From the online comments board

Don’t compare restaurant prices with home cooking

Food bloggers and restaurant goers are being urged by the Association of Catering Establishments not to compare homemade meals’ price with that in eateries.

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Charging €15+ for a burger is outrageous when these are bought frozen for around €1 and require no preparation whatsoever apart from placing on a grill for a few minutes, the bun costs next to nothing and the fries (often an extra) cost around €0.10. Pasta the same, €10-16, really? You don’t even know what is exactly in these dishes, sauces etc. Best to make everything at home and, once you’ve done that for a while, nearly all restaurant offerings will seem poor. – C. Cassar

I think the catering industry should look into why all this anger and frustration is building up. Many catering establishments have raised their prices excessively high and service often leaves much to be desired, with workers hardly given any training or education in the field whatsoever. And, with regard to comparisons, perhaps they prefer to compare our restaurant prices and the quality of the food with those of our neighbours, such as Italy? Restaurants in Malta should put their ‘get-rich-quick’ mentality in check. - Adrian G

I think that before ACE starts criticising those who comment on blogs, it should talk to its members and insist with them that after increasing the prices they should upgrade their service if they really want to survive.

Those who pay what they are asked for and are not satisfied have a right to say so. It is the responsibility of the restaurateurs to ensure that there are no negative experiences. – V. Buhagiar

Ħamrun parking area roofed over with garden

€1.5 million for what? How much will it cost to maintain? Who is footing the bill? How much CO2 was generated for this project and how many centuries will this project need to operate to ever offset it (if ever)?

Did you want a green area added? Stop wasting funds on these projects, improve alternative means of transport – individual and mass – and turn urban wastelands and parkings into proper, simple fields with local trees that can survive hot summers (that will get even hotter) and need zero to minimal amount of maintenance in the long term. No need for fancy stuff which costs an arm and a leg to buy, another arm and a leg to maintain and will eventually be dead/not functioning within a few years.

Come on... stop insulting people’s intelligence. – D. Agius

The car park should be underground. It’s another concrete eyesore. – M. Cassar

Nice. I like. – Jesmond Brown Micallef

So the cars stay in the shade and the people in the scorching sun. – Joe A. Borg

So we haven’t got any money for people going hungry and without a roof over their heads but we can waste €1.5m on a garden. What has happened to the socialist heart? It must have died since 2013. What a shame. – Victor Formosa

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