Comments on: Gills, Fins and Psychedelic Thai

Gills, Fins and Psychedelic Thai

aletheia — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:52:51 -0800

There have been precious few times that a restaurant review had me laughing out loud, even on page 2.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:57:01 -0800

My personal counter on this score has not just incremented.

By: digaman

digaman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:02:03 -0800

Very funny, and as a former restaurant critic myself, I must say I hate glitzy, gimmicky joints like that too. The most droll, knowledgable, and scathing restaurant reviews ever, however, were written by the late Seymour Britchky. Go get yourself one of those 22 cent copies of his book (I'm getting one before posting) and amuse yourself for hours.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:03:06 -0800

Absolutely fantastic and a perfect example of almost everything that's wrong with most new restaurants. I'm out in Los Angeles and a lot of times it's the same thing only scaled down a bit. Although I have noticed the "glum" thing a lot more in NYC wait staff than I have out here.

By: nushustu

nushustu — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:03:27 -0800

At the end, it rates it as "Satisfactory (zero stars)." I don't usually read the restaurant reviews. Is this normal?

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:05:13 -0800

Which also isn't to say a glitzy place can't have good food. There's a place out here DOLCE which is very sceney (tho not overtly glitzy) and owned by some hollywood young people such that has disaster written all over it... only the food is actually very good and the service is decent. So it does well. Not my favorite by far, but it's worth mentioning some do it right.

By: chronkite

chronkite — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:06:45 -0800

I keep hoping that one day the world will wake up and say "OK, no more nonsense. If it has nonsense involved, we won't be doing it." God what an awful looking restaurant.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:07:59 -0800

a restaurant review had me laughing out loud Why, yes, this one linked here is in fact much funnier!

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:09:25 -0800

Yeah, I wanted to note the same thing, nushustu. There's no such thing as a restaurant worse than satisfactory? I didn't notice that adjective anywhere else in Bruni's review...

By: yhbc

yhbc — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:09:32 -0800

To get an "Unsatisfactory" the wait staff have to physically assault you.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:09:39 -0800

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:10:50 -0800

Actually, a working link adds immeasurably to the funny.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:18:48 -0800

When asked which of 23 dim sum options shouldn't be missed, she said, "The dumplings," thus narrowing those options to 15. When asked which wines Kurve served by the glass, she said, "Red and white." I immediately picture Kirstin Wiig as her A-hole character when reading this.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:18:56 -0800

Is this about that 12 year old kid who eats tripe by himself?

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:22:12 -0800

Clever, but the writer makes the same mistake as the restaurant. The style overwhelms the content to the point that it's difficult to pay attention to what you are actually consuming.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:26:54 -0800

Funniest service I've ever had was in a Calgary breakfast joint, where the waitress says, "How is everything here?" I tell her the toast is burnt. She says, "So how is everything else?" and walks away.

By: rusty

rusty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:31:46 -0800

I can't, now that I try, think of any times that a restaurant review had me laughing out loud. And yes, I did read the link.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:32:20 -0800

Thanks for fixing that link, stupidsexyFlanders, it was worth it. The Cafe Restaurant is actually a great name for a restaurant.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:34:26 -0800

At the end, it rates it as "Satisfactory (zero stars)." I don't usually read the restaurant reviews. Is this normal? posted by nushustu at 11:03 AM on November 20 [+] [!] Often the kinds of restaurants that get lower than satisfactory most critics don't bother reviewing. Zero stars doesn't mean a zero score. Think of a star as a commendation, not a score. Heck, earning a single Michillin star makes you're restaurant awesome. Two stars and you're an elite restaurant. It works more like that. I think the critic just really wanted to make note of what a crazy situation was going on with that place and highlight the strange aspects as cautionary example of how to make the wrong choices. With that much money it's hard for the food to be truly awful. It's more "really? this is the best you could do with a seemingly endless budget? and you're still confused?"

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:38:14 -0800

I keep hoping that one day the world will wake up and say "OK, no more nonsense. If it has nonsense involved, we won't be doing it." I cannot imagine a hope more contrary to my own. I love nonsense. People are always asking me if things "make sense," and I find myself falling into the same habit. My job is basically to analyze the statement "Here's some data, does it make sense given what we already know?" After a day full of order, there's nothing I like more than a nice break from things that can possibly make sense. Sometimes it's garish and unseemly, and I don't even care. Disclaimer: I also like brightly colored sodas with awful flavors like bubblegum.

