Write a Yummy Food Review

One of the things I love to blog about is food. I’m not a fantastic cook, with breakthrough recipes or interesting cooking tips, so when I say food, I meant eating out. Hihi.

Writing about what you eat is easy because you rarely hit a writer’s block! You have been to the place, you ate the food – and now it’s time to write about what you see, or what you like or dislike about the place, and the taste of your food. simple. You don’t have to crack your head thinking of ideas because it’s already there in your experience!

Personally, good, informative blog posts about food and eating places are important to me, especially when I am looking for a particular food, at a particular place. The type of food available or the whole experience written by other bloggers are useful for me to finally make my choice. At  times I googled just to find out where a restaurant is!

If you have a blog, and love to eat, it’s your chance to be part of this ‘social service‘! Your blog is an infinite space in the world wide web so it’s a crime to write a food review by just saying that “..I went to XYZ restaurant, had a plate of HGB, and it was delicious.” Hello? Where was this restaurant, what exactly is in the plate, and what was delicious about it?

The task is to describe, and to describe well.

BLOG POST TITLE

Your blog post title should be catchy because it’s the first thing readers see. It is also a reflection of your review. “Makan Lagi.” is mundane. lazy almost. “Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan” is taken, and you come across as unoriginal. You write, “Kenyang Perut Suka Hati” and people might start to wonder…

Put in keywords that make your blog posting google-able. For example, “Seafood Dinner at Bagan Lalang”. This could increase your readership because there would be people searching for ‘seafood’ and ‘Bagan Lalang’.

On the other hand, blog post title doesn’t have to be clear cut like “Yummy Fried Chicken at Indah Restaurant” which basically says it all. it can be vague like, “Colonel Sanders has a Competition” and the readers will be glued on to read further.

Your aim is to grab attention, so be creative! Put some thinking into your title. It’s the cherry on top of your ice-cream!

OPENING

The first few lines of your review is crucial too. Have you ever read an article, and you got bored even before you finished the first paragraph? If your blog title is already eye-catching, keep the readers attention with your opening lines.

There’s nothing wrong with starting a food review with, “Yesterday we went to..” or “Last sunday, we had…” But it would give more impact starting it with something different like, “I never knew mexican food could be this spicy..” and continue with where you went for that mexican food. You could also start with something like, “This is the day I vow never to eat duck ever again.” And people would start reading because they want to know why.

If you have a funny, icky, interesting story that happened when you ate there, don’t wait till the middle to share, start with it. Better yet, just tease your reader with a suggestion of that story, and then add it in later. I assure you, some readers would be intrigued if you begin your sentence with a fuzzy story that you will unfold later on. For example, “I actually had an uninvited ‘guest’ in my plate for dinner last night!” Wouldn’t you like to know what happened?

Starting with something different not only makes your writing more interesting, but will reel in readers faster and once they’re on your second paragraph, they would be hooked to your blog till the end of that posting.

WRITE AS YOU TALK

How should you write a food review? Writing as you talk is always a good way to reel in people. When you commended a dish, they feel that they might like it too because they understand your words. They can relate to you.

Your aim is to speak and connect with your readers, and they’ll shut off if you use too many bombastic words.

However, be warned not to stray too far off into your own words, using really unrecognizable jargons that only your clan could understand. “Gile bell chicken curry tu, dowh. Waiter pun jo’os!” If the majority of readers cannot understand you, they are not clicking back!

As a language major, I must admit I cringe at bad grammar – I can’t help it! But, at the end of the day, I have more respect for people who writes in perfect BM or easy to follow manglish, rather than bad english, or worse – really bad BM. If you prefer using Manglish in your blog, I think it adds character to your blog, and show you to be a true Malaysian!

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Use all sorts of sentence structure. Pauses using ‘dash’ creates mystery – making people wonder what you might say next. Little dots will add stresses…..that you want the reader to know you really mean what you say.

However, please limit this freedom of sentence structure. well……..too much of it…….you know…….will be messy……….and your blog, right…….certainly………don’t need unnecessary clutter…………right……….?

