Qualitative Research Study on

What, why and how do people order at restaurants?

Submitted By:
Adityanshu
Lagan Mongia
Rajan Sethi
Sahil Avi Kapoor
Shreya Chowdhury

20140121085
20140121116
20140121131
20140121136
20140121144

Submitted To:
Prof. Kallol Das

Abstract
The average life of a middle class young executive or student is busy, fast paced and
doesnt leave them with much mind space to ponder over food preparation. They
usually go to restaurants or order in, especially when there is nobody to cook for them
and also when they want to socialize.
We sought to qualitatively research the thinking and the rationale behind what people
order when they eating out. We also aim to draw out clear contrast and comparison
with respect to their ordering decisions while at different categories of restaurant,
namely fast food restaurants, college cafeterias and fine dining places. Finally, we also
wish to gather insight on how consumers zero in on a particular restaurant out of their
respective awareness, consideration and choice sets.
A background search reveals that there are hardly any research studies on this field,
which deal with peoples perceptions about what, how and why they order when eating
out. The sample includes 10 young, regular restaurant goers. Although the research
method is a qualitative one, using the focus- group, the results can be taken into
consideration by the public decisional factors in the restaurant field in order to
elaborate the proper strategies to attract and keep the young consumers.

Research Objective
The objective of the research is to ascertain, through an explorative research, two sets
of variables, stated as follows:

The factors that influence an ordering decision

The factors that influence a choice of restaurant

Research Methodology
Explorative research was conducted through depth interviews. This method is
extremely flexible and efficient, because the interviewees can express their real
feelings, frustrations or satisfactions regarding the topic. Although the method
stimulates people to give out information, it is usually filtered through their conscience.

As the research is qualitative and exploratory in character, it is somewhat difficult to

draw generalizations through the findings. Also, the heterogeneous nature of responses
makes the coding and analysis quite challenging.
The research is conducted on a sample of 9 regular restaurant goers. All interviewees
were interviewed by the researchers, for between 25 and 30 minutes each. The
interviews were conducted either in person, or over the phone.
This was followed by content analysis. Each of the transcripts were thoroughly studied
and codified. Subsequently, certain category headings were generated for each
question. These categories were further investigated and finally broken down to reveal
the final conclusions.

Discussion Guide
A discussion guide was designed after 2 pilot interviews. Changes were also constantly
incorporated into the guide while the final depth interviews were taken. The changes
were made keeping in mind that the general flow of the interview remained in sync
with the broad research questions being probed. The discussion guide was an extremely
important and useful tool as it maintained the consistency of interview flow across our
subjects, despite there being multiple interviewers. Each interview followed the
funneling technique that entailed broad and generic questions being followed by
probing, pointed and specific questions.
The interviews lasted for about half hour and were audio recorded after due permission
from the subjects.
1. Age?
2. City?
3. Occupation?
4. How do you make the choice of the kind of restaurant you wish to eat out at?
5. When going to a new restaurant, what kind of information do you confirm on?
6. What does fast food mean for you?
7. What does convenience food mean for you?

8. What does fine dining mean for you?

9. Does hygiene play a role in your choice of restaurant?
10. What factors do you consider while placing your order?
11. How big a role does price play when you order?
12. How big a role does waiter suggestions play when you order?
13. Do you generally have a pre decided order for specific restaurants?
14. What effect does ambience and dcor play on what you order?
15. Do you rely on friends and familys recommendations when ordering food?
16. Are review websites like Zomato important in your ordering decisions?
17. If you wish to be experimental with your food someday, what would factor
highest in your consideration?
18. Do you generally make impulsive ordering decisions?
19. Which restaurant do you prefer visiting with friends?
20. Which restaurant do you prefer visiting with family?
21. Which restaurant do you prefer visiting with business clients?