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:44:52 -0800

Brunis best review ever

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:45:21 -0800

Other than the restaurant being preposterous, what was notable about the review? It seemed positively kindly, as if Bruni didn't want to offend anyone. Maybe there was a full page ad for Kurve a couple of pages later. I don't really seek out food writers, so only tend to catch reviews by Jay Rayner, Matthew Norman and Joanna Blythman, all of whom would've torn this restaurant a new arsehole in much finer style.

By: bhnyc

bhnyc — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:53:02 -0800

this is around the corner from me. the decor seems like a 90's retro version of 60's futuristic (retro retro?). i thought it was a bar not a restaurant.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:57:49 -0800

lalochezia wrote: Brunis best review ever Heh, that one was good. I assume the ninjas shut up shop soon after?

By: Comrade_robot

Comrade_robot — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:05:24 -0800

Well, the website is stlil up ... so I guess not.

By: Pecinpah

Pecinpah — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:05:35 -0800

"Hope springs." No.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:06:35 -0800

Heck, earning a single Michillin star makes you're restaurant awesome. posted by Lacking Subtlety Indeed.

By: Lord_Pall

Lord_Pall — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:09:58 -0800

It does seem as if we're hurtling towards the theme restaurant where they give you a blank menu, bring an empty plate, punch you in the mouth and charge you 65 dollars. I assume it will open in Chicago.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:14:24 -0800

But you can get the early bird for $50.

By: sfts2

sfts2 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:33:48 -0800

By: abc123xyzinfinity

abc123xyzinfinity — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:35:00 -0800

a single Michillin star makes you're restaurant awesome I always thought it was Michelin star, and I could never figure out what business the tire people had rating restaurants.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:38:59 -0800

My friend is one of the minority owners of this place, and had acknowledged for a year that they were being driven off base by the majority owners who IMHO are complete idiots. It doesn't really match the neighborhood it seems to me, which is sort of industrial, college, punk type of feel to it. Proves don't go into business unless you really know and respect your partners. posted by sfts2 at 12:33 PM on November 20 [+] [!] the problem is the old "too many cooks in the kitchen" thing the solution is always simple: it's the chef's decision. everything about a restaurant from the inception until the food is at your table should be chef centered. If that's not the case (and forgive my crassness) but then it's nothing but a bunch of owners getting in the way and wanking each other's egos off. There are maybe like 2 good restaurant owners I can think of... ever notice how all the great new restaurants are at least partially chef-owned with a controlling interest? Wonder why that is.... my personal favorite: www.providencela.com

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:40:56 -0800

I could never figure out what business the tire people had rating restaurants. Because people who drive around the place need to stop and eat. The guide used to list petrol stations and garages as well as restaurants. (The Automobile Association in the UK publishes guides too, though you really wouldn't want to confuse their star ratings with Michelin's!)

By: foxy_hedgehog

foxy_hedgehog — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:41:22 -0800

My favorite Bruni review remains his take-down of Cipriani. I found it to be an excellent antidote for class rage.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:43:53 -0800

a single Michillin star makes you're restaurant awesome I always thought it was Michelin star, and I could never figure out what business the tire people had rating restaurants. posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 12:35 PM on November 20 [+] [!] NO you're right. it was poor spelling. It's the same company. but they're a very, very large european company that does lots of things. including making guide books for europe and four US cities (NYC, san fran, las vegas, LA). and they are the best guide books in the business with the most respected approach to ratings (some people call them stodgy... I call them accurate and cautious). Getting a michilin star (or by god, 3) is the great honor you can receive. Only two (or now three?) restaurants in the US have received that rating (french laundry, per se, and joel robuchon?) i forget exactly

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:45:32 -0800

Actually, the Michelin guide still has a bit of a motoring focus - two stars means 'worth a detour' and three stars means 'worth a special journey'.

By: Lacking Subtlety

Lacking Subtlety — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:52:59 -0800

My favorite Bruni review remains his take-down of Cipriani. I found it to be an excellent antidote for class rage. posted by foxy_hedgehog at 12:41 PM on November 20 [+] [!] If there is anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that needs to be taken down it's the prices on the wine-lists in Texas (mostly in steakhouses). My god. I'm talking 400-500% markup on OK bottles. You'll see a 60 dollar bottle of wine being sold at 300. I once saw an 90 dollar bottle being sold for 550. I was stunned. Absolutely stunned. That bottle would be 160 at any other restaurant. You'll see 300 dollar bottles marked up to 1000 too. And they get away with it. How? Rich Texans walk in and love to order the most expensive wine on the menu. Usually they're all cabs. It's absurd. /The lesson? In texas, byobooze. //steaks are consistently good tho

By: i_cola

i_cola — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:06:30 -0800

How come words like funny and awesome don't mean what they used to mean any more? Maybe I'm just getting old?

