Time for an update..! But, to put it mildly, it's not going to be in their favor.
So the kids chose where they wanted to go for dinner after an entire day at the harbor festival in Luleå. Mine and Erika's fear was of course met; O'Learys. I'm so terribly fed up with it, but the things us parents do for our kids, right? I don't mind giving a place a second (or third) chance, but this was by far the worst time ever. I ordered Joe Thornton's Striploin Steak that comes with garlic fried mushrooms, cajun butter, vegetables (carrots and haricos verts) and a choice of potatoes. Chose potato gratin and asked for my meat to be cooked rare. The moment my plate was served I only had to look at it to see it wasn't cooked properly, it looked more towards medium well. To make the initial matter worse is that the waiter said:
- Striploin, well done
- Ehrm, no, I ordered mine rare...
- Oh sorry, I meant rare...
- Well, wait just a second...
And I took the steak knife, cut into the meat and said:
- Look, this is almost well-done. I want a new one
- Of course, we'll fix it
So he wandered off with my plate while my daughter fortunately enjoyed her bbq-glazed spare ribs, our youngest son his portion of fries, and my wife her rib-eye (that she ordered medium but came more closely towards medium rare). I then got my new striploin and once again it seemed a bit off, but now against the other end of the spectrum. Bleak in color, almost no crispy char and the side cap of fat wasn't crispy or rendered down. When I cut into it it was more towards bleu instead of rare. Didn't finish the whole steak, barely even half of it. The vegetables tasted of nothing, almost cold (I suspect they didn't change them in between my pieces of meat (something you simply just do, end of discussion). The only positive note was the potato gratin, it was well-seasoned and creamy, but no potato in the world can salvage an otherwise catastrophic plate where the steak is supposed to be the hero. The only thing I'm left with is a queasy stomach and I may well be on the way towards food-poisoning, at least that's what it feels like. Undoubtedly the worst restaurant dinner experience in a long time. read more