Sunny Race Day – 33°C air Temperature – 45°C Track Temperature
After 2 Days of tweaking on our diet, we have decided that we were craving Chinese food: Chopsticks was a good choice for a lunch date, based on his reputation, time of day, traffic etc…
We were looking forward enjoying a slow relaxed Chinese experience, but we ran out of luck, it was “Race day”…
The place was almost empty, (it was 2:30 PM) the race manager greeted us at the door and welcomed us in showing us with a wide hand gesture that we could sit “wein ma baddkon”. Had we know it was a race, I would have chosen a kitchen view to watch the start… oh wait they have no kitchen view… lack of transparency, not an issue though…
We ordered a soup, an appetizer, a noodle dish, one chicken main course and one beef main course.
3 minutes later… literally, the soup and the appetizer were on, to my delight (you have to understand I was hungry) little did I know It was “Race Day”…
I was about to start tasting my soup, when I see the waitress with a big tray coming with the rest of our order… it took what? 5 min after the order? Then it hit me: the Chef is competing in a formula one food race… or simply put, all the food presented was not freshly prepared… it was sadly reheated.
The waitress felt my surprise and annoyance and proposed to take the plates back. I objected that they will be cold when we ask for them back to which she replied very naturally and with a smile: We will reheat them… … … I thought to myself okaayyyyyyy reheat an already reheated food… but hey what the H. right? I’m starving and my soup was right under my nose.
I got to hand it to the chef though, the soup was amazing, and I can still feel its taste on my buds. The spring rolls were also good.
By the time we finished those dishes, we were looking for the waitress to bring the “suite”… a quick look around… the paddocks were empty… oh… there they are ! Huddled all together chatting (since the restaurant is empty) – “Excuse me please? Yeah… can we have the rest of our order? Yes? Thank you so much…”
It took another 3 minutes to have our food back – consistent with probably microwave reheating? Or simply stored in a salamander (a device that keeps the food hot before serving… google it damn it! no time to explain.. we are racing!)
But I hate to admit it, the food was excellent, we enjoyed every bit of it to the point that they almost made us forget “the Race”… (Obviously I didn’t forget since I’m writing this review right?) No really, the food was amazing, nothing will keep me from coming back again, not even another race, though, I will be careful next time to advise the waitress that we actually came for a slow ballad in the afternoon breeze in a cabriolet… and not a rush in a formula one car.
So I guess my advice to Chopstick Race Management is: Keep your food service as high up as your food taste!
Gaston Le Street Racer
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