Who wins in a battle between demanding clients and culinary tradition?
A heated exchange on TripAdvisor has now been retweeted and liked thousands of times, splitting user opinions in half. Should a client request deemed “obscene” by a restaurant owner be fulfilled or ignored?
The scathing review was posted on TripAdvisor by a Mr Zwelithini M, zeroing in on the perceived rudeness of a waiter who refused to serve him parmesan with a seafood dish.
The scene took place in London at Maximo Italian Bistro, a restaurant specialising in Italian cuisine. The aforementioned parmesan was destined, in the client’s intention, to top a crab ravioli dish, garnished with salmon sauce.
The waiter ignored his request, explaining that cheese on fish is a definite no-no in Italian cuisine and apparently walked away after the client insisted. The waiter’s rebellion left Mr. Zwelithini M “dumbfounded”, triggering his vitriolic review on TripAdviser.
The temperature rose higher when the owner Massimo Donato decided to reply to the negative review.
Source: Trip Advisor
After describing the request as “obscene”, Mr Donato provided a few words of advice, stressing at the end that if you want to eat proper “cucina italiana”, you should “NEVER NEVER EVER ASK FOR CHEESE ON A FISH DISH”
It's true that cheese on fish is one of the ultimate faux pas when eating Italian, but shouldn’t the will of a customer trump these unwritten rules?
Source: Trip Advisor
“I think so," Giro d’Italia Chef Domenico De Marco tells SBS Italian. "I am old school, a client must always be pleased. I would have suggested that the combination is not ideal, but if the customer had insisted I would have conceded.”
There are good technical reasons why the parmesan on fish combo is frowned upon.
“Parmesan is too strong for fish. Our cuisine is based on unique and delicate flavors. Our predecessors have created a cuisine that strive to be light and clean,” De Marco says.
But there are those who want to break free from tradition, such as Italian celebrity chef Carlo Cracco, whose ideal cuisine is “secular and definitely not dogmatic”.
"You just can’t state that something is right or wrong," Cracco tells SBS Italian. "If people want to put pineapple on a pizza for instance, let them. Placed in a careful way, it could be a hit."
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“Also it’s not true that fish and cheese are always a no-no," says Sydney chef Luca Ciano. "There are many recipes that mix the two together, not necessarily parmesan but every region has something a little different to offer.”
One example is breaded mussels. The bread crumbs that cover the mussels are mixed with parmesan cheese to give them an extra 'oomph'.
While these professionals are cautious in condemning the London restaurant client, Italians in Australia have spoken their mind on the SBS Italian Facebook page. Cheese on fish? You just don’t do it, they say.
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Thus the debate continues: Is the client always right or should you never muck with tradition?
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