Why Gordon Ramsay Always Avoids The Soup Of The Day At Restaurants

Gordon Ramsay has seen a lot of the inner workings of restaurants across the U.S. and the U.K., so when he has advice on what not to order, it's best to listen. In general, Ramsay advises diners to avoid a restaurant's daily specials, especially if there are a lot of them. One would think, though, that the soup of the day would be fine, right? Wrong. When dining out, the famed chef likes to ask what the soup du jour is — then asks what the soup du jour was yesterday. What he often finds is that the "soup of the day" is actually the "soup of the month."

It all depends on the type of restaurant or cafe you're dining at. There's nothing wrong with a cheap restaurant if you know what to order, but some make their soup in bulk and keep it in the freezer, or just use a pre-packaged soup, full of preservatives. The big tell is how often they change their "soup of the day."

This isn't to say you should never get the soup of the day. If soup does change often, it's a good sign it's fresh. If the soup has harder-to-track-down ingredients, that can also be a good sign, and complicated soups can be a good buy. Let the skilled chef make the bouillabaisse for you instead of spending hours in the kitchen. Seriously, bouillabaisse is so complicated it takes 7 types of fish — it's understandable if you leave that one to the professionals.

Specials can also get a bad rap as a way a restaurant uses up leftovers. Food waste is a very real issue in the restaurant industry, so as long as the ingredients are still good, making a soup stock from yesterday's carrot and onion scraps is an environmentally friendly practice. This is where it pays to get to know your restaurant so you can trust they aren't using expired produce. If you trust the restaurant, eat the specials!