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adventurous funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is 100% hands down a love it or hate it book. There is no middle ground with this one, and I absolutely head over heels fell in love with it. And maybe Jay Rayner just a little bit.

First of all if you're not a "foodie" and the idea of throwing €€€ repeatedly at your lunch or dinner bill makes your eyes roll or makes you feel slightly ill, please do us all a favour and don't read this book because you will be in the hate camp.

There's no doubt about it, Jay Rayner is a bit of a snarky bollox who is lavished with opportunities that the majority of us could only begin to dream about. However, he is fully aware of and honest about this. He explicitly says throughout what he's wangled for free/under expenses and what has come out of his own pocket.

The book is broken down into cities on Jay's journey in search of the perfect dinner. While in these cities he visits a variety of high class restaurants and has a whole wide range of experiences. What I absolutely loved was his brutal honesty through it all. When talking about the food, he didn't just run along with the crowd and say every 3 star was the most amazing food he's ever had. He really showed that not all 3 star restaurants are equal and certainly not all are worth the money. A lesson we learnt in Barcelona visiting Disfrutar one day leaving in a bubble of excitement to then leaving Tickets devastated the following day almost in tears at forking out the same money for both experiences.

As well as detailing his meals he also looks at the food industry as a whole and within the cities he visits. He throws plenty of not so pretty glances at the food world, blogging, review, some chefs and even at times the ingredients.

What I loved most about the book was that despite having essentially the whole culinary world at his feet, there's no airs and graces about him. If it's mind-blowing, it's mind-blowing. If it tastes like actual crap or even mold as in one case, he says this. He also looked quite openly at his often disinterest or boredom when he questions has he had enough of this world.

Lastly, I listened to this on Audible and honestly think it's probably the best way to appreciate his snarky yet lovable character. Looking forward to moving on to the rest of his stuff shortly.
 

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