my guess is sth like 1; I think some people are a lot more sensitive to some flavors than others. also the extent to which you pay attention can affect flavor a lot. and fwiw I frequently notice that some restaurants make the same dish a lot better than other restaurants, and the major ingredients must be about the same (or at least the quality/quantity difference is small enough that it’s not the first thing I noticed), so it must be in the minor ingredients. but often my friends won’t notice a big difference and conversely I don’t notice a big difference in the foods they draw strong distinctions for
(there are some really subtle flavors that I like, that are very subtle and which most places get wrong in ways that I can’t put my finger on—e.g hainan chicken rice, gyu-don, edmonton style donair)
my guess is sth like 1; I think some people are a lot more sensitive to some flavors than others. also the extent to which you pay attention can affect flavor a lot. and fwiw I frequently notice that some restaurants make the same dish a lot better than other restaurants, and the major ingredients must be about the same (or at least the quality/quantity difference is small enough that it’s not the first thing I noticed), so it must be in the minor ingredients. but often my friends won’t notice a big difference and conversely I don’t notice a big difference in the foods they draw strong distinctions for
(there are some really subtle flavors that I like, that are very subtle and which most places get wrong in ways that I can’t put my finger on—e.g hainan chicken rice, gyu-don, edmonton style donair)