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Subject

Variable Set 1

Variable Set 2

Factors influencing ordering

Factors influencing restaurant

decision

choice

Waiters suggestions

Mood

Ambience

Online reviews

Company

Preferred cuisine

Speed of Service

Serves vegetarian

Hospitality

Hygiene

Ambience

Speed of Service

Cuisine

Menu Design

Quality of food

Company

Ambience

Hospitality

Online reviews

Waiters suggestions

Peace

Price

Location

Specialty items

Hygiene

Experimentation

Company

Recommendations

Recommendations

Occasion

Price

Price

Ambience

Convenience

Quality

Value for Money

Privacy

Experimentation

Company

Speed of Service

Taste

Menu

Company

Past experience

Waiters suggestions

Presentation

Experimentation

Company

Speed of Service

Convenience

Cuisine

Cuisine

Price

Past experiences

All-time favourite

Online reviews

Value for money

Parking

Hospitality

Hygiene

Ambience

Recommendations

Recommendations

Speed of Service

Hygiene

Cuisine

Recommendations

Waiters suggestions

Mood

Presentation

Online reviews

Price

Quality of food

Convenience

Ambience

Experimentation

Hygiene

Company

Ambience

Past experience

Company

Recommendations

Convenience

Waiters suggestions

Online reviews

Ambience

Peace

Speed of Service

Hospitality

Price

Online reviews

All-time favourite

Parking

Occasion

Quality

Company

Privacy

Hospitality

Cuisine

Specialty items

Experimentation

Value for money

Preferred cuisine

Hospitality

Serves vegetarian

Speed of Service

Price

Menu Design

Ambience

Waiters suggestions

Company

Price

Recommendations

Company

Ambience

Company

Recommendations

Taste

Speed of Service

Cuisine

Menu

Past experiences

Value for Money

Location

Experimentation

Hygiene

Excerpts (not exhaustive)

Subject A
Female; 26 years old; From Agra; Studying in Ahmedabad
Subject A makes the selection of restaurant mainly through her specific mood at that
particular time. This is mostly followed by an online search of nearby restaurants
matching her selection. Say today I want to have a pizza, then I will go to zomato and
see in the neighbouring areas what places serve Italian or continental or multi cuisines,
she says. When asked what are the key factors that helped her decide on a restaurant,
she says, Whether they serve veg or not. Then what kind of cuisines they serve. Then
what are the ratings and reviews. Interestingly, when questioned as to where she eats
out in her hometown, she replies, No in Agra I usually dont eat out. When I go home
I want homemade food. On hygiene, she remarks, Its very important. I cannot eat
out at a dingy place at all. There have been times when I have been to places where
there were dirty napkins thrown on the floor or the tables were not clean. I left those
restaurants at that very moment. The interviewer also tried to enquire the ordering
behavior when ordering a special looking dish that she the interviewee has not tried
before, to which she replies, If there is something special then I would consult the
waiter or the manager. She also adds that ambience is of the utmost importance to
her, and thus, she would never visit a place like Manek Chowk. Lastly, on company
influencing ordering decision, the subject states, Usually theres the vegetarian nonvegetarian thing which happens. If my company is non veggie which usually happens
then they will order with me. So it happens like that.

Subject B
Female; 25 years old; From New Delhi; Studying in Ahmedabad
Subject B makes the choice of restaurant weighing on two factors primarily. She says,
The kind of restaurants that I go to eat out at depends on cuisine that actually want
to eat, then it depends on the ambience of the place and everything, so I would decide

on the place based on these two primarily. The quality of the food, the quality of
cuisine, the ambience and everything. She also depends on secondary reviews, as we
can judge when she says, I read the reviews on Zomato and then I choose the place
that I want to go plus there are certain times when people have told you about certain
places that this place is good and all of that...based on all of these reviews I like to
make a choice. She also has distinct expectations from different types of restaurants.
So when it says a caf I expect quick service I expect a variety of beverages a variety
of snacks served really quick so its a hang out place for me where I can sit and chat
with my friends in a relaxed manner you just get things really quickly, she remarks
about cafes. On fine dining places, she states, So fine dining should definitely have a
great ambience, the quality of food should be really good, the kind of food I believe
should be unique in some way and it should have a set standard according to me, it is
fine dining so I would expect a set standard, the quality, service and locations, it can
be a formal occasion or a big family get together, or it can be certain specific family
occasions. Like Subject A, Subject B also rates hygiene highly and would hardly ever
visit a dhaba for food. On price, cuisine and service quality as influencers, she believes,
All the things are v Imp because if the service is slow I will not really go there again
cause it takes a lot of time and sometimes when you really want to eat and the service
is slow, it can be pretty annoying and part from that about the cuisine it is totally on
the mood that day. Company also plays an integral role in ordering decisions, as we
can judge when she says, Sometimes it does influence our decisions because if I go
with my family and its like a proper dinner we may just order an Indian meal which is
ok for everybody the biggest reason being we are all vegetarians so we just might have
a big fat meal. If I go out with friends I would like to have more snacky stuff, I would
like to experiment more, well I experiment with my family as well so thats not an issue
but the company does have an influence somewhere or the other as I believe.

