A salad from the seventies

Why is it that the majority of cafes in this country cannot do salad? We went to a café on Friday. Lovely place, sat outside, great staff. I ordered a burger which was lovely - their own lamb and mint. It had a salad on the side: sliced iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, sliced red pepper, not sliced but grated carrot. God I hate salads like that. Plonked on the plate as a gesture, as an afterthought. "We'll give you  a salad but quite frankly we can't be bothered to think out of the box and this just helps to fill your plate."  To my dismay this particular café had also popped some ready salted crisps on the side too. That annoys the hell out of me. So much has changed for the good with British food over the last thirty years but salads for many establishments are stuck in the 1970s. I was born in 1965 and in this one instance I have no desire to go back to 'my salad days'.....I might if it meant slimmer thighs and no grey hair but not for the food.

Salad inspiration or expiration?

Why can't British cafes do an imaginative salad? Pubs are guilty too. It used to be that I judged a café by the quality of coffee they served. Nowadays most have eschewed instant coffee thank goodness for the joys of real coffee beans so why not throw out the drab iceberg too, shaved on the side.  You could still get away with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, pepper and carrot but present them more imaginatively and add a salad dressing. What I'd really like to see is a selection of ingredients from a wider palette, placed together tastily and tantalisingly. There's a whole range of green stuff out there. What about a beetroot (actually red stuff) ensemble (and I don't mean beetroot in vinegar); what about a gathering of different tomatoes; even a lovely homemade coleslaw; some fruit in the salad; add a few shavings of Parmesan or some British goats cheese?  What about just thinking about producing a lovely and complementary side salad.

I know there are cafes which do produce wonderful tasty salads and not necessarily for heftier prices. But to the rest : Come on cafes (and pubs too) salad up.

PS Went to another café today - I know we lead the high life. Actually we (my husband and I) went for a re-energising sandwich and cup of tea three quarters of the way through a 12 mile walk and I can tell you now the salad garnish or salad afterthought did not revive me physically or spiritually (see photo).