Chefs And Nutritionists Reveal 8 Opening Dishes To Avoid While Eating At Restaurants

Illustration of eating at a restaurant (Photo: Freepik/Freepik)

JAKARTA - The opening dish is often an attraction when eating at restaurants. In addition to being appetizing, the opening food can also be a perfect start before enjoying the main dish. However, not all opening foods are worth ordering. Some of them are high in calories, fat, and sodium, while others are made with low quality ingredients.

To find out which opening dishes should be avoided, chefs and nutritionists share their opinions. Here are 8 opening dishes that are better missed when eating out, as reported by VOI from Yahoo! Life page on Monday, February 10.

Roti is delicious, especially if it's warm with butter. According to Chef Paul Denamiel, bread-based dishes such as bruschetta, flatbread, or chocolate bread can be very filling before enjoying the main dish.

However, nutritionist Deloris Gibson suggested that if you want to keep ordering bread, choose classic brussietta which generally uses simple ingredients and minimal processing. However, make sure to check the nutritional content. For example, bruschetta contains 1,416 calories and 854 mg sodium in one serving.

Fried potatoes are definitely not a healthy choice, but is it really that bad? According to nutritionist Lena Bakovic, many restaurants use flour or cornpati in their French fries dough, which can contain high levels of pesticides. In addition, the oil used for frying, such as canola oil and vegetable oil. This can cause inflammation.

Another problem is that many restaurants often don't replace their cooking oil, thereby increasing the risk of consuming saturated fat which is harmful to the body. Plus, the quality of the fries that varies from one place to another makes it less appropriate to order.

Blooming onions, which are well-known in restaurants, are also included in this list. According to Lena Bakovic, the frying method used makes the fats high saturated and inflammatory oils.

As an illustration, the booming onions contain 1,900 calories, 145 grams of fat, and 4,930 mg sodium. In fact, the sodium consumption limit recommended by the American Heart Association is only 1,500 mg per day. That means one portion of the booming onion can meet sodium intake for more than three days.

At first glance, the onion ring may look better than the booming onion. However, the reality remains unhealthy. For example, the onion rings in the restaurant contain 1,330 calories, 60 grams of fat, and 3,200 mg sodium. If you want to enjoy healthier onion rings, it's better to make it yourself at home with water fry.

Lumpia is often considered a healthier choice because it contains fresh vegetables and is wrapped in gluten-free rice paper. However, not all spring rolls are the same. There is fresh spring that is not fried and healthier, as well as fried spring which is actually similar to other oily foods.

The vegetable spring in the restaurant has 240 calories and 14 grams of fat per two pieces. While on PF Chang's, the spring contains 350 calories, 16 grams of fat, and 450 mg sodium. Although still better than other dishes on this list, there are still healthier options.

Chicken wings and chicken strips are often an option in casual restaurants and sports bars. However, according to nutritionist Deloris M. Gibson, this food is high in fat because it is fried and often served with high-fat sauce.

As an alternative, try choosing lower calorie naked tenders (without flour). Chicken tenders fried when cooked at the restaurant have 1,240 calories per serving. While the flourless version is only 680 calories. If you want something healthier, try a bufferalo cauliflower seeds that are roasted, not fried.

This dish is famous in luxury Japanese restaurants such as Nobu. Tuna crispy rice consists of crunchy fried rice which is given raw tuna topping, spicy sauce, avocado, jalape Marijuana, and wijen seeds.

However, according to Queen Miami Beach's Chef Christopher Robert, this dish is often made with the rest of the tuna that is smoothed into pasta. This makes it a high-profit margin dish for restaurants but less valuable for customers. In addition, some versions of this dish can contain up to 1,240 calories per serving.

Sasimi can be a healthy choice, but Chef Paul Denamiel suggests rethinking it before ordering it. Apart from a small portion at a relatively expensive price, there are also fish quality problems.

Some sandwich dishes are served with additional spices to cover the lower quality of fish. In addition, eating raw fish always carries the risk of food or parasitic poisoning, especially for people with a weak immune system, children, the elderly, pregnant women, or people with liver disorders.

While samimi can be a delicious choice, it's important to make sure that the restaurants you visit really follow strict food safety standards.