They meant well. Some people I am visiting (work) invited me for dinner and decided I would prefer western food.
Well, I might for a change, but there is no western food in a 1000 mile radius. There is only what some culinarily challenged buffoon "thinks"* might be western.
A photo menu depicts a number of unidentifiable "steaks" decorated with bizarre accompaniments. I choose one at random, request medium rare, but am not asked for my choice of sauce. My hosts all choose "incinerated shoe leather" as their preference.
Suspiciously quickly, this arrives.
It is medium to well done, fatty in all the wrong ways, unseasoned and totally devoid of anything resembling taste.
The side of undressed spaghetti is overcooked, cold and glued together, but there is the salad - one slice of cucumber, the smallest cherry tomato I've ever seen and a sliver of carrot.
The meat is topped by some unrequested mushroom sauce - also unseasoned and tasteless.
Finally, something pleasantly edible. A fried egg.
My hosts announce it to be the pinnacle of western cooking and we bid each other goodnight. I head for the nearest noodle shack.
* Chance would be a fine thing.
