Top Notch Service

Watami Casual Japanese Restaurant demonstrated to me that service doesn't require a high price or much effort.

Once upon a time ago (erm... last week), my ice coffee was pretty bland. I don't know if it was a cost cutting measure or an unfortunate mishap, but the color looked like ice tea, and it pretty much tasted like watered down milk. After I brought up the issue to my server, the problem was quickly remedied. This is the kind of service you should expect from all restaurants.

What lifted Watami to another level, was how they remembered me the next time I came (a few days later). They remembered the minute coffee return request from the last time, and as the latest ice coffee arrived, they reassured me that it would not be like "last time". I never imagined a HKD50 lunch set would include this high level of service.

Watami has always had good service, but this really put them over the top. It is certainly puzzling why other places can't do the same.

F**k Artisan Water

Madness is... a HKD80 (USD10) bottle of water.

Apparently, that's what some restaurants are charging these days for bottled water. Not only do they charge an outrageous price, but they damn near force you to order it.  If you want water, you have to order the silly artisan bottled water. Otherwise, you're just going to have to go thirsty while eating that meal.  What happened to the days when water was free at restaurants?  

I'm a drinker.  I'll have beer with my pizza and wine with my steak, and I'll pay for it.  But I absolutely hate having to pay for ridiculously expensive water that comes in an environmentally unfriendly bottle.  It is stupid.  I feel like I'm being cheated.  The water costs HKD10 in the store, so they're making a profit of HKD70. That is seven times the retail cost.  

Sabatini's in the Royal Garden Hotel has the right idea.  They serve bottled water, but it is included in the meal.  Now that is service, and service that I will gladly pay more for.  

Restaurant Etiquette

I had to have a late lunch the other day. So I'm at the mall, expecting restaurants to be somewhat empty. I though about trying this somewhat new place where there's always a long line (turns out it was crap, but anyways...). Surely, there would be no line well past the lunch hour, right?

Wrong. There was still a considerable line. What I should have done was move on and eat somewhere else, but it was too late. My mind had already programmed itself into wanting to eat that meal at that place. So I lined up with everyone else, and that's when I noticed the reason for the line.

People who had finished eating were still hanging around. They weren't just done eating, their dishes had already been cleared away. Despite people waiting for seats right in front of them, they chose to just remain in their seats and chit-chat long after their meal was finished.

Of course this annoyed me, but it is what people do in Hong Kong. Even at a busy restaurant, most Hong Kongers will choose to be inconsiderate and hog their tables until their lunch hour ends. This happened to be a Japanese restaurant, and it reminded me of what would likely happen in Japan: people would quickly eat their meals, and vacate the restaurant. If they wanted to hang out and chat, they would go to a cafe instead of delaying the next person from eating their meal. That is restaurant etiquette.

Naturally, different restaurants and different situations will require different actions. If the restaurant is empty, then yeah, stay as long as you want. However, during the lunch rush, I wish Hong Kong people would be more considerate.

All Good Things...

I was shocked to discover last weekend that the "Ramen Street" in Causeway Bay has turned into an electronic shopping mall. The "street" is actually an indoor food court of some sorts. It had five or six restaurants. Most served ramen, and they all served Japanese food. Each shop had its own style of ramen. The most popular being the "pork toro ramen" shop.

Its disappointing how many restaurants that I feel comfortable going to are closing one by one. It is my own undoing, as I'm not very adventurous when dining alone. I'll find places I like, and simply won't go anywhere else... most of the time. Which is also why I don't look forward to people asking me where to eat. The answer for me is simple: I'll always suggest the places I like and always go to. However, that answer is unlikely to satisfy the person asking. "***** again?", is usually the response.

So all I'm left with are memories of some above average ramen and a now useless 20% off discount card, which I often forgot to use.

Fun with Chemistry

Another experiment gone err... well, perhaps it wasn't so bad.

In hope of making my ice coffee stay cold longer while avoiding dilution by ice cubes, I froze some milk into cubes and put that in instead. Results were... interesting. The milk melted into tiny little pieces that resembled milk that had gone bad. What actually happened was that the high fat content in the milk caused it to separate while freezing. So the little chunks of milk fat floated out first.

In the end, it turned out great, but perhaps a better way is in order. Until next time.

Excellent Combination

Two recent discoveries:

1) The Palm Treo 750's camera sucks. I'm not picky about camera phones (kind of an oxymoron as it is), but with a sticker price of HKD6000 (relax, I didn't pay nearly that much) I expect something a little better than 1.3 megapixels.

2) Avocado goes really well with ponzu sauce.

I first saw people eat avocado this way in the late Juzo Itami's The Funeral. They basically cut the avocado in half, add a little soy sauce to where the seed used to be, and spoon it out. Not sure if that's how all Japanese people eat avocado, but it looked great.

A couple weekends ago I decided to try it with ponzu instead. The result was delightful.

So next time you get a ripe avocado, instead of making guacamole or a salad, try this method instead.

$1.25 Dinner

Couple days ago, after hearing about the $1,000 pizza, I heard about the $10 dinner. That's 10 Hong Kong dollars folks, not USD (HKD10 roughly equals USD1.25).

A guy who lost his job was telling his story on the radio, and he was asking no one in particular how he could cook a dinner with ten Hong Kong dollars. As is the case with many jobless Hong Kong people, work opportunities are running out, and they are too proud to get on welfare.

Back to the ten dollar dinner... no one could give him an immediate answer. Sure, you can probably get something off McDonald's cheapie menu, but that's about it, and its hardly a meal. Later in the day, one of the DJs asked a cleaning lady the "ten dollar question", and she was able to give him an answer quite easily.

Beef Soup

Ingredients:
Beef - $5
Tomatoes - $2
Potatoes - $3

Recipe: Boil all the ingredients in water. Take out the potatoes and deep fry them.

"Tastes really really good", she said.

The moral of this story: while some of us burn away money in extravagance, others are struggling to survive. The middle class is getting smaller and smaller. While some can't imagine preparing a meal with ten dollars, there are many who must find ways to make it happen; and they do.

Meanwhile, someone in NYC is chowing down on a $1,000 pizza.

$1,000 Pizza

New York City: home of the $40 burger and the $100 omelet, is now home to the outrageous $1,000 pizza.

You heard that right! The 1K Pizza, created by the owner of Nino Bellisima, is probably more a publicity stunt than anything else. A pretty good ploy: everyone in America has heard of his ridiculous pizza, and of course they've also heard of his restaurant's name as well. Spend a couple grand making sample pizzas for the press and customers has gotten Nino Selimaj some pretty cheap nationwide advertising. Not bad for a day's work.

Onto the pizza: it has creme fraiche, chives, four different kinds of caviar, 4 ounces of thinly sliced lobster tail, salmon roe and Japanese wasabi horseradish. No cooking is required, but an order must be made 24 hours ahead of time.

Is it worth it?

Not even close! Without trying it, I can already tell you that $85 for a small slice is way over the top. Forty dollar burger? I can understand that. Best quality beef plus truffles, and I can imagine it costing $40. Hundred dollar omelet? Crazy, and out of my league, but feasible! I can envision an omelet costing that much if you put enough extravagant items in it.

I don't blame Selimaj. All he's doing is promoting his restaurants. I blame those people who will actually spend a thousand bucks on this pizza. No point in elaborating, but my advice is spend one tenth of that money on a regular pizza and donate the rest to charity... please.