Your Worst Meal Was?
 

I read the most memorable dining experiences but, I cannot find much out about the worst. What was your worst meal (or entree) in Europe. I would especially like to know what it was AND what it was called on the menu, if you knew what you were ordering, and whether it would be a good 'dish' had you ordered it elsewhere (I guess I am really looking for local dishes to avoid. I do not think that cow brains would appeal to me but, who knows, I DO love snails).

On a recent trip to Italy, all my meals were delicious. But I must sat that my worst meal was on Lufthansa Airlines. YUK, why does German Airline serves pasta (and really bad pasta at that)? Leave the pasta to the Italians who know how to get it right. Surely there must be some german food they can serve. Beside for that they also had a choice of fish which made the plane smell like a bad day at Fisherman Wharf! We also took a small connecting jet from Munich to Rome on Lufthansa and they served a fabulous salad plate which included salmon, salads, meats and cheeses with champagne and fresh pasrty for dessert! Why couldnt Lufthansa serve something like this on their transatlantic flight? <BR> <BR>

The worst meal was a plate of raw oysters eaten in Cadiz which lead to the Worst Experience in Europe #57. <BR>The one dish that I've come across numerous times in Spain is the regional soup of Andalucia - cocido. Think over-cooked garbanzo beans in a watery broth floating with rubbery pieces of pig skin. No spicing, just a trio of really unappetizing textures.

(doomed by the premature click) <BR>This is the dish to avoid if you ever head down to Sevilla.

UNLESS YOU LIKE RUBBERY PIG SKIN

When in Holland avoid Dutch Restaurants. Its not really good and the Dutch dont even eat it. Have Indonesian, french or Italian instead. Dutch street food is very good, try 'Kroketts" at FEBO automats, cheese sandwiches (kaas broodjes), pastries, etc. All are delicious!

Exactly one year ago (well, on the 25th) my husband ordered Rognon de veau grille, at Arpege in Paris. He thought he was ordering grilled lamb. He was, but it was some sort of organ dish. He had suffered from a fluttery stomach earlier in the day, and this pretty much did him in for good. I believe his face turned three shades of gray. Meanwhile, I had an astounding Canard Vendeen au Poivre. Up until then we thought we'd been doing quite well with our old high school French. You sort of wish you didn't make mistakes like this when you're paying $300 for dinner for two.

The last story is like mine as it was in Paris and also at a very expensive restaurant. I thought I was ordering veal (normal veal) and I got served his horrendous looking, appallingly smelly and stomach churning tasting thing! I started crying when I knew I had to eat it as it cost a fortune. Turned out later it was veal KIDNEYS. It was the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life as it was so awful every disgusting $$$$ mouthfull. <BR>

A loud second on Lufthansa's transatlantic food being inedible. [I omit a description for thos with delicate sensibilities.]We didn't get a menu card [as you do on most other international carriers] -- that should have been the tipoff. <BR>

I always used to be baffled by phrase books' inclusion of various menu items I would never order. Now I realize that you want to learn these words precisely so you know that the part of the veal calf you're ordering is the kidneys (or, as we now all know the "rognons") or the liver ("fegato" in Italian, for all you people headed to Venice, where it's the local speciality). <BR>My worst meals were all occasioned by reading guidebooks. Or by going to Germany or England.

Without a doubt, the in-flight meal on the late, unlamented British Midlands Airways. Plopped down in front of us on a London-Edinburgh flight was a blob of gray mutton smothered in some kind of paste. Surrounding the mutton were peas that had been cooked to oblivion and had turned that kind of sickly green-gray color that things get just before they die. <BR> <BR>We didn't eat it, but we had to look at it and smell it for fifteen minutes before we could convince someone to take it away. <BR>

My worst meal had to be in London, where I had the sorriest excuse for a corned beef sandwich from a "deli". I loved London, but the cusine is not something I remember fondly. <BR>

A word which tripped me up, although the dish tasted pretty good, was ris de veau. Riz with a z is French for rice. Ris with an s is French for sweetbreads, which is an English euphemism for pancreas. By the way, gesiers are gizzards, langue is tongue, foie is liver (and foie gras is heaven on earth!) Lapin is rabbit, lievre is hare, chevre is goat, or cheese made from goat's milk. Grenouilles are frogs. My husband and I look for these things on menus, even though we may not want to eat them, because they're a good sign the restaurant is not catering to foreign tourists. European ideas of American cooking are not flattering. In spite of accidentally ordering ris, gesiers, and a few other weird things, the very worst meal I've had in Europe, bar none, was the night a small, French, farm town decided to put on a Tex-Mex dinner. Now, THAT was bad!

