Qualities
I went out to Sparrow Indonesian Restaurant in Northbridge last night. It's famous in certain circles for a variety of reasons:
1) It's pious. We Christians are an insular lot. Show us a restaurant with blockmounted pictures from the "Bible verses superimposed on sunsets and forest glades" school on the wall, and we'll flock like Trekkies to a Shatner book signing.
2) It's comfy. It's one of those establishments where the owner, a jocular little man of indeterminate age, can put his fingers in his mouth, emit a piercing whistle to silence the restaurant, then announce that it's some excruciatingly embarassed teenaged girl's birthday and lead the entire crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday.
3) It's ugly. Light fixtures missing half their bulbs, installed around 1982. Plastic pot plants that are about as realistic as 'Desperate Housewives'. Steel-framed chairs with apple-green vinyl upholstery. Chipped white laminated tables. Shopping centre art. I asked my neighbour, a commercial interior designer, what he thought. But by that point I think he'd lost the power of speech.
4) It's cheap. So, so cheap. I looked at the menu and the prices warmed my cold, miserly heart. I had rice cakes with vegetables in a satay sauce, marinated minute steak and beef and potato balls. I ate until the weight of my swollen stomach pressing against my lungs made breathing difficult. Everyone else did the same. The total cost, including drinks, for nine hungry people was $100.
5) It's delicious. Enough said.
1) It's pious. We Christians are an insular lot. Show us a restaurant with blockmounted pictures from the "Bible verses superimposed on sunsets and forest glades" school on the wall, and we'll flock like Trekkies to a Shatner book signing.
2) It's comfy. It's one of those establishments where the owner, a jocular little man of indeterminate age, can put his fingers in his mouth, emit a piercing whistle to silence the restaurant, then announce that it's some excruciatingly embarassed teenaged girl's birthday and lead the entire crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday.
3) It's ugly. Light fixtures missing half their bulbs, installed around 1982. Plastic pot plants that are about as realistic as 'Desperate Housewives'. Steel-framed chairs with apple-green vinyl upholstery. Chipped white laminated tables. Shopping centre art. I asked my neighbour, a commercial interior designer, what he thought. But by that point I think he'd lost the power of speech.
4) It's cheap. So, so cheap. I looked at the menu and the prices warmed my cold, miserly heart. I had rice cakes with vegetables in a satay sauce, marinated minute steak and beef and potato balls. I ate until the weight of my swollen stomach pressing against my lungs made breathing difficult. Everyone else did the same. The total cost, including drinks, for nine hungry people was $100.
5) It's delicious. Enough said.
posted by Blandwagon at 6:35 PM
2 Comments:
Your comments re food intake touched me in a way that eating 6 kg of pasta could not.
As a former glutton, I resent the fact that the young of today seem unable, or unwilling, to make total pigs of themselves. I'm not talking about what they eat - there are plenty of lardy arse kids around - rather the quantities involved. When was the last time you saw a young kiddie eat his own weight in steak?
With no young talent coming through, I may need to come out of retirement. This Saturday looks good.
Sounds great. I hate restaurants that spend so much on decor, pillows and designer lighting etc. that they forget even how to construct a basic menu.
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