By: chuq

chuq — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:37:08 -0800

Good, but for me still not as good as Bobby Heugel's review of Jim Beam's new rye whiskey, about which the first commenter said, "This is the best thing I've ever read about anything ever."

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:38:46 -0800

I found it to be an excellent antidote for class rage.

"...the people-watching is nonpareil. You rarely see blondness this improbable, cosmetology this transparent, wealth this flamboyantly misspent. And while that isn't cause enough to visit Harry Cipriani, it's consolation if you must."

Oh thank you, my class rage has been a little out of control lately. [note: that review gave zero stars and a POOR rating]

By: ben242

ben242 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:38:56 -0800

Not only is Ninja still open, but they're doing pretty well. Which I totally don't understand. I went there a couple of years ago with a friend after doing the tasting menu at Fresh with wine pairings. We went down to Ninja, which is located entirely underground, and drank three bottles of sake with the general manager and the magician (whose tableside antics were nothing short of mildly clever). We got a couple of apps, but by far the wierdest one was a nacho cheese tempura thing that tasted like fried shrimp coated in doritos. I never puked so much in my life. It was a full year before I could drink sake again. Still, though, Ninja is classy compared to that space-themed abomination in midtown called Mars 2112. When is Bruni going to review that place?

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:44:17 -0800

How come words like funny and awesome don't mean what they used to mean any more? Maybe I'm just getting old? I'm right there with ya. Not even a chuckle, sorry.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:51:54 -0800

Other than the restaurant being preposterous, what was notable about the review? I'm right there with ya. Not even a chuckle, sorry. Me neither. NOW WHERE'Z MY FUNNY!?!?

By: Combustible Edison Lighthouse

Combustible Edison Lighthouse — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:01:12 -0800

It doesn't really match the neighborhood it seems to me, which is sort of industrial, college, punk type of feel to it. It might not have matched the neighborhood 10 years ago. It's pretty much perfect now.

By: jrochest

jrochest — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:07:41 -0800

It's a good bad review, but it's not hysterical. Maybe we've all become used to overly courteous deference? Because this just seems to be a mild critique.

By: mattholomew

mattholomew — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:08:07 -0800

Makes me feel better that I can't afford to eat at such places. But it sort of sounds intriguing, I would like to witness the insanity first-hand.

By: HotToddy

HotToddy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:29:41 -0800

I miss Ruth Reichl.

By: sararah

sararah — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:49:04 -0800

I find it awesome that the guy that designed the place also designed a glorified dust buster by almost the same name. (Kurve the restaurant versus Kurv the dust buster) I really really hate the commercials for that stupid thing.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:18:08 -0800

Still, though, Ninja is classy compared to that space-themed abomination in midtown called Mars 2112. When is Bruni going to review that place? I can give that a try: You wait on line feeling like a total dick and then you go down in an elevator thing and then a person with the dead eyes in a leotard brings you some microwaved chicken strips while other people who couldn't get a broadway show role wander around in generic "space man" costumes so the place doesn't get sued and everyone at the table feels wicked awkward and even the children visibly radiate social discomfort at having to interact with Princess Astra and Gleezorb while they they push Astro Fries around on the plate and then you give them 20 bucks for the arcade and thankfully it's soon over and you leave a hundred bucks lighter and head home for space gin until you forget about the whole thing.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:34:02 -0800

I've just remembered my favourite ridiculous theme restaurant, Stavka, a Russian joint in Glasgow. Most of it is done out in an austere, vaguely Soviet style, but there's an opulent 'Tzar Zone' in... the basement! I had the Pizza Brezhnev there once, which - of course! - was topped with anchovies and olives. There's a Cafe Mao in Glasgow too, come to think of it. (When I lose my job due to the recession, I plan on launching a chain of Birkenau Bar & Grill joints. Bound to be a hit.)

By: redteam

redteam — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:58:22 -0800

Fuck New York.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:18:01 -0800

Orwell said it best: The waiter's outlook is quite different. He too is proud in a way of his skill, but his skill is chiefly in being servile. His work gives him the mentality, not of a workman, but of a snob. He lives perpetually in sight of rich people, stands at their tables, listens to their conversation, sucks up to them with smiles and discreet little jokes. He has the pleasure of spending money by proxy. Moreover, there is always the chance that he may become rich himself, for, though most waiters die poor, they have long runs of luck occasionally. At some cafes on the Grand Boulevard there is so much money to be made that the waiters actually pay the PATRON for their employment. The result is that between constantly seeing money, and hoping to get it, the waiter comes to identify himself to some extent with his employers. He will take pains to serve a meal in style, because he feels that he is participating in the meal himself... ...The moral is, never be sorry for a waiter. Sometimes when you sit in a restaurant, still stuffing yourself half an hour after closing time, you feel that the tired waiter at your side must surely be despising you. But he is not. He is not thinking as he looks at you, 'What an overfed lout'; he is thinking, 'One day, when I have saved enough money, I shall be able to imitate that man.' He is ministering to a kind of pleasure he thoroughly understands and admires. And that is why waiters are seldom Socialists, have no effective trade union, and will work twelve hours a day--they work fifteen hours, seven days a week, in many cafes. They are snobs, and they find the servile nature of their work rather congenial.