Subject C
Male; 26 years old; From Kolkata; Studying in Ahmedabad
Cs restaurant decision is based on occasion. He says, Example if I have to go out with
friends, from here in the hostel, most of the time we go to places like a dhaba, or a

subway or McDonalds. We basically want to have a fun experience with not very
expensive food. But say for a date, I choose a classier place, where the ambiance is
good and the food quality is good. Unlike A and B, Subject C loves street food, which
is evident when he says, See, Im a Bengali , I love to eat, especially in my college
days, we used to go out to eat a lot, bunk classes or watch a movie and go somewhere.
Also we used to go to have snacks in between classes, to grab a quick bite, like an egg
roll stall or have a samosa. Interestingly, in Kolkata, a lot of stalls which are snack
joints serve proper meals as well, as in their menu ranges from these small snack items
to heavy dinner dishes like biryani and mughlai paranthas, so you have a lot of variety.
But I mostly eat at these stalls when I am with friends or in between work because I
dont have any inhibitions when it comes to eating at roadside joints like bahar ke
khaane se pet kharaab ho jaega. For Subject C, the factors influencing ordering
behaviour is greatly varied according to occasion, company and type of restaurant. He
says, When I'm going for a dinner with my family, I don't look at the price of a dish.
What I look at is what the ingredients, availability on the menu are, because I know
what the choices of my family members are. So, when we are ordering I think me and
my dad, personally like to order things which the whole family can share, because alag
alag apna dish order karne ka there's no point of the family thing because we believe
that's a part of the bonding which happens. Secondly, another important factor which I
consider is the type of preparation which is served. For example, my dad doesn't like
any gravy which is not yellow in color, so he doesn't like anything like reshmi tikka, so
we as a family don't order that kind of food when we are with him, even if we like it.
Price, yes, when I was in college and we went to a restaurant which was above our
budget range, we considered the prices. It was very important at that time. Some places
we went just to see the ambience. But when later when I started working, going out
with family members, my range has covered from 5stars and 7stars to street side. At
that time, pricing doesn't matter. Another thing is, either when I'm going to a place
where I haven't tried anything or a restaurant which is my favourite, I like to try new
dishes. So I make it a point that I try the dishes I have never had. So no matter the
situation is, if at that point of time I like the name, I'm game. For C, recommendation
take a back seat, he states, For me recommendations are bullshit. As far as I am

concerned, food is very subjective. So, last week my friend Pulkit suggestion that there
is this place called Ashiyana Dhaba where tandoori is very good. I went there yesterday,
ate it, it's absolutely crap. So, I don't generally take recommendations. It's very funny
to see, even at this age, if I go to a restaurant and I see good colourful pictures of
chicken and mutton on a menu, I get the feeling that this restaurant must be good, let's
order here. Moreover, he says, I think that too much to form an opinion based on
what others say. No, I don't do that for food. Not at all. I mean I check the location of
the restaurant on Zomato that is important. When I'm going out to eat, I don't like to
search for restaurants. I need to know where the place is, I take my vehicle or nay
public transport to reach there, and I go and eat there. After that I am happy and filled,
then I can do whatever I want. But before going to the restaurant, only the location is
important.

Subject D
Male; 25 years old; From Balasore, Orissa; Studying in Ahmedabad
Subject Ds choice of restaurant mainly relies on the occasion and company. With
friends, he prefers, a place with quick and easy food and not a lot of fancy. Which
allows to talk and not where a lot of families meet. While, for a business meeting, he
says, Business meetings need to be short and simple, talk peacefully, focus on
conversations, may be a quick grab of sandwich and coffee, not heavy meal, and may
be grab a bite of sandwich and then discuss and brainstorm. But if I am with my entire
team, then I will look out for ambience and good food quality and I would like the entire
team to bond.
For clients, I would like to make him taste the local cuisines and I think it will go a long
way in establishing a connection. And for meeting, I would prefer a theme based
restaurant like Rajdhani or Mainland China which have quite places with ambience and
where business can be discussed. Subject D, being more worried about taste of food
and value for money, when asked if ambience plays a role in his ordering decision, says,
For me, the ambience thing is not that important but yes certain places are famous
for their ambience and I do make it a point to try them. Also it influences order
placement because one wont order an Indian food in a southern India restaurant or

