
It is only when you go upmarket in eating out these days that you will automatically be presented with a basket of bread and some butter. I have taken to asking for them lately in mid market places and then being sometimes charged extra on the bill for the privilege. I actually cannot recall the last one I was served freely without asking. The breads can be a bit over the top however when you are served half a dozen types and flavours along with a few different butters and dips.
This the whole bread basket offering a course in itself when all we want is a piece of decent freshly baked bread and butter to nibble on before starters arrive and then wipe up the remnants of a tasty sauce on the main course plate. On the continent it’s a given, it’s sometimes even already on the table before you even sit down. If asked to pay for it there would be a revolt in the dining room from European customers as bead is simply sacrosanct to any meal.

The other gripe here when you do get a bread basket is that there seems to be a most bizarre rule across Irish hospitality that the minute the starter or soup course is over the bread gets whipped away as if it’s not needed for the rest of the meal. I have had occasion to tug of war with servers trying to hold onto the bread basket as they confiscate it. My solution is to grab a couple of pieces from it and leave these on my side plate but even that has been swiped from under my eyes on some occasions. In France you leave your own bread portion directly on the table.
I did enjoy the expression of shock on some French visitors dining here with me and witnessing this shortcoming in our industry as they sat with mouths wide open in disbelief as the bread basket made its way back to the kitchen or restaurant service station. The normal industry standard is that bread stays on the table until the end of the savoury courses which is naturally the cheese if you are having it, for which it is a pivotal part. Forget a biscuit, plain white bread is all that should ever be served with good cheese with maybe an apple or pear and the obligatory red wine but celery and chutneys are out for me anyway.
The other sad reality is that good bread is less and less common now. Most places will buy in par cooked or frozen leaves which just get finished off in the oven. In fairness if you have a proper local bakery then by all means use their products if time, ability and expense do not allow you to make it yourself. Baking bread cannot be easier and I was impressed by the recent trend in home baking during the pandemic with sour dough recipes becoming a most Googled recipe. It is only when people get stuck into baking that they realise how easy it is.

In Ireland we have our soda bread which can be brown or white and I made my first loaf at nine years of age with my mother. It is something that will be usually good no matter where you get it served in Ireland and it really should just be the basic recipe and only have real butter served with it.
Any of those artificial spreads just do not do it any justice and they are worse for you than any natural butter anyway when you understand what they contain. The marketing people would have you believe otherwise but my advice is simply stick to the natural product that is real butter. So the next time you are out for lunch or dinner and no bread and butter appears then do ask where it is and see how you get on.
I would even go as far as stopping in a shop en route and bringing it along to a restaurant and plonking it on the table just to demonstrate how this essential element in eating out should not be deprived to the diner. It is also true and must be stated that the margins are now so squeezed in restaurants that it can be looked upon as an easy cost saver for the operators but if they cut back on the enormous unnecessary portion sizes of mains, sides and desserts a bread basket can well be afforded.
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