In an attempt to give some kind of organisation to my ramblings I like to use a basic marking code to describe my culinary experiences. I have found it saves time for everyone as it avoids unnecessary gushing. I do gush sometimes but I like to save it for the right situations!
First then, to make like-for-like comparison possible, I put the eatery into one of four categories:
Advanced – top quality places which includes anywhere with Michelin stars, high prices and waiters who brush the crumbs off your table.
Intermediate – includes most good chain restaurants as well as mid-range independents.
Elementary – takeaways, bakeries, cafes, canteens, or anywhere with no frills or pretensions.
Initial – street food from pavement grills, vans, market stalls and noodle hawkers.
I then grade the eatery as a whole on a scale of A to D, taking into account the overall quality of such factors as service, ambiance, value-for-money and anything else that has an effect on the experience.
Then if I have time I grade the individual dishes in the body of the review.
(A) means it’s sublime.
(B) means it’s pretty good.
(C) means it’s edible but not anything you’d want to have again.
(D) means I wouldn’t feed it to a pig.
I sometimes add a plus + or a minus – sign for extra emphasis. If you want to know my most favourite dishes and restaurants, just put A+ in the search box!
You will probably have guessed by now that I work in Education! The grades and category names are just labels that happen to coincide with my background in language teaching, so please don’t take them too seriously, they’re just a tool to make comparison possible. It has often been my experience that the same dish in the same restaurant can score differently on different days so nothing is set in stone.
Happy eating! 🙂