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some random food in a Chinese restaurant. Also there are some places that look really
class apart and people get influenced and sometimes order outside of their budgets
also. If I am with my girlfriend or my family, ambience will be of prime importance.
But again, when out with family, he says, I think they care about ambience more than
the quality of food.

Conclusions
There factors that affect ordering decisions often overlap with the factors that affect
choice of restaurant. This is mainly because the expectation of a customer from the
food that the restaurant would serve him, is often formed by the restaurant category.
Factors affecting what people order

Price and Value for money were almost unanimous factors when ordering food

Experimentation in ordering is not everybodys outlook

Some people like to order the same food that they always do

Zomato and other third party recommendations are mostly trusted

Word of mouth is usually the biggest factor when deciding on an order

Waiters suggestions are more or less always trusted

Speed of service is a major factor

Convenience is the leading factor for fast food restaurants

Menu also plays a moderate role in ordering decisions

Factors affecting choice of restaurant

Location and parking play a moderate role

Cuisine plays a major role

Occasion is one of the deciding factors

Most people make this decision keeping their company in mind

Hygiene is a basic pre requisite

Peace and privacy could be occasional drivers

Key Words

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Ambience

Company

Service

Hospitality

Menu

Price

Value for money

Experimentation

Hygiene

Convenience

Recommendations

Marketing Implications

Most restaurant decisions are based on occasion, thus increasing the available
occasions for visit should be a key marketing tool

Company is another major factor, thus restaurants must also send out a clear
positioning of what kind of groups do they want to host

Ordering decisions as well as restaurant choices are governed by convenience

and speed of service. A comfortable ordering and eating experience can be a
major selling point

Online reviews and recommendations are major drivers in todays eating out
culture, thus a strong social media presence is a must

Sample Transcript
So Ill start by asking you how you make the choice of restaurants you want to eat
out at.
The kind of restaurants that I go to eat out at depends on cuisine that actually want to
eat, then it depends on the ambience of the place and everything, so I would decide
on the place based on these two primarily. The quality of the food, the quality of
cuisine, the ambience and everything

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And do you have different places that you want to go to suppose when you are
meeting friends or its a family get together or maybe its like a work related
business meeting?
Yaya so we actually end up making a list of restaurants that we want to go and we will
then shortlist by taking everybodys opinion and the kind of food that they want to eat
and then we come down to a place
When going to a restaurant do you look up information from various sources like
Zomato or something?
Ya... I read the reviews on Zomato and then I choose the place that I want to go plus
there are certain times when people have told you about certain places that this place
is good and all of that...based on all of these reviews I like to make a choice
And when choosing a restaurant what all details do you consider or try to get before
that or is it an impulsive decision?
Sometimes it is impulsive but thats rare, if we have a planner dinner or something then
we will obviously have a list of restaurants and then we choose from them but in case
it is an impulsive thing then we will probably try a new place.
Is there any diff between what info would you like to find out for a new restaurant?
Definitely for a new restaurant I would like to know the kind of service that the
restaurant provided how fast is it and plus the kind of food they provide and the quality
and how has been like the experience with other people
From restaurant categories like say what does a caf mean to you like if a restaurant
says that its a caf what do you expect from it?
So when it says a caf I expect quick service I expect a variety of beverages a variety
of snacks served really quick so its a hang out place for me where I can sit and chat
with my friends in a relaxed manner you just get things really quickly
So would a caf will be a place where you would go with your family or would you
just restrict it to friends?

