A lot has been said of the bad service in China that it's getting a little stale.
Therefore I had some skepticism when i heard about 海底捞 - a hotpot place with a much vaunted service.
We decided to try it one cold winter night.
Ok, there was a line of 10 pairs at 5:30pm on a weekday night at this branch which is in the middle of nowhere.
While you're waiting, they have seats and tables and they serve you snacks and drinks and paper to fold origami and chess sets too.
Once in, there were two dedicated servers serving about five tables. Not a bad ratio. They smiled a lot, which was a good, but yet not extraordinary thing.
The weird thing happened when during the middle of the meal, one of the two asked us if we wanted to drink the soup. When we said yes (i said "Duh" in my head), she went to a nearby cupboard with two bowls, threw in some spring onions and minced meat, came back to our table and scooped the soup for us. WEIRD! It's like some secret ingredient! She only did it once!
A while later, the other one came over, and started scooping off the excess broth and oil from the soup! Did you read what i just said? The server came regularly to scoop the excess broth!! Amazing.
Someone ordered noodles and I ordered rice. They said noodles will be served immediately when we wanted it. When we indicated so, a different server came up to us holding a ball of dough and flour in his hand and immediately started to 拉the面on the spot!! He was pulling and twirling like making a pizza and turning and swirling like a dancer. It was a little weird to see him put so much effort in the cramped space for a S$1.20 noodle. But he did. I wanted to clap but didnt for fear people knew i was a foreigner.
About three quarters through, they saw us (no idea why so late) dipping and holding down the beef. They brought us a little cage-like thingy that can soak the beef.
Someone's only gripe was that this came so late. *Mumble*
The odd thing is they saw that we were some young couple and made a special dish for us and asked us to guess the name of the dish:
情侣菜. That's the name of the dish. Not very creative I know.
And they charged me for it. I cant remember if it was RMB1 or S$1. That was odd.
I later went online to read some reviews on this chain of restaurants. Everyone loves the service. Someone even said they didnt dare go back. 受宠若惊it seemed.
Therefore I had some skepticism when i heard about 海底捞 - a hotpot place with a much vaunted service.
We decided to try it one cold winter night.
Ok, there was a line of 10 pairs at 5:30pm on a weekday night at this branch which is in the middle of nowhere.
While you're waiting, they have seats and tables and they serve you snacks and drinks and paper to fold origami and chess sets too.
Once in, there were two dedicated servers serving about five tables. Not a bad ratio. They smiled a lot, which was a good, but yet not extraordinary thing.
The weird thing happened when during the middle of the meal, one of the two asked us if we wanted to drink the soup. When we said yes (i said "Duh" in my head), she went to a nearby cupboard with two bowls, threw in some spring onions and minced meat, came back to our table and scooped the soup for us. WEIRD! It's like some secret ingredient! She only did it once!
A while later, the other one came over, and started scooping off the excess broth and oil from the soup! Did you read what i just said? The server came regularly to scoop the excess broth!! Amazing.
Someone ordered noodles and I ordered rice. They said noodles will be served immediately when we wanted it. When we indicated so, a different server came up to us holding a ball of dough and flour in his hand and immediately started to 拉the面on the spot!! He was pulling and twirling like making a pizza and turning and swirling like a dancer. It was a little weird to see him put so much effort in the cramped space for a S$1.20 noodle. But he did. I wanted to clap but didnt for fear people knew i was a foreigner.
About three quarters through, they saw us (no idea why so late) dipping and holding down the beef. They brought us a little cage-like thingy that can soak the beef.
Someone's only gripe was that this came so late. *Mumble*
The odd thing is they saw that we were some young couple and made a special dish for us and asked us to guess the name of the dish:
情侣菜. That's the name of the dish. Not very creative I know.
And they charged me for it. I cant remember if it was RMB1 or S$1. That was odd.
I later went online to read some reviews on this chain of restaurants. Everyone loves the service. Someone even said they didnt dare go back. 受宠若惊it seemed.
No comments:
Post a Comment