I had made a passing reference to a food outlet some days back on this blog, and yesterday, I received a mail from their manager extending me an invite for two people to try out their menu. This, I guess, was to write goody good stuff about them by offering me a ‘on the house’ deal. I wrote back stating I was not keen on the offer as I was morally obligated to write only positive feedback.

Being in the field of media, it is a tricky situation every time an invite lands up on the desk for food reviews, new menu launches etc. Officially, like some of my fellow hacks, I tend to take a neutral stand by neither praising, not ridiculing the food. Anyways, unofficially, I tend to be objective as far as possible (after all I am paying for the food). Food reviews will be sprinkled with generous doses of good and bad wherever required.

Generally, I have an aversion to read food reviews which appear in magazines and newspapers. Eight out of ten times the reviews are horrible, exaggerated. As a PR consultant for a 5-star hotel chain in Bangalore some years back, I have interacted with top ‘food reviewers’ in Bangalore who write reviews based on the personal rapport the group maintains with them and not on the actual food. No wonder top food critics in Europe pay for their food and visit anonymously the places they wish to review. Such is their credibility.

Writing food reviews for a blog is easy, but not taking food pictures. Sometimes it is embarrassing to click pictures when a restaurant is packed and a lot of people are watching you. I have learnt to withstand “what-the-heck-is-he-doing” glances now. So next time you see bad food pictures on this blog, you know why. When I visited a well known restaurant in Al Khuwair, the manager couldn’t resist and he asked, “Sir, are you from some other restaurant.” I said no. Maybe he assumed I was an “agent” of his competitor (similar restaurant) because I was clicking pictures non-stop.