Actaully, sweetbreads are the thymus (not sure if that helps, but I believe Dave is a man of science, so I thought I'd throw it out there. Also they're delicious, but if you order them they may ask if you know what they are). Another menu item in France are the cheeks of various animals and the feet: joue and pied. As I recall, this trip is a reward to Dave's daughter for doing so well in French class, so she should be able to identify most of the words on the menu. The only tricky part is when they're being poetic: we were going to stay far away from the "coeur du Charolais," because we weren't up for beef heart. But Madame explained that it was, in this case, a little tenderloin steak (definitely not a contender for "worst meal")

Oh, please, Martha, tell us about the Tex-Mex meal!!! Living here in the Southwest, I'd love to hear a French interpretation (I will admit, though, I did have pretty good Tex-Mex food in Bordeaux and in Paris - we just couldn't resist it) of menudo...

<BR>About 10 years ago, on a business trip right near London's Gatwick airport, we were taken by our clients to a pub one evening. There were 4 of us and we each ordered something different; steak, chicken, pork, lamb. Imagine my surprise when all 4 dishes arrived looking exactly alike! My dish tasted non-descript and I assume the other 4 dishes tasted the same as well!

My father-in-law is still upset about a meal years ago at a 3-star restaurant because the waiter didn't warn him that sweetbread (similar to the word for veal in French) is the thymus gland or pancreas. In contrast, I ordered sweetbread at Trumilou, a cheap Paris restaurant with good food, and the waiter told me what I would be getting, albeit a little brusquely. The second time I was there, I was trying to decipher the menu with the help of an electronic translator concealed in my lap. A waiter came up behind me, asked me what it said, and when I replied "nail," he told me that the item was like beef stew. The moral is that you get what you ask for in expensive restaurants.

In a restaurant in Wales (Caernarvon, to be precise) my husband and I both ordered rack of lamb. Since the restaurant claimed to be a "bistro" we both pictured something small and trimmed in the French style. Well, what we were served looked more like something Fred Flinstone would eat. Certainly not rack of lamb, maybe rack of sheep (or rack of brontosaurus??). It was large, fatty and quite chewy. And to think, I figured lamb would be good in Wales! <BR> <BR>The most disgusting thing I ever tasted was not in a restaurant. My father, who is Greek, served us grilled kokoretsi one Easter, and I, being the trusting daughter, ate it. Kokoretsi is lamb livers, and kidneys and other parts, on a skewer wound up with some intestine. Yuck!!!

OK another from the family roots -- my mother's family in Nebraska always served (I know the spellings' going to be wrong) lutefisk. It is a pickled Swedish herring, I think. One of those acquired tastes.

This thread should be renamed to "As the Stomach Turns..." [apologies to Carol Burnett] <BR>

Fall, 1998. I returned the car late in the evening in Munich. Tired and starving, hopped in and out of the hauptbahnhoff and grabbed a 'nordsee' <BR>sandwich: kaiser roll, fresh tomato, and cheese dressed it up -- could hardly <BR>wait. Boarded the bus back to the town <BR>I was staying in -- the bus driver turned out to be someone who remembered <BR>me from a prior visit, and I remembered her. We got talking... 50 minutes later, <BR>I was home. A pleasant 'wiedersehn' and the bus left, taking my sandwich along with it! It was the worst meal, because it was a meal I never had. <BR> <BR>As for airline food: You guys actually eat that stuff? I used to pick and choose the bread and the cheese, there is always rye on Lufthansa, and they do, to their credit, put out slim ham and cheese sandwiches later. <BR> <BR>Lately though, I have switched to picking up a sandwich from my favorite deli and taking it on board. I was just in time for short domestic flight (read peanuts) once, didn't get to eat before I left and there was this lady across the aisle wolfing down a Mcmufffin, hash browns and all...

Elvira-- Imagine a Tex-Mex dinner without a chili in sight! They'd heard Spanish rice was rice with vegetables, so they served rice with frozen peas and carrots. It was not a success. The next year at the same fete, they decided sandwiches were American enough, so we got our choice of duck breast, foie gras, or camembert on a bagette. Once again, as so often happens in France, good food triumphed in the end.

My worst meal in Europe was a takeaway dinner at Glastonbury, England. It was the blandest Chinese meal I've ever had in my life - so bland I can't even remember what it was supposed to be!

This is no doubt going to be considered heresy by some, but my worst meal was at Candido, the popular restaurant kitty-corner with the Aqueduct in Segovia. A visit to the restaurant is definitely worth it as its one of the oldest restaurants in Spain and a museum in itself. I ordered their specialty, roasted pork. When the meal came in I had a baby pig roasted with a leg and tail, so real it was scary. My husband rolled all over the floor laughing when he saw my face looking down at my plate. Don't get me wrong, the meat was very well cooked but the sight of it was for a stronger stomach than mine.

