After reading this post by the simplest aphrodisiac, it made me ponder on the purpose on a food review. While I love food and very much love to share my personal experience about them, I find it quite difficult to actually write a proper review. I suggest you read it, it highlights some of negative trends that are growing in the food blogging community.-
The adjectives itself to describe a particular feeling or texture during that moment of "omph" or "eck!" is tough due to vocabulary limitatons on my part and what I write, has implications for myself and the restaurant. It is not only about me.
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Here are a few kinds of reviews that has caught my attention. There are more, so here's two for the moment.
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THE EXTREME:
This is the scenario where the reviewer would give a total 1 or 0 if not, a perfect 10 for every category, something bad about giving scores, sometimes its not good or bad but unique, a score doesn't do proper justice. As opinions are subjective, there is nothing wrong about it.
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Sometimes, it is just innocent excited outburst of "its really good", the hype and excitement in you when you found something you want to share, which is forgivable.
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Sometimes it is the anger and fustration that you want to share, nothing wrong about it.
However, it is hard to understand and find a review useful when it is something like "Don't bother about it, food is bad. -end of review", no details, no specific examples etc.
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THE SNOB?:
The reviewer would write in a very pompous manner as if he should be treated as king like a right of sorts. In a restaurant, it is not a one-way traffic, it comes both way to make it a happy meal. Hwoever, you might see it as something nice because you get to see how the world is full of colourful characters.
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All in all, I felt that the purpose of the review is about a personal experience but with constructive criticism and honest feedback for the restaurant and readers alike. It is one of the means of communication with the restaurant and a celebration of the diversity of taste and character.
Hello, I happened to be online when you left a comment on my blog :)
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, a neat group blog with well-drawn pictures to boot, this blog looks really really good!
I know what you mean by giving scores on reviews, I used to do that but it gets harder with each new post you do because it's difficult to compare, be it across price, cuisine etc. And you are also right to add that useful reviews don't just slam a place and leave it hanging, but provides constructive criticism.
So new bloggers or not, you guys already have a lot of sense ;) I've added you on my blogroll, and I look forward to reading more delicious posts! :)