I'm so totally offended that there is someone marching around Chin Chin with the term Wine Guy on their apron that I don't really know whether I can be bothered going there.
That, and the fact that when I go to hip asian places, I tend not to love them. I usually have a pretty decent time, but I never walk away thinking OMG, I can't wait to go back. Except for the time that KJ and I were in NYC, and, walking home after we saw Bridesmaids, happened upon the famous Momofuku and so went in and ate the shit out of a bunch of stuff including pork buns so good they would make you cry if you hadn't just seen Bridesmaids, and if crying about how delicious food is wasn't such a stupid thing to do. Believe the hype, everybody. That place makes me want to go back about once a day.
But seriously, how annoying it is when you can't be seated until your whole party gets there!? Who arrives at a place at the same time as their whole party? Robots? The Swiss?
It just doesn't happen if you have regular people for friends.
And being told you can't be seated when you arrive at a place all eager and excited is a terrible terrible feeling! Like the last scene in A Chorus Line when the casting guy calls all those people's names and they excitedly step forward beaming with pride because they think they've passed the audition, only to then be told they didn't make it and the other people who's names weren't called are actually the ones who are going to be in the chorus line. No one wants to feel like that when they are ready to drop a lot of cash on a bunch of food!
We're the ones with the mouths and the stomachs, restaurants! YOU are auditioning for US and when you make us wait until our whole party has arrived before you will seat us you FAIL the audition.
That's it Chin Chin, I'm out. I'm never going. Unless you think the corn and coriander fritters are so special I should go?
I guess I should try it once. FOMOODT.
Guys, I don't even know where to start.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I feel some responsibility because when Bleph and I were sitting on top of the world*, looking out on Creation** yesterday, waxing about where she might want to go to eat with J, I was so enthusiastically CHIN CHIN! I had eaten there twice in the past two weeks, and didn't have nothin' but a good time.
But I can see how your experience, with the sitting/not sitting, baby scorn etc would be offputting.
K and I have spoken before about how LAME it is that you can't book a table ANYWHERE these days. Fortunately pubs will still let you enjoy a steak sandwich without reservation (pun intended). So I get that this is really annoying. But in Chin Chin's defence, can I say this:
- Many, if not all, of the waitstaff are very attractive. This is a service I am happy to pay for.
- I get that your crabby thing was maybe not amazing. I had a small gripe that my allegedly super-hot jungle curry was not hot enough for me (my eyes did not bleed, and nor did my nose run). But on the whole, the food is delicious.
- I like the decor A LOT. Those neon bunny ears are excellent. Yeah, so, you can't walk 100m in this town without tripping over a Tolix stool or a Thonet chair. But I love the glossy teal finish of the chairs at Chin Chin. And that orange-corally red and the perfect pale duck-egg blue accents? Amazing.
I just don't want people to think they shouldn't go to Chin Chin because they definitely should.***
*In our office
**By which I mean the GPO
***What do I even care? Go/don't go. If you don't go I will be more likely to get a table, due to aforementioned fuckfaceous no-bookings policy.