My wife and, ten years after the fact, still recall the "meal" we had at Garfunkel's restaurant in London. Some would argue that what is served in this city, cuisine-wise, is not European food; others would argue that what is served in this city is not food. The place looked okay and advertised itself as "American cuisine." The salad bar was one-time through only, but that was just as well; I doubt I would taken more than one plate of their "salad" servings anyway. The "milk shake" was thinner than most water I drink. The quiche was inedible. Worst of all, this was supposed to be my birthday dinner!! We still rate this as BY FAR the worst meal we have ever had; nothing else even comes close.

In defense of organ meats, I just want to say that the "fegato" that you get on crostini in Florence (I never saw any in Venice, unfortunately, as it says above) is one of my favorite first courses in Florence. We like it so much that my husband has figured out how to make it at home. I've never been brave enough to try any of the other organ meats, though. <BR> <BR>My worst meal would have to be the very bland food we had our first night in London. I didn't realize that potato and cabbage soup would literally be those ingredients in hot water. Terrible. Closely followed by the meal we once had at one of those touristy pizza places outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Inedible pizza and pasta that tasted like Chef Boyardee, but it serves us right for eating at a place that so obviously catered only to tourists.

<BR>Diane - I grew up on lutefisk (in No. Dak.) and was so thankful last year on my first trip to Norway that I didn't see or should I say smell that stuff anywhere! <BR>Can't say that I've had a really bad meal, but as a vegetarian I would probably be not too thrilled if I accidently ate any of what is mentioned above. In fact, I doubt I could eat any of those items even if I wasn't a vegetarian. Have had some very expensive meals though with food being not any better than a cheaper place. And all airline food should be banned. I've ordered fruit plates for the past l5 or so years, and my husband often does too even tho he's not vegetarian, just to make sure he gets something decent. And I always bring along snacks.

I may have the worsts, here. WHOLE SPARROW. In Wuxi, China. I thought it was going to be Wuxi (W00-Shee) Spare ribs in BBQ sauce. I poped one in my mouth only to see my spouse shaking his head subtly from right to left like no, no, no.....Then I looked down in the plate again and saw it was a little bird and another was already in my mouth. It was crunchy mind-over-matter time, folks. Yuk.

Dave, <BR>This was a great query. I did feel sorry for the people who spent huge amounts of money and got something they hated; but the responses conjure up some hysterical images. We have had almost universally good food during our travels (and we do use guidebooks for assistance); although I have had a couple of scary meals in Asia. However, the worst food was in England. The English supposedly invented fish and chips, so you would think you would be able to find a good rendition. Don't count on it. It was also suggested by a friend that food in the pubs was better. Better must be a relative thing because I took one look at a horrible looking, greasy, grey, watery pile of what we guessed might have been stew, and passed. And most importantly, never eat on English trains. We had previously been to Tokyo and had some very good snacks on Japanese trains. On our way to Dover we made the mistake of getting a "cheese and pickle sandwich": Cheese product droppings and diced gherkin tasting pickles on stale white bread with a grey emulsion which was unquestionably not mayonaise. Possibly the single worst food product I had tasted since I left college.

Well, as far as I am concerned, airline food doesn't count here. As for "local" specialties, it's a good idea to peruse a menu translator ahead of time and familiarize yourself with foods you like, and especially those you don't, in the foreign language. A review of common preparations is useful also. The "food glossary" in the back of most tour guides falls way short. As noted above, just because you know "veau" means veal in French doesn't mean you aren't ordering the brains, kidneys....or worse! On the other hand, I've inadvertently ordered dishes I wouldn't have ever considered had I really known what I was doing and enjoyed them enormously. The only really bad experience I've ever had was at a charming restaurant in the old section of Zurich where, after about ten minutes, the "aroma" of cheese was positively stomach churning.

This is great! So many great stories and so much helpful advice. Thank you all! And the best part is, no arguements (yet, anyway). I have to tell you all what made me think of this 'posted' question, in the first place. Although, it did not take place in Europe, it was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed! My colleagues and I (about 24 of us, total) went to dinner at an 'expensive' Mexican restaurant. A young man (and new employee/student) and his wife were sitting next to me and my wife. The menu was in Spanish. When the dinners came, they brought him out this (baked) HUGE, whole, beautifully striped fish (it was some sort of South American Bass, I believe) with an apple in its mouth! His entree got lots of owww's and ahhh's and I felt my mouth watering. He just sat there staring at it (in disbelief), as everyone else ate! When I finally noticed the 'stoic' and horrified look on his face (half way through our meal), I asked, "Are you alright...is something wrong with your food?" He looked at me SO funny and sad, like he was going to cry and he whimpered, "Is this what I ordered? I do not want this. I do not even like fish...let alone one that is not dead! This *thing* looks, disgusting!" I tried to contain myself and be sympathetic but, the whole place errupted in laughter! My eyes were watering from laughing so hard but, I finally managed to ask him, "Why did you order it then?" To which he moaned, "I did not know what it meant and I did not want to look stupid by asking!" He was a very good 'sport' about it and we all still laugh about it, especially him. A lesson learned, and right here in America!

