Cycle 15 – Item 49

23 (Fri) February 2024

Dinner

3.o

at Chinois

-Sangam, Mapo, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with W, Heather, Emma

In the morning, I dropped off the boys at school then went up to the Elementary Library to support a book signing session with author-illustrator LeUyen Pham, on the final day of her week-long Author-in-Residence at SIS.

Through the IRIS program, we’ve been working with international schools behind the scenes to support author visits, primarily by sourcing the authors’ books in advance of the visit and selling them to students, so they’re better prepared to engage more meaningfully with the authors.

Starting this year, I’m taking advantage of the visits to meet with the authors and lay the groundwork for collaborations on our website, to promote their books to our national audience.  While we kinda worked with a couple authors last year (see for example 14.138 Golbaengi with Jjol Myeon), the process started in earnest yesterday (see 15.048 Lunch).

Chinois is an “Asian” restaurant (as per the signage).  Dishes are mostly fusion Chinese-French.

The occasion was Heather’s farewell dinner.

Wrapping up the Dwight book fair this afternoon (see most recently 15.048 Lunch), I asked her to find a restaurant in this part of town, and she came up with Chinois.

As soon as I sat down, I ordered a beer.  A few minutes later, when the beer was still not served, I asked again – the server said “Yes” then just stood there.   The ensuing exchange:

Me: “Why aren’t you giving me a beer?”

Him: “After you place your dinner order, I’ll explain our drink policy.”

Me: “Just explain right now.”

Him:  “If you order dishes a la carte, each customer is required to order a drink.  But if you order the set menu, you don’t have to order drinks.”

Me: “Is there any situation in which I will be prohibited from drinking a beer?”

Him: “No.”

Me: “Then why can’t you just give me the beer right now?”

Him: “Now that I’ve explained the drink policy, I’ll serve you the beer.”

At the outset, I could sense that everyone at the table was nervous where the conversation was headed, but soon into it even they could tell that the server was a fucking idiot.

We ordered the set menu – so nobody was forced to order a drink.

Following the beer thing, the meal service was also full of bullshit.  As each course was set on the table, the server launched into an explanation of the dish, starting with the ingredients (even though they’re listed on the menu) and an entirely unnecessary suggestion of how to eat it (e.g., “Use the knife to spread the butter on the bread” or “Dip the spring rolls into the sauce on the plate” or “Make sure each bite includes a piece of meat, and mushrooms, and rice, and scallions, for a balanced flavor.”) – about 3 dishes in, everyone kinda ignored him.  Each course was served after the previous one was finished – at one point, W had to take a call so she went outside; meanwhile we finished the plate, but the next course wasn’t served, even though I could see it sitting on the pass; when I asked why the delay, the server said he was waiting until the entire party was seated, so everyone could hear the dish’s introduction together – to which I replied, “Just bring it – and we don’t need the intro.”  The first tenet of good service should be to avoid annoying the customer, when clearly they’re not into it.

The food was fine, though not enough to elevate it above the bullshit.  As he was serving the pork dish, the server began with “While you’re already very familiar with Thai cuisine…” – I cut him off: “How do you know if we’re familiar with Thai cuisine?!  Just serve it.”   For me, it was the best of the spread – impossibly tender meat (pork neck, which is usually very chewy), delicately seasoned, paired very nicely with a spicy cabbage salad.  But too much meat at the end.

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)