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I wont restrict it but ya it is mostly with friends and people within the same age group
What does a fine dining restaurant mean to you? What do you expect and on what
occasions do you think you will go there?
So fine dining should definitely have a great ambience, the quality of food should be
really good, the kind of food I believe should be unique in some way and it should have
a set standard according to me, it is fine dining so I would expect a set standard, the
quality, service and locations, it can be a formal occasion or a big family get together,
or it can be certain specific family occasions
What do you mean by unique- regarding food or ambience?
Definitely ambience is a big deal and it feels nice to have food in a good ambience, so
definitely apart from the food ambience does play an important role, of course you
always dont end up there, with friends impulsively you may end up going to a random
place
Considering things like hygiene factors how imp a role does that play in your
decision?
Thats like the first preference, if I already know that the hygiene of the place is not
good, then I probably wouldnt go there...so it is an important factor for sure...if I find
the hygiene factor of a place not good, I will certainly tell my friends not to go there
What about a Dhaba which is very famous or a roadside vendor who is very famous,
would you be willing to try that?
For trial its ok but for an occasion I would not consider it
But for generally eating out would you consider it?
Dhabas we are never sure of but yes we do experiment, but even with dhaba you would
be selective and not just stop at a dhaba next to a shabby place , I would like to
experience dhabas and I have but there also you have considerations like what kind of
dhabha do you have
What kind of experience did you have at the dhaba?

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It was a normal dhaba on a highway, it was between a road trip and we were really
hungry, it was not planned but we kind of just stopped there, it was a nice experience,
it was different, the food was also really different like home food and all
What was the ordering process in the restaurant, was it a collective process, was
there any signature food items you ordered?
No signature food items but there are certain dishes that you just end up ordering like
dal makhani, but nothing that we had preplanned, it was impulsive
Can you share any experience when you went to a caf?
I went to Costa in CP in Delhi, it was really nice as we had a variety of beverages and
all, it was quick, it was nice and the place is nice to sit and chat with your friends for
a long time...we had cold beverages and cakes so it was a v good experience as you get
the time and the place to get to hang out with your friends
How was the ordering process like?
It was a self-service and it did take a little time to order as there was a lot of queue
and CP being a very busy place all the cafes are really busy, it took a little while but it
was nice
How did you go about deciding what food items to order like your beverages or
sweet dishes?
Menu was pretty descriptive; it was pretty decent and had info about the beverages
So it was an independent decision?
Yaya...but for the food items it was a collective decision, so if a few people wanted
something we ended up ordering those two dishes, it was not like anybody compromises
, everybody got everything
What about a fine dining restaurant experience- can you share one with us?

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Fine dining restaurant experience would beso it had a great ambience, the kind of
service was more professional is nature, it as decently timed, not too rushed and the
quality of food was great
And how did you again choose what to order did the waiters suggestion have
something to do with it or was it a collective decision?
For certain dishes we ended up asking the waiters what they actually have and all that
at one point in decision making which we needed help with, but otherwise it was an
independent decision and consulting about the group as such
So overall across restaurants and you can even be specific, what factors do you
consider while making an order, is it pricing like value for money or trying new
cuisine?
So if I am going for fine dining I will not really look at the price as I have decided to go
for fine dining so that will not be a factor, the factor will be to try new things and apart
from this there are certain items in certain places which are really famous and good so
will order those as wellcertain times I would like to experiment and of course there
are certain chef specials and all which I like to experiment
The customer service by restaurants or sales suggestions given by the waiters or
specials put up; does that have any influence on what you order?
Not always but a lot of times it does, definitely in chefs specials is something I would
like to experiment, If I ask the waiter and it appeals to me I will definitely try it
How imp are all this factors to you overall say pricing, cuisine, service etc.?
All the things are v Imp because if the service is slow I will not really go there again
cause it takes a lot of time and sometimes when you really want to eat and the service
is slow, it can be pretty annoying and part from that about the cuisine it is totally on
the mood that day
Can you tell me how much does the ambience have an effect like the dcor, the
menu design, does that have any influence on the kind of orders you place?

