This Irish chef turned lemons — and prawns, raspberries and quinoa — into lemonade!
Faye McFarland, who runs the kitchen at the Harlem Cafe in Northern Ireland, was undeterred by Tripadvisor reviewer who blasted her eatery’s crustacean-based salad as the “worst salad… ever” — transforming the dish into a best-seller by promoting it on a sign outside the restaurant.
“Come in & try the worst salad one woman on Trip Advisor ever had in her life,” she wrote on the chalkboard sign.
Customers have been ordering it like nonstop since she advertised the crunchy dish, which also includes rocket, seeds, strawberries, and other veggies, and is garnished with shaved cucumber and carrot.
“I made it only for one woman to chop my ankles off,” McFarland told the BBC. “That’s how I felt when she wrote the review. But advertising the dish has attracted people. I think they just want to try this worst salad.”
One diner ordered it and thought it was “actually quite nice.”
The people who have been ordering it the most are American tourists, McFarland said.
“The tourists’ response is incredible. The Americans come in and demand to have a try at the prawn salad,” she told The Belfast Telegraph.
And she thinks the salad’s newfound popularity just proves that forums like Tripadvisor aren’t always the most reliable.
“I feel it’s a hidden way for people to vent their anger and they always seem to add a bit on and make it sound really bad,” McFarland said.