Hi, <BR> <BR>I never had a bad meal in France or Germany for that matter. The worst was fish and chips at a little place in Whitby, England. They were incredibly greasy and tasted like the grease had not been changed in awhile. The best fish-and-chips I had were at a place in Durham - unfortunately I cannot remember the name of either place. The least expected, though not all that bad meal, was a cheese salad sandwich. I thought I would get a sandwich of a sllice of cheese with salad (what they call lettece, tomatos, etc.). What I did get was a mixture of shredded cheese and mayo - not all that bad, but not all that good either. And certainly not what I expected. Live and learn!

Because I am not fluent in French a miss interpretation on a menu can create meal that you didn't plan on nor wanted. The solution is found in a simple small book that is easily carried in your pocket. The book is " The Marling Menu-Master for France. The book is carried at Borders for $8.95. Cheap when it can save $100 on a ruined meal. The french menu is very defined in the type of meat fish and the sauces etc. <BR>Rognon de veau grille is a grilled veal kidney. <BR>Ris de veau is Veal sweetbreads. The book also has a practice menu. <BR>

The Marling Menu Master is great even if you do speak French pretty well, because the names of food do not, as Donna notes, always explain the method of preparation (similarly, someone who understands the words "chocolate" and "chip" might not know what to expect if a cookie containg them were called a "Tollhouse cookie.") On our most recent trip, I recognized "langoustines" but didn't know what it ment for them to be cooked a la Brillat Savarin--would that be served on a shredded copy of "The Physiology of Taste"? <BR>I love the fish story, Dave--it shows that the best way to end up looking like an idiot is to try to appear knowledgeable when you aren't.

Dave: <BR>One of the things I have learned throughout travels in France is that yu must have a fimiliarity with NUANCES of the language. It is not enoughto know that the word for chicken is such-and-such, you must know what the CUT OF MEAT is called. Otherwise one might order chicken and receive chicken testicles! We were in a posh restaurant in Versailles once and inquired about an item on the menu only to have the waitress respond (in English) to my husband's question (in French) that (spelling?) l'aiguilette means "little pieces of duck meat. She said it with such disgust through her teeth. As though she were having to clean up after a bad child. We were satiated, however, but in Barbizon, I ordered fois gras (spelling?) and received not pate, but a pumping liver, sliced laterally. Yuk. Sorry for the spelling...I'm awful in French.

My husband reminded me of another food trauma. Once, while in Austria, my sister and I found ourselves trying to purchase sliced sausage from a gentleman at a deli/butcher shop. We spoke no German and our school-friends were not with us to interpret. We just tried to pantomine the animal. We pointed to a salami-like meat in the glass case and opened with a the question "cluck-cluck?" He shook his head,no. We again pointed and asked "Oink-Oink?"....He smiled and said no. ok!It must be beef! We held up our hands to say we wanted about three or four inches cut and we were off, proud of our accomplishment. When we got to our friends apartment and made sandwiches on that wonderful brown Austrian bread with that delicious seeded mustard and our new "MOOO", our friends remarked about how well-off we must be to buy this imported Yugoslavian sausage. Again we asked is it chicken? no? beef? no? pork? no? ohoh.....Our friends smiled and went EEEHaw EEEHaw.....Yuk.

Without a doubt, the worst meal ever was a local speciality on the northwest coast of the North Island of New Zealand: green lipped mussels. It took a full week before we could rid our mouths of the taste. Ugh.... <BR>CS

British friends come to visit out here at the ranch in Arizona. The wife always packs along a small jar of a dark and mysterious product called Marmite. She says it's a yeast derivative. I say it is axel grease. She spreads the smelly stuff on warm toast, rolls her eyes, dreams of England, and tells us we don't know what we are missing. And I guess we will stay that way. We understand that Aussies are devoted to a similar kind of tar paste called Vegemite. Disgusting.

Al's reply brings to mind my most UNfavorite food -- yogurt (I know I'm in the minority). I would rather eat Hawaiian poi than any flavor or form of yogurt! Guck..

Al - you should try Vegemite, it's really great! We generally eat it at breakfast spread on toast. It's too strong for most people to have it thickly spread. Don't be put off by the colour. Actually I thought there was a US version with another "mite" name - can anyone confirm?