DESIGN

Colors, font size, bold and italics are there for your creative pleasures. Blog features options to write fonts in different sizes, and different colors. Use them wisely!

If you want to be cute and bold by constantly changing font sizes in a sentence, make sure they’re used for the right impact, instead of haphazardly changing the font size. Use italics when using foreign words like creme brule or foie gras.

The same goes for colors too. Use the color red, for example, to bold the word HOT or a description of your spicy dish. Use them for the right reasons, and your blog posting would appear – not just more presentable, but very eye-catching as well.

DESCRIBE, DESCRIBE, DESCRIBE

This is without a doubt, the most important part of your review. The food, the restaurant and the service – The whole eating experience. The entire kaboodle.

The Food

Taste of food is very subjective. When i say spicy, it might not be as spicy to a chilli-freak like my husband, Mr. Khairul. He’d go “You call THIS spicy?” So be descriptive. Bring your readers into your experience. When you have a foodie blog open to all, you’re inviting your readers for a dinner. You can’t serve just satay without the peanut sauce. And you have to have the cucumber and onion slices as well as the nasi himpit.

Describe it as much as you can so that the readers feel like they know the dish.

A dish that you like is delicious. tasty. yummy. appetizing. that bad dish you had the other day was bland. yucky. these are just individual words and empty adjectives that don’t tell the readers much. If the dish you like is yummy, it it because it’s crunchy, or soft? Because it has a lot of sauce or little of it? Because it has a lot of vegetables, or lack of it?

Use similes if you’re lost for words. It’s bitter like petai. It’s sweet like honeydew. It’s sour like a day-old milk left out of the fridge. It’s like satay kajang but with more meat on the stick. It looks like the marble cheese cake from secret recipe but with less cheese taste. Readers can relate well with descriptions that use similes, since they might have tried the food that you’re comparing it to.

What else can you write about?

• Does it look appealing? Beautiful food decor? Did it look hommade, or from the can? Was it freshly fried, or looked like they’ve been fried twice?
• How was the texture – Mushy? Crispy? Hard?
• What was the aroma like – Pungent? Sickeningly sweet? Stinging of chilli?
• How big or small was the portion? Can you finish the food? Can it be shared by 2, or more? Did you still feel hungry after finishing the small meal?
• What was the temperature of the dish? (Yes, it’s important!) Was it lukewarm when it’s supposed to be super hot? This refers especially to soup.

You don’t have to have ALL of the points above to write a good food review, but a decent one should  have some of the points to make your food accessible through your descriptions. Paint a picture of the food with your words. Re-create the ambiance of the restaurants with your Descriptions. Evoke the taste of every bite with your vocabulary.

The Restaurant

Don’t forget to review the restaurant itself. How was the seating arrangement? Is it spacious? Can you put a stroller in between chairs? My friend Kak Arin would always mention in her blog whether or not it’s kids’ friendly when she reviews an eating place, because her daughter and nephew need a place to go wild while the adults eat. Having kids myself, this particular information is very important as I would want my kids to be able to play at a kids’ corner, or enjoy a family friendly environment.

You can also mention the theme of the restaurant – retro, classic italian, mamak lepak or semi-fine dining, the lighting, the color scheme and the one decor that grabbed your attention, like a hanging flower pot, or a guitar stuck to the wall.

Description is important. If you hated the place because “it’s noisy, crowded and smokey..” it could be because you’re 30 going on 50! A 20-year old visiting the same place would describe it as being “cool, happening place to hang out”. Be fair to your readers. Describe, and give reasons. Let the readers make their own judgement based on that.

Location is as important as describing the exterior – maybe more important, since if the location is unknown, how are the readers going to get there in the first place? Describe the traffic on the way, whether the restaurant is easily accessible, clearly visible from the main road or otherwise.

The parking condition is a very useful information too. Does the restaurant have its own parking lot? Does the nearest parking space a far walking distance from the restaurant? Do you have to pay for parking?

The Staff

Don’t leave out the service of the staff. Did they greet you well? Were they helpful in providing information as you choose from the menu? Was the service fast, slow, friendly, rude, effective, or clumsy? Believe me, a lot of people do not make second visits to a restaurant just because of its ineffective service staff.

