Once again they had a reason to be cheerful: New York lately the laughing-stock of Miami Minneapolis Chicago
Once again, they had a reason to be cheerful: New York, lately the laughing-stock of Miami, Minneapolis, Chicago and other arrivistes in the lethal metropolis scene, had finally salvaged its reputation for ruthlessness and mayhem. Satan was back in Hell’s Kitchen, all was right with the world. It all started last week, when it was revealed that an evil band, headed by a ne’er-do-well known only as “el jefe” had been keeping 55 deaf Mexican immigrants as virtual slaves, forcing them to sell trinkets on the subway. The art of good manners is to put someone at their ease.”Those insulted at restaurants take heart,” says Gill. “Mark my words: when the next recession comes, 70 per cent of those new places will go out of business The restaurant business is the best economic indicator.
They are the first to open in a boom and the first to close when it all falls down. “They take customer relations so fantastically seriously and are famed for it, ” adds Gill. “And once you get a table, you are treated equally, whether you are a regular like Ralph Fiennes or it is your first time there.” Good manners are, after all, neither stuffy or intimidating. Once inside, you need a copy of Hello! with you on the cover before being allowed to view the special stock. One regular customer of such a place changed her hairstyle for the day and didn’t even get past the door.Ironically, it is well established old favourite restaurants such as The Ivy and La Caprice that continue to buck this unpleasant trend. It always took courage to brave the walk past the immaculate assistants in designer emporiums. Now some have introduced a door buzzer so they can give you the once over.
“Unlike many restaurants in Notting Hill, we are not asphyxiated by our own importance. We have no truck with liggers or wannabes, but we hire staff who enjoy the vibe and don’t feel trapped or servile.”Great British envy may contribute to the rudeness of waiters to wannabe diners, but arrogance is somehow encouraged by media hype and popularity In fact, it is obligatory. At Momo, the Moroccan restaurant we are told to patronise this month, service and food are exquisite at lunchtime. Come 9pm and you are practically hustled off a table to make way for the next party.It seems that the more you spend, the more abuse you must endure And not just in restaurants. The food is undoubtedly exquisite, but is it worth the ritual humiliation meted out by failed actors stuck in catering? “Unfortunately, the disease is spreading,” says Ollie Daniaud, who owns Notting Hill watering hole The Westbourne. If you grandly proclaim, ‘I’ll never eat here again,’ it is music to the maitre d’s ears.” This begs the question of why we even bother with restaurants when the River Cafe Cookbook is in our kitchens.Sadly, we do believe the hype when another temple to gastronomy opens its starkly minimalist doors.
It is difficult to complain because you can’t quite pin down their bad manners.”
“Complaining in a London restaurant is like pissing in your own soup,” says restaurant critic AA Gill “Like sex, restaurants are a seller’s market. There are simply more people wanting to dine than there are tables in London. What we are talking about here is more subtle: something in the tone of voice or general demeanour that suggests superiority or arrogance. “It’s the old British malaise,” says modern etiquette doyenne Drusilla Beyfus “We don’t like serving other people Having said that, we don’t tolerate blatant rudeness either. We are booked for at least three months, but there might be a 5.30pm window in September You’ll have to be out by seven. Take it or leave it.”
Haven’t you heard? London is the heart of “Cool Britannia” and that gives maitre ds everywhere carte blanche to act like graduates from the Princess Pushy charm school. Every new restaurant, bar or boutique is greeted with more excitement than the second coming and the publicity has gone to their collective head.