There is much chatter right now about food
bloggers and whether you can trust their restaurant reviews. At first I ignored it as, like many other
bloggers, I write for fun not for food.
The furore centres around two things: the food blogger who responds to
the siren calls of PR's offering complimentary meals; and the blagger blogger
who offers a favourable review in exchange for a free meal. As the debate goes on remaining silent on the
subject is beginning to feel like I'm keeping my head down so as not to attract
unwelcome attention so, here goes.
I can only speak for myself. Personally I don't accept invitations from PR's
to review restaurants and how anyone has the brass neck to blag a meal is
beyond me. I thought of simply tweeting
"please read the About Me section on my blog", but that seemed a
little attention seeking. Instead I'm
writing this post for those of you who take the trouble to read my blog. Firstly, I've been on both sides of the fence. I've worked as a restaurant reviewer and then
I went in a totally different direction. I started blogging over 3 years ago simply to
share a love of good food. I wanted to
celebrate chefs, restaurants, writers, traders and food producers who I felt
were doing a particularly good job.
In
the case of restaurant reviewing, I do it anonymously and I pay for my
food. Occasionally in a restaurant I'm
given a new dish to try. This happens
because I'm a regular and the kitchen values my feedback. By this time I've already written about the
place and they often don't even know I do that sort of thing. I occasionally manage to book a table during
a 'soft opening' - it's good for the diner's wallet and a learning exercise for
the restaurant. Its not a time for
reviews as the restaurant hasn't yet settled into its stride. If I like the restaurant and feel it's going
to be my sort of place, I go back later and pay full price before deciding
whether or not to write about it.
According to some professional reviewers,
the lack of negative reviews on a blogger's site means they're not to be
trusted. Yikes, they mean me, so, here's
the thing. I don't expect my readers to
wade through a post to find out whether or not I like a place. If I have a good meal, I go back and if I have
another positive experience I write a review. Very occasionally a place is so spot-on I say
so after a first visit. If I don't have
a good meal I don't vent my spleen on my blog, I just vote with my feet.
Just to be clear, I do not get paid to
review, nor do I get myself into situations where I feel I have to write a
review. This means I write about places
I really like and that is the only reason you will not find negative reviews on
my site.
Thanks for reading.
