Chains changed: TGI Fridays spring menu

Less enticing news from TGI Fridays, though. They've pared their standard menu down even further with the Spring iteration. There is a bowing to the inevitable, and the cheese planks have finally been admitted to the list of appetizers (who, really, would order four hand-sized slabs of baked mozzarella as a side? Unless they had their own defibrillator on hand?)

Sadly, though, two of the nicer appetizer options have vanished - onion scoops and, unforgivably, the spinach dip. Isn't spinach dip one of the chain's key products? In the US, you can buy it frozen to take home and make yourself feel over-cheesed in the luxury of your own armchair; how can it not be featured in the restaurant?

There's been a bit more fidgeting, too, with what has up until now been the San Francisco Burger - one of the few vegetarian options at TGI - turning into a sandwich. It doesn't make it any better, and its shuffling on the menu seems merely designed to try and stop people asking for different sauces upon it. But, lord, it needs something - even had mine not arrived charcoaled into oblivion, it would need something. The menu promises "a toasted bun", but clearly the half-arsed lobbing of the roll under a heatlamp is intended merely to try and disguise the staleness of the bread. It doesn't work, and attempting to lift the 'sandwich' merely results in the crackling of the bun like the arctic icecap during a particularly warm summer's morning.

Increasingly, the UK menu at TGI is looking like it's approached as an irritant which impinges on a mission of selling unconvincingly-coloured cocktails. Pity.

Chains changed: TGI

The summer TGI Fridays menu suggests a chain looking to reign in costs - probably to pay the price of what seems to be about the fourth revamp of the interiors in a about a month. They have started using a nice shade of blue as an accent colour, though, which we wouldn't mind having in our bedroom.

Gone, though, from the menu is a number of their burger options - in particular, the ranch-and-mushroom topping (about the only vegetarian burger addition that had been on offer) has gone; the range of dishes sloshed over with Jack Daniels-flavoured sauces seems to have been taken in hand, too.

The theme this season is 'East Meets West' - because, of course, if you're looking for food with an Eastern theme, where better to go than, erm, an American-themed restaurant. The special two course menu - which edges up in price with every iteration - offers a range of food which it claims is typically American alongside food which is supposedly Eastern. Point to note: There is absolutely no point in even looking at this menu if you're vegetarian. There are no mains for you to choose.

The new menu does offer one surprise: Mac and Cheese bites, which is macaroni cheese in breadcrumbs and surprisingly morish. It's not sophisticated, but then you if you want sophistication, you're not going to to choose a restaurant which blares Sky Sports News over your head, are you?