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:20:31 -0800

Yeah, but to they serve moloko milk in case you need to prepare for a night of ultra-violence? I too, remarked about the restarurant's resemblence to Kubrick's opening scene in A Clockwork Oarnge.

By: i_cola

i_cola — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:55:33 -0800

They've done that in NY already - somewhere around lower 3rd IIRC.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:56:38 -0800

...and somehow the Second Ave. Deli and Ratners are no more and Katz's is rumored to be on the critical list. Manhattan is nothing but an offshore boutique these days. Cross a bridge, normal people, the big island's been overrun.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:09:50 -0800

i_cola, you're thinking of the Korova Milk Bar, which used to exist on A around 11th, and has since (sadly) closed.

By: fuzzypantalones

fuzzypantalones — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:43:30 -0800

There have been precious few times that a restaurant review had me laughing out loud, even on page 2. i have yet to experience this.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:48:02 -0800

Meanwhile, Galaxy Diner in NYC (15th and Irving) is gimmicky as hell, with some inscrutable eastern-philosophy-meets-astronomy theme permeating everything, however, the food there is nothing short of amazing, and all of it creative, original ideas. Hmmmm. I'll agree that the food at Galaxy is good. But I think you're kinda off on the atmosphere. I always felt that Galaxy was an exercise in self-aware camp. I get a different vibe from Kurve - it's goofy, but in a "we're doing this because we can," kind of way. You're supposed to laugh at it and take it seriously at the same time. Kurve is right around the corner from me. I'll admit that it aroused my curiousity, but only long enough for me to stop and try to figure out exactly what it was. You see, Manhattan is rife with establishments where you can't really tell if it's a shoe store, beauty salon, or sushi bar. Once I figured out that Kurve was some kind of restaurant, I was like "meh," and ever since then I haven't even noticed it. Can't imagine I'll ever go inside. Totally agreed with whoever said that it doesn't fit the neighborhood. A place like that belongs in the meatpacking district, if it belongs anywhere at all. Sadly, though, I've seen more and more of this sort of thing in my part of the city, although typically a bit closer to Houston. I blame the awful new highrises in the LES and the people who live there. And jonmc, we've talked about this before. Yes, we know that you like Queens. That's great! Queens is awesome in its own right. But that doesn't mean that you need to trash other parts of the city. Some of us still like it in Manhattan.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:57:54 -0800

Clever, but the writer makes the same mistake as the restaurant. The style overwhelms the content to the point that it's difficult to pay attention to what you are actually consuming. This is exactly what I feel like whenever I read a restaurant review, and this review is no exception. And, oddly enough, music reviews. So often both of them have enough strained metaphors and analogies and descriptions make me puke. Which is why I don't read many restaurant or music reviews. Film criticism does this to an extent, but there are much more concrete concepts to film (cinematography, acting, effects) that a good film reviewer can avoid this.

By: stammer

stammer — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:02:57 -0800

KokoRyu, I will see your Orwell and raise you a Sartre:

Let us consider this waiter in the cafe. His movement is quick and forward, a little too precise, a little too rapid. He bends forward a little too eagerly; his voice, his eyes express an interest a little too solicitous for the order of the costumer. And there he returns, trying to imitate in his walk the inflexible stiffness while carrying his tray with recklessness of a tightrope walker. All this behaviour seems to us a game. He applies himself to chaining his movements as if they were mechanisms, the one regulating the other. His gestures and even his voice seem to be mechanisms. He gives himself the quickness and pitiless rapidity of things. He is playing. He is amusing himself. But what is he playing? Of course, at being a waiter. The game is a kind of marking out and investigation. The child plays with his body in order to explore it. The waiter plays with his condition in order to realise it. This obligation is not different from what is imposed on all tradesmen. Their condition is wholly of ceremony – the public demands of them that they realise it as a ceremony. There is the dance of the grocer, an auctioneer, a tailor. A grocer who dreams is offensive to the buyer, because such a grocer is not wholly a grocer. Society demands that he limit himself to his functions as a grocer, just as the soldier at attention makes himself into a soldier-thing with a direct regard which does not see at all, which is no longer meant to see, since it is the rule and not the interest of the moment which determines the point he must fix his eyes on (the sight "fixed at ten paces"). There are indeed many precautions to imprison a person in what he is as if we lived in a perpetual fear that he might escape from it, that he might break away and suddenly elude his condition.

