# Hell's Kitchen: batlle of the 5-star hotel room service items



## gobblygook (Aug 26, 2010)

As a test, Ramsey gets take out egg rolls, a chicken salad sandwich from a convenience store, and a couple of other items.  He has buffalo wings from his hotel.  First, he tells everyone that all of the items are from room service menus from 5-star hotels (or something close anyway) and asks which ones they like best. 

One liked the buffalo wings and was loved on for being able to pick out the fine dining dish from the rubbish.  I am trying to determine how buffalo wings are supposed to meet "fine dining".  It's bar food.  It started out as bar food and should end up as bar food.  I have never considered going to a fine dining restaurant looking for buffalo wings.  In short, I'm simply stumped by the items on the menu and what any of them were doing on a supposed fine-dining room service menu.


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## leeniek (Aug 21, 2009)

I have given up on HK,, the idiocy on the show pees me off and I am angry at Fox for making such a mockery of our profession.  Anything for ratings I guess.

I do have the utmost respect for Mr Ramsay and I do enjoy Kitchen Nightmares and him helping stalled chefs and cooks to see thier passion again


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Fine dining is an ambiguous term.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

In some peoples world fine dining is McDONALDS WITH A CLOTH NAPKIN


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

I just re-read the OP thread and the wings came from the hotel's room service menu.

Hotel room service menus run the gambit from pizza to chocolate cake and everything in between. The fine dining part only means that the dining rooms in the hotel are.......not necessarily room service.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

There's also the open-question: Who decides what a sensitive palate is?

F'rinstance, that gas-station tuna salad may really have tasted good. Certainly it's as much "fine dining" as chicken wings made in Ramsay's own kitchen. Now the chicken salad may have been made last night, and stocked this morning. And Ramsay's wings might have been fried (from the freezer) to order. But that shouldn't matter at all when testing tastability.

Let's face it: At base, hot wings vary by only two things: the hotness of the sauce, and whether the wings are breaded or not. Oh, of course, one other thing; price. Wings from the outside would have cost what? five or six bucks. Wings ordered via room service were likely $30 or more. But the idea that his are palette pleasers and the outside stuff isn't is ludicrous on the face of it. Proof of the pudding: Only one of them chose the wings.

What I'd like to see is Ramsay, himself, take that blind taste test. Tests with other respectible chefs have shown time and time again that our eyes and noses are as important as our tastebuds in determining flavors. Also contributing is the texture and consistency of the food. It's very difficult to differentiate when those two are similar.

Most established chefs rank about the same as the contestents on those shows. Which, maybe, makes the test good television, but meaningless in terms of determining anything.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

> how buffalo wings are supposed to meet "fine dining". It's bar food.





> At base, hot wings vary by only two things


Just to play Devil's advocate:

At work our "buffalo wings" AKA "hot wings" are duck confit, deep fried, and tossed with a harissa citrus glaze.


> Fine dining is an ambiguous term.


Couldn't agree more. Everyone has an opinion.


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