GOOD PICTURE, GREAT IMAGE

Get a great picture. When you talk about food, you would want to see how it looks like. Especially if you’re giving a good review on the restaurant, and the dishes. People would want to see the interior decor. The fountain by the tables. The band playing. The lovely flower arrangements. That cute waiter. Haha.

Clear, close-up shots of food is always a great way to entice people. Blurry photos taken from a far angle makes that plate of char kuey teow looked like just any other plate of kuey teow. Make your readers drool looking at your photographs!

Remember, you don’t need an expensive camera to take a good picture of food. All you need is a good eye, and a good angle.

PARAGRAPH

Please paragraph! Writing an entire article in one whole chunk is a crime not only to the mind but to the eye as well! Organize your ideas, segmentize your points. readers can digest your writings better. A big clump of text is a real turn-off.

Structure your ideas chronologically. Start with

1. whether the place needs reservations,
2. the traffic en route,
3. parking,
4. seating arrangement,
5. the ambiance,
6. the crowd,
7. the music (if any),
8. the menu, choosing,
9. service, how long does the food take to come to your table,
10. the taste, main course and dessert,
11. and finally, paying, accompanied with whether you think the whole experience is worth the price

you can also add whether you’re considering a next visit, or this is your last!

Paragraphing will segmentize your points and makes it easier for readers to swallow your ideas or follow your stories. During SPM bm or english essays teachers always say make a draft, write point form first before the actual writing – these advice would actually help you write a more constructive postings and your ideas would be more organized.

Paragraphing would also make it easier for you to edit your post later.

ADD ANECDOTES

Add little anecdotes to spice up your writing. Little short stories and cute, creepy tales that happened while you’re dining out. The waiter who brought you the wrong food but was too cute and nice to be mad at. Your daughter spilling pasta sauce all over her newly brought barbie dress. The music that was too loud, and singers with bad singing.

These little stories would add character to your writing, separating your food review from the bland ones in other blogs.

MAKE YOUR BLOG USEFUL TO YOU, AND TO OTHERS

Eventhough it’s your blog, and it’s your eating experience, and it’s your opinion on the food, you could still make the blog posting useful to others, and make it not just about you.

Location

Give directions to the restaurant. Mention landmarks that will help interested patrons to find the place. My sister who studies in melbourne even gives out tram numbers that readers can take to get to the place.

Website

Link the official website of that restaurant if you have. This helps your reader to get more detailed information like exact venue, a contact number, opening and closing time, or whether they have vegetarian food on the menu or price of food.

Educate Readers

Educate while blogging. You yourself will most certainly learn a thing or two too. For example, my son khaleef is a great ice-cream fan – which kid isn’t? And I constantly noticed that there is ‘ice-cream’ and there is ‘gelato’ but they look the same. I googled, and true enough, found a lot of info that I didn’t know before. Then I shared them in my gelato review!

Readers definitely benefit from this discovery and as you know, knowledge goes a long way. Remember, there will always be someone reading your stuff who learns something they didn’t already know.

FEEDBACK

Readers may agree with you, or they may not. Comments and feedback; good or bad is equally important if you learn to accept it gracefully.

A friend of mine wrote a complain in her food review about this cafe, and the owner of the cafe actually responded, and invited her for a second visit to see the improvement that they made! Isn’t that something? In case of such accurance, you should be ready to back up your opinions, comments and complaints with valid reasons.

END

All the above seemed to be a lot of work but it will be worth it knowing that you have fully utilized your blog space, your power of the written word, and the dining experience that you had. Readers will appreciate your effort and will visit your blog again for future reviews.

It’s not worth your blog space if you are just going to write a few sentences about “that day you went out to eat this thing that tasted pretty ok”. You have an infinite digital space and an endless choice of words at your disposal. Use the power of words to intrigue, to entice, to engage, and to indulge people into the food that you’ve tried.

Make your foodie review short and simple, or long and extravagant – but never leave it ordinary.

Happy eating and happy writing!

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