Living on the edge

Every month our family dines out together. Rather than Don and I always choosing the venue, we have a democratic approach whereby everyone takes a turn to choose.

The rules are simple: if it's your turn, you can choose anywhere provided that it's a restaurant (as opposed to a 'restaurant' such as McDonalds, Wendys, etc.). Everyone must accept the choice without complaint, and participate in the meal with good grace. This approach works well, given the extreme differences in our individual food preferences.

This month it was Don's turn to choose. He's a plain food person and wanted to go somewhere 'Kiwi'. We decided to put our Entertainment Guide to good use and, after some consideration, Don opted for a Titirangi restaurant called Toby's.

Even though I'm fairly familiar with Titirangi, cycling through it regularly over the summer, I'd never heard of Toby's so I checked it out on www.dineout.co.nz

The reviews were mixed. Very mixed. Scary even. And it transpired that Toby's had been the subject of a recent 'restaurant rescue' makekover yet to screen on telly.

Suddenly Toby's seemed a dodgy choice, despite the Entertainment Guide's lure of a free main course. What to do? Give it a go and potentially have a disgusting meal? Or try somewhere safer?

We decided to live on the edge and give it a go. Yep, that's our idea of living on the edge. Tragic really.

To cut a long story short, the venue was very pleasant and welcoming - a nice neighbourhood restaurant. It was busy and the service was friendly but a bit disorganised. The food was okay but nothing special. See my review if you want to know more: http://www.dineout.co.nz/restaurant.php?rest=223&Restaurant=Tobys_Restaurant

I'd taken the camera so I could regale you with photos of what we ate but I just couldn't bring myself to whip it out and draw attention to our table by flashing away. And therein lies a weird dichotomy; I have no qualms about snapping away in Asian or ethnic places but can't bring myself to do it in Western style restaurants.

What's that all about?