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It does but it depends on the place that I am visiting like if it is fine dining I would
expect it to have a good ambience but if it is a local place then it is ok if it doesnt
have a great ambience but ya the quality of the food is v imp and if the menu design,
the presentation, all of these are good but it a very big plus to me and if a fine dining
has just the ambience and poor quality then it is a big minus.
The description of the food given by the waiter or in the menu - how imp a role
does that play in making your decision?
It does play a very important role, like I dont like spinach so I will not end up ordering
that particular dish or I may just ask the chef to remove the spinach from the dish and
ask him to replace it with something else, so the description does play a very important
role
So the menu design is a pretty important factor?
Ya...it is sometimes it is the name that does its work because certain dishes dont have
the description but I might ask the waiter the description or sometimes I might just go
with the name which is impulsive but if the description is there it is always better
What about the company you go with? Does that influence your decision and if yes
how?
Sometimes it does influence our decisions because if I go with my family and its like a
proper dinner we may just order an Indian meal which is ok for everybody the biggest
reason being we are all vegetarians so we just might have a big fat meal. If I go out
with friends I would like to have more snacky stuff, I would like to experiment more,
well I experiment with my family as well so thats not an issue but the company does
have an influence somewhere or the other as I believe.
What about recommendations? How much do you rely on recommendations while
ordering food?
I do take recommendations really into consideration

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Among that like true friends and family, how much of an influence do they have on
your food choices at restaurants?
It depends, if I like their recommendations I take them, if I dont I will not
And the service staff at restaurants, the waiters at the restaurants, do they have an
influence?
So if I like the kind of recommendations they are making I will go for it
And we already talked about Zomato but the reviews given on Zomato; do they have
any influence specially while deciding a new place?
Yeah, they do have an influence for sure, if there are 5 reviews of which 3 are good
and 2 are bad then I might just end up experimenting with the place
And the reviews given on Zomato like the top reviewers would that play any role?
I would go through the menu for that, I would not right away order it, I would probably
double check with the waiter...I would not straight away order it
If you want to be experimental with your food choices, what factors do you consider
before trying a new restaurant, say like you are trying completely different cuisine
which you havent had, what would you consider while picking restaurant?
Then it will be highly based on recommendations, in case I am choosing a restaurant
with an absolutely no cuisine, then three things are really important there, one is
recommendations by other people, the other is the menu description and then the
waiters should play a good role in describing what the food is like all the ingredients
and all, then I will
So while trying new cuisine would you go for a specialty restaurant with
specialization in the cuisine or a well-known multi-cuisine restaurant and you can
just go try the cuisine?
I might end up going to a restaurant with a brand name first and if I really like the
cuisine that I tried then I might go to a specialty restaurant.

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What about food quality and taste consistency that you might have heard of from
general reviewers play an imp role or would you go with your personal
recommendations from friends and family for choosing a specialty restaurant?
For general reviewers I would definitely double check but if it is suggested by my close
friends and all I would consider it in a much more serious way but if it is random people
who I have read the reviews of then I would double check it
Are you impulsive about trying something new or like a different cuisine completely
at restaurants, would you do that impromptu
I would do that impromptu provided I like the description is enticing enough for me to
try it
Would this be a way you would experiment with food, would you make impulsive
decisions?
Impulsive decisions based on the kind of ingredients it has and again the way the waiter
is presenting it
So overall on a whole what do you think would be the most important factors for
you personally while ordering at restaurants?
Again at a restaurant it would be hygiene, quality of food, service, the how well the
description of the dish is, and even of the description are not there in the menu, the
waiters willing to tell you about the dish
So service is imp?
Service is very important
Service is very important is terms of your food choices?
It is, If I am going to a good restaurant or a fine dining restaurant and service is bad, I
would not really like it,
What about a restaurant that you regularly go to say like fast food McDonalds or
Subway, what affects your order over there?

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In McDonalds and all there are certain preferences that have been made over time,
sometimes what happens is I go there and end up ordering the same thing but there are
certain times when somebody recommends that this is amazing and tastes really good
so I would order it and I would try it for sure, that is there
Otherwise you have your consistent choices?
Yes, in fast food restaurants I do have my consistent choices and I do order them, Very
rarely will I experiment until and unless someone recommends it
Versus a fine dining restaurant or caf which is not a regular chain with a limited
menu?
There I may experiment as I would expect more in a fine dining restaurant
Are there any certain dishes that you order for sure like for Indian you will order
this and for Chinese you will order this regardless of the restaurant?
At times it does, like if I am ordering Indian cuisine then I might just always end up
ordering Dal Makhani and if I am going for a Chinese things I might just always end up
ordering spring rolls, there are certain pet things that you really like which just happen
to be there on the table so yes it doesnt happen
What are these choices based on? How did you make these particular choices?
Just taste development over time
Thank you!

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