Did any other great 20th century thinkers make any serious interventions into waiter theory?

By: Bitter soylent

Bitter soylent — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:51:33 -0800

Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage was all about a selfish waitress. Does that count? I shouldn't brag, but I have a library discard of the book from the SD Women's Prison.

By: Molesome

Molesome — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:14:20 -0800

Douglas Adams and the mechanics of the Bistromathic Drive spring to mind.

By: nicepersonality

nicepersonality — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:24:15 -0800

A famous author who is nice to you, but cruel to the waiter, is not a nice famous author.

By: asok

asok — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:49:47 -0800

Two fun and funny restaurant reviews that I have read recently:

At economic moments such as this, what we all need (second only to a few 24-carat gold bricks in a safety deposit box) is a good giggle. For those without access to liquid temazepam, laughter is the best medicine for terror and blind panic, and on this basis I must thank Andaman By Dieter Müller for a hilarious lunch.

-snip-

But then this, as my friend had been so quick to appreciate, is a restaurant in only the barest technical sense. This is a clip joint of a shameless brazenness the like of which I cannot recall. A year ago, it would have induced raging dreams involving gelignite, because then it would have made a mint from City bonus boys going doolally with that wine list. But not, God be praised for silver linings, any more

And,

..I've never known such unleavened casino gloom as at Manchester's 235 centre - and this without wagering a thrupenny bit. "This is just... just..." murmured my friend as we were seated in Linen, a vast but sparsely populated space a flight of stairs above the gaming floor. "Why have you brought me here? What makes you wish to cause me pain?"

-snip-

Why footballers and their womenfolk would wish to dine here, I've no idea, but if the presence of Cristal champagne and high-backed thrones in the salon privée behind us left a shred of doubt about the target clientele, the presence of "traditional prawn cocktail" removed it. What the chef removed, meanwhile, was the traditional texture and taste of frozen prawns, so that in a blind tasting you'd have lumped the mortgage on tofu. The sauce Marie Rose was, weirdly, really rather good, but my friend's oak-smoked Goosnargh duck breast was not.

I find it gratifying that Matthew Norman is employed to review restaurants that I probably will never be able to afford to eat at, and thus save me the trouble of feeling jealous of those that can.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:22:58 -0800

I find it awesome that the guy that designed the place also designed a glorified dust buster by almost the same name. He also designed these awful menorahs, which I had to sell last year. I still have nightmares.

By: milarepa

milarepa — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:21:27 -0800

He also designed these awful menorahs, which I had to sell last year. I still have nightmares. Wow, those...those....hurt my feelings they were so bad.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:12:23 -0800

He also designed these awful menorahs, which I had to sell last year. "JEWS.... IN..... SPACE!!!!!"

By: mippy

mippy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:38:06 -0800

Both restaurant and review are 1x pile of wank. # I do like AA Gill's reviews, even though I'm pretty damn sure spending any time with the man would have me hunting for cyanide capsules.

By: mippy

mippy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:43:15 -0800

I really want someone with more money than sense to take me here. In fact, I offered to take my SO for his 30th. He reminded me that I actually do have about as little money as I do sense, and should cook him a nice steak instead.

By: mippy

mippy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:19:32 -0800

I heart bad reviews. But this just grates my tits. Most people that eat in a place called Goodfella's won't have had one meal in all the places you dine in for free, Coren.

By: tangerine

tangerine — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:38:59 -0800

Did any other great 20th century thinkers make any serious interventions into waiter theory? Not at home, can't find the text online, so I might be remembering this inexactly, but in We Are Everywhere Jerry Rubin claims:

After the revolution there will be no more restaurants and we will all serve each other.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:15:20 -0800

mippy: "I really want someone with more money than sense to take me here." Override the finger, yeah? As far as I'm concerned, eating in London means: Egg, bacon, black pudding, bubble, liver and a fried slice at Maggie's Cafe in Lewisham for breakfast. Devilled kidneys at St. John Bread & Wine for lunch. Bone marrow on toast, whatever the waiter recommends for a main course/side and an Eccles cake for pudding at St. John for dinner (or a random feast at Song Que on Kingsland Rd.). I'm sure there are better places to eat, but that's been my routine for about five years, and I just can't break the habit.