Feb 06 2007
The All White Place
Shirley wanted to try this new restaurant she had heard about in Cape Town. Very chi-chi. Rave reviews, it was touted to Be All That.
I like good food…up to a point. I believe that food can only taste so good and then it levels off. I can’t see how a hundred dollar steak is going to be twice as good as a fifty-dollar steak.
I like low-key, casual restaurants with good food, good service, and designed so that people can talk and not shout.
Wine? But of course.
It’s lunchtime on a Wednesday. The place was packed.
It was also all white. White walls, white tables, white-white-white. The waitstaff looked like they all came back from spa – exfoliated and yogafied.
Massive clear glass cylindrical vases lined a white shelf jutting from the white wall. Each vase supported a single gerbera daisy.
So this is what trendy looks like.
Made me think ” test tubes”, not “tasty food.”
There was a small open table tucked against a white pillar and backed up into some other white thing. We caught the eye of one of the waitresses and pointed to the table.
More miming and I squished myself at the end of the table near the white thing, Laverne against the pillar, Shirley across from me.
We could barely hear each other over the din. The whitestaff bustled around but paid little attention to us.
We heard a glass fall and shatter.
We all looked at each other.
“YOU WANT TO EAT HERE?” shouted Shirley.
“UP TO YOU.” I shouted back.
Laverne shrugged.
We looked around. Except for the people, pretty much a whole lotta white going on.
We stood up and left, passing some people waiting for a table.
We stood on the sidewalk. Shirley ran a hand through her hair, pondering. The street was lined with chi-chi restaurants.
She pointed to a place across the street. “We’ve eaten there before,” she said, referring to Laverne.
Picnic tables clustered on the tree-shaded balcony. We’re soon sitting at one of the tables.
Vines spill through the balcony, green all around.
I spot a garden gnome.
Yep. My kinda place.