7.318
18 (Fri) November 2016
Deep-Fried Tofu with Scallops, Broccoli & Asparagus in Oyster Sauce
3.25
at Seafood Market & Restaurant
(see most recently 6.198 Jumbo Prawns …)
-Ermita, Manila-
with K staff
For reasons unknown (to me) — likely just the passage of time — the Boss has lifted his moratorium on hosting dinners here.
Generally, for everyone else on the planet, this doesn’t really matter much, either way.
Maybe net positive, as the novelty of the set-up always provides a small wow for guests, the food can be quite good, and the location is within walking distance of the office.
But I have the responsibility — albeit, of my own acceptance — to go there in advance on every occasion, to hand-select the types and eye-ball the quantities of all ingredients — down to each individual green onion, availabilities fluctuating by day, by hour — then to instruct the kitchen how to prepare them — the restaurant has no menu — and then to maintain vigilance throughout the service to ensure that the dishes have been properly prepared and served in sequence and appropriately timed in between. If anything goes wrong, as typically something does — for example, without a set menu, different cooks in the kitchen interpret the same instructions differently, sometimes resulting in disaster — the backlash falls upon me, publicly, on the spot, especially when the guests are VIP(ish), when protocol demands a fallguy.
