a doughnut and disgusting. On the receipt as we left I noticed the following
implausible statement 'award winning employees' Who? And won what? And
what for?
Another problem that we encountered in American restaurants was not with
the servers' knowledge of their menus, but with their knowledge of our
language. When faced with such barriers to understanding we