A few words on why you should : Never order chicken on a Monday
I know people who would say outright, how much they hate Matthew Evans; that he’s a complete dickhett. I’ve never met him, but I actually quite like him, based on what I’ve read by him. For a long time, I loved his recipe columns because of the simplicity and enthusiasm he brought to the dishes he featured. I must admit, I also did use to eagerly await the release of his reviews in Good Living every week, back when he was a restaurant critic for the SMH (a position previously held by Terry Durrack, whose writing I loved even more).
B got me a copy of Evans’ latest book, Never Order Chicken On a Monday, as a surprise gift. The cover of the book has a sticker on it calling it “Australia’s answer to Kitchen Confidential”. Something about that made me really cringe. If I saw that book in the store, not knowing who had written it, and saw the sticker, I probably would have immediately backed away from it. Statements like that tend to set you up for a whole lot of disappointment. Besides, who wants to read another Kitchen Confidential?
That said, I can actually relate to a certain degree, to some of the stuff he experienced while he was an apprentice, and some of the things he observed or tolerated in certain kitchens – this is coming from someone who started cooking at least ten years or more after he did. It seems completely crazy that dodgy practices are still going on today. A friend once spent a day at a place where they were frying up chips that were actually slimy and going off. She tried to toss them into the bin and got shouted at by the chef for throwing food away. The agency chefs we get occasionally into our kitchen to help out, always tell us how much they love working with us because they’ve seen so many dirty kitchens and bad food in their travels around Sydney.
But back to the book, which in theory, I should love to bits. Matthew Evans is a pretty good writer and he’s writing about an industry I’m in and love reading about. I totally agree with him regarding bottled water in restaurants and eating out on Valentine’s Day, but not so much about things like being rude in Chinese restaurants.
There is also something in the tone of the book throughout that seems a bit defensive to me – excepting the pages where he talks about his childhood (I loved the story about how he cooked up faked vomit so that he could skip school for a day). I’m also getting a bit bored of reading about how mentally deficient, maniacal, alcoholic and drug-crazed a lot of cooks are. Sure, it’s probably true and still shocking to hear, but judging from a discussion I had today with some doctor friends, there seem to be just as many crazy people working in hospitals, doing extremely long shifts.
While he certainly has experienced a lot in his life (and you can’t help but respect him for that, and for his passion and persistence), in terms of writing, I found a lot of repetition in the book, like Spak-Filla particularly in the earlier chapters. In the end, nothing really new is said about the restaurant industry, let alone the Sydney/Australian one, and the book ends up being quite entertaining, but not as good as I expected it to be.
Duncan | Syrup&Tang said,
October 8, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
Oh interesting! This has been completely off my radar. I’ll have to find myself a copy. I would assume Evans’s book is still more interesting than anything Stephen Downes in Melbourne (of the Herald Sun) has ever managed to write 😉
And I couldn’t agree more about that “Australia’s answer to Kitchen Confidential” label. A great way to alienate some customers, or to raise expectations too high in others.
Y said,
October 8, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
Y’know, I can’t say I’ve consciously read much by Stephen Downes – maybe I’m too Sydney-centric! Funnily enough though, I’ve read plenty of negative comments ABOUT him, so have been a bit put off reading his stuff. The bf did get me a copy of one of his books – the one about gastronomic experiences to have before you die – but I didn’t get very far with it. Might’ve also been because I was reading a pile of other very interesting things at the time, and it kind of got forgotten.
chocolatesuze said,
October 9, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
oh man it was so odd reading your post i thought i was the only one thinking hmm deja vu when reading his book. have you read garlic and sapphires by ruth reichl?
Y said,
October 9, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
chocolatesuze: Indeed I have 🙂 Not as good as her previous books. In fact, I was a bit disturbed by the whole disguise thing. I thought she went too far and wondered if she could really have judged the restaurants properly when there was so much emphasis on how she dressed and how she acted.
stickyfingers said,
October 10, 2007 @ 11:46 am
I love all Ruth Reichl’s books, and was thumbing through Matt Evans’ book yesterday in a book shop, but decided against it, as I already have 5 food themed books on the go and a novel. Thanks for the review, I think that particular book will now go on the backburner, ie. I’ll wait until one appears in my local second hand book haunt before buying.
Y said,
October 11, 2007 @ 12:06 am
Stickyfingers : When you do read it, please drop a line and let me know what you thought! I’m finding in the days since I read the book, that I’m finding more and more things he said in his book, to be remarkably true. The one for example, about how conversations in restaurants are never private. Not just because of something that happened to me personally, but also because recently someone told me about a certain fine diner that uses a secret camera/microphone so that they can hear what the customers are saying about their dishes.
quick said,
October 11, 2007 @ 10:22 pm
Nice review. Totally agree about the Kitchen Confidential bit. Nice bit of marketing bone-headedness.
The secret camera and microphone… I don’t know for sure but I think that would be highly illegal. You reckon it’s true?
Y said,
October 11, 2007 @ 11:04 pm
Well, you know, no reason to doubt the source, but it’s still really shocking to me. Such a violation of privacy, and I love this restaurant to bits too.