old kingdom - 197 smith street fitzroy 9417 2438
when you go to a restaurant you're not there for the enjoyment and convenience of the owner or staff. you're not there to make their lives fulfilled and you're certainly not there so they can have someone to vent their frustrations on. there are people queuing up in my life to do all these things and i don't have to pay them for the privilege. call me old fashioned.
old kingdom. it has a good reputation and a speciality dish. they do duck - roast, sezhuan, peking. you name it, the duck's fucked. in order to get the duck, however, you have to call in advance and identify the number of diners and number of ducks you will be consuming. that way the owner can plan for the night. it all makes sense except for two small problems. anyone who takes orders on the phone must first be able to take orders and secondly have a better command of the english language than a cabbage. these guys seemed to have neither.
we turn up for dinner and our single duck to be told we ordered two. 'au contraire, my good man, we ordered only one'. then he proceeds to rant and rave. 'what is he going to do with extra duck?!'. we are close to telling what he could do with the extra duck when he storms off. after that we got what can best be described as surly service and to say we were unimpressed is like saying the qe2 is a boat.
yes they do a good duck but it's worth it only if you can overlook the owner's arrogant and obnoxious attitude. i'm the fucking customer here! a big fuck you very much and we won't be back.
bigmouth makes this comment
18 November 2009
so he comes out of the kitchen waving a meat cleaver in one hand and he goes from table to table and asks "do you like the duck?!?!" d-uh...meat cleaver (check) crazy owner (check) reply: yes yes of course!! - ...a reply that may save lives (check).
one time we were all eating and having a good time. he then pops out from the kicthen. walks to my sister and says "you talk too much" when she wasn't even talking. that scared the hell out of us because it was so unexpected and he had a dead serious look on his face. we just uncomfortably laughed it off.
the last time i was there and as we were finishing off our meal. he comes to our table. "so, how's the duck?" we were like it's great and all. then he said "oh don't forget to pay your bill. i am wearing my nike shoes (he then shows us his white nike runners). so even if you run, i can run faster and catch you".
his humour is dark. think of him as a genius duck madman chef. also, i must add and because i am asian, in most good old chinese restaurants famed for good food, it's common to find that arrogance is part of the cuisine. *sigh* the food is just too good. you'll go back in moths to a flame.
rachat de credit makes this comment
23 November 2010