\u00a0 It’s a nice alternative to the most common menu here\u00a0of parilla, the marvelous bbq-d meat found everywhere in this part of the world.\u00a0 The national palette is very bland, so although the food is tender and\u00a0 wholesome, it’s never spicy, hot or creatively assembled on the plate.\u00a0\u00a0I think it’s the\u00a0culinary and historical equivalent\u00a0to dining out when I was a young thing – we were usually offered soup of the day, roast of the day, followed by jelly and icecream of tinned fruit salad and cream. (it was\u00a0Tasmania\u00a0in the mid ’60’s, after all)<\/p>\n In addition to the actual offerings, the e-menus conformed that this particular restaurant is indeed in an upscale neighbourhood, patronized by people with aspirations or who already have their point up on the\u00a0 board.\u00a0 It’s not our local neighbourhood, but I wouldn’t ben surprised to find at least one of our local eateries going that way, and must ask the trendies in my circle who are up with the latest and still eat out a great deal. As the cost of dining out here rises as it does everywhere else, we’re more often choosing to eat in than dine out.<\/p>\n
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