Solo dining markets in everything

Posted on 2014/11/15 by .

A new pop-up restaurant in Amsterdam, which bills itself as the world’s first for solo eaters, aims to remove the social stigma of forking dinner without a companion. In fact, there isn’t a two-top in the joint.

…”The taste of persons eating alone seems different, and even more intense, according to our guests,” says Marina van Goor, owner of the temporary eatery, which is called Eenmaal. As such, the chef takes care to serve four-course meals (at a moderate €35, or roughly $48, including drink) prepared from quality local and organic ingredients. Even the interior is left intentionally raw and no-frills, to emphasize the simple pleasure of unapologetically eating alone.

Nor do they offer Wi-Fi, there is more here, via Sendhil Mullainathan.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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Where to eat in Hong Kong

Posted on 2014/10/12 by .

Anywhere near downtown virtually all of the good places are quite expensive. The good news is that there are many of them and they are quite fine indeed. Two I can recommend are Mott 32 and Ye Shanghai, near Central and Admiralty respectively.

My favorite meal of the trip was out at Sha Tin 18, in the New Territories Hyatt.

Tung Po Seafood, above one of the wet markets, is one of the remaining good and relatively cheap places on Hong Kong Island.

On the even cheaper side, I can recommend the general row of eateries on Hau Fook Street, Kowloon, especially the larger Sichuan place on the corner, no English sign but they advertise being a WiFi HotSpot, I believe you will find it if you try.

Cheaper yet, the protestors served some pretty good fried rice, which I believe was donated by a local restaurant.

In general, the way to go these days is to either ante up on Hong Kong Island or make your way out to New Territories, or maybe try Kowloon City.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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The true competition has arrived, just ask the Thai Delicious Committee

Posted on 2014/09/29 by .

Hopscotching the globe as Thailand’s prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra repeatedly encountered a distressing problem: bad Thai food.

Too often, she found, the meals she sampled at Thai restaurants abroad were unworthy of the name, too bland to be called genuine Thai cooking. The problem bothered her enough to raise it at a cabinet meeting.

Her political party has since been thrown out of office, in a May military coup, but her initiative in culinary diplomacy lives on.

At a gala dinner at a ritzy Bangkok hotel on Tuesday the government will unveil its project to standardize the art of Thai food — with a robot.

Diplomats and dignitaries have been invited to witness the debut of a machine that its promoters say can scientifically evaluate Thai cuisine, telling the difference, for instance, between a properly prepared green curry with just the right mix of Thai basil, curry paste and fresh coconut cream, and a lame imitation.

Has there ever been a better committee name than this?:

The government-financed Thai Delicious Committee, which oversaw the development of the machine, describes it as “an intelligent robot that measures smell and taste in food ingredients through sensor technology in order to measure taste like a food critic.”

In a country of 67 million people, there are somewhere near the same number of strongly held opinions about Thai cooking. A heated debate here on the merits of a particular nam prik kapi, a spicy chili dip of fermented shrimp paste, lime juice and palm sugar, could easily go on for an hour without coming close to resolution.

The full story is here, excellent throughout, and for the pointer I thank Otis Reid.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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Hong Kong bleg

Posted on 2014/09/27 by .

You know the drill, I have been there before but not in a long time. Your assistance is much appreciated and I thank you all in advance…

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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How to make beer a natural monopoly?

Posted on 2014/09/27 by .

Bruges is trying something different:

The Belgian city of Bruges has approved plans to build a pipeline which will funnel beer underneath its famous cobbled streets.

Locals and politicians were fed up with huge lorries clattering through the cobbled streets and tiny canal paths of the picturesque city and decided to connect the De Halve Maan brewery to a bottling factory 3.2km (two miles) away.

It is estimated that some 500 trucks currently motor through Bruges each year on their way to the brewery, which is a famous tourist attraction.

Now they will be kept out of the city limits, as the pipe pumps 1,500 gallons of beer per hour. Construction is set to begin next year.

“The beer will take 10 to 15 minutes to reach the bottling plant,” said brewery CEO Xavier Vanneste. “By using the pipeline we will keep hundreds of lorries out of the city centre. This is unique in the brewing industry with exception of one German brewery that has installed a similar system.”

There is more here, and for the pointer I thank Samir Varma.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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Rural Society

Posted on 2014/09/20 by .

Rural Society, 1177 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, between L and M in the Loews Madison Hotel, open for breakfast too, early lunch and dinner, 202-587-2629 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [Zagat | WaPo | Washingtonian | City Paper | Don Rockwell | Ylp]

This is in fact northern Argentinean food, rural style. Excellent sausage, good empanadas. I liked the soup with chicken, corn, and dumplings. The humita (corn and cheese tamale) was very good too. They serve true Argentinean pizza, which gets good reviews but I haven’t tried. The way to go here is to treat it as a snack shop with some unique savory treats. I would resist the temptation to make it your main steak house. I don’t doubt the meat here is pretty good (and pretty expensive), but going the meat-only, large plate route to me seemed like it would be a bore, I don’t think I will ever try that. For taste and uniqueness I give this place high marks, use it properly and you should too. DC actually has a northern Argentinean restaurant, let’s be proud of that.

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Should a restaurant require prepayment for meals?

Posted on 2014/09/16 by .

This I found in a Quora forum on prepaid meals in China:

We’ve actually experimented with prepaid vs postpaid meals in our restaurant. The verdict? Upfront payment increased table turnover by over 80%.

The difference is that customers who haven’t paid can justify their occupation of a table. They surf facebook. They chat away for hours on end. They get comfy. It matters not whether they intend to order more stuff, the mere possibility of them ordering more gives them the moral upper hand.

Customers who have paid up on the other hand, do not have moral justification. They could order more food, but diminishing marginal utility and inertia discourages that act. They get edgy. They feel guilty. They leave.

It all depends on the restaurant’s business model. If it’s a low-end restaurant, this tactic will serve it well. If it’s a high end restaurant, paying $150 for that bottle of wine buys you a little more time.

For the pointer I thank Eduardo Pegurier.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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A simple rule for making every restaurant meal better

Posted on 2014/09/08 by .

This one is so simple it is stupid, yet you hardly ever hear it. If anything it is mocked, but I will go on record:

Eat at 5 p.m. or 5:30.

The quality of the food coming out of the kitchen will be higher. Only the very top restaurants (and even then not always) can maintain the same quality at say 8 p.m. on a Saturday night. It is also the easiest time for getting a reservation.

The best time to eat at @ElephantJumps is 4:20 p.m. They’re all just sitting around, waiting to cook for you.

Oyamel is a good example of a D.C. restaurant which can be quite iffy, but is tasty and consistent first thing in the evening.

There is a beauty to having a restaurant all to yourself. And if you don’t like the timing, have no more than an apple for lunch.

This is also a better system for getting work done, if the nature of your workplace allows it. Few people who do the 7:30 dinner work through to 11 p.m. If you have dinner 5-6:30, you are ideally suited to get back into the saddle by 7:15.

But please, I hope not too many of you follow this advice. The funny thing is, you won’t. You will leave the low-hanging fruit behind, you strange creatures you.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

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Gypsy Soul

Posted on 2014/08/11 by .

Gypsy Soul, web site, 8296 Glass Alley, Fairfax, VA (Angelika Mosaic Center, near Mom’s and Red Apron, dinner only until Fall 2014) 703-992-0933 (Metro Trip Planner – opens in new window) [WaPo | Washingtonian | NoVA Mag | Don Rockwell | Ylp]

Update December 2015: Closed

A mix of Southern and American and nouvelle, I enjoyed my first visit here. It’s an RJ Cooper place. The frogmore stew was my favorite, and it is hard to find that dish around here. The fish and shrimp in the stew were plentiful, fresh, and tasty. I recommend the okra as a side. The rabbit was fine but I don’t think I would order it again. The chicken cracklings had a tasty sauce. Lots of mac and cheese on the menu, a bunch of beef dishes, pork belly, more Southern dishes too. Service was friendly, the wine list seems to not yet be in order. Be warned, entrees cost around $28, a few of them much more than that. The place was packed even though it just opened. Nice décor, and you can show up totally casual and not feel out of place. So far I lean positive but the prices will keep me from going a lot.

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Santa Cruz, Bolivia bleg

Posted on 2014/08/10 by .

I’ll be there soon enough. Please tell me what to do, what to eat, and how to understand what I am doing. I thank you all in advance.

Originally posted on Marginal Revolution – click to see comments and suggestions.

Follow up posts on MR:
– Santa Cruz notes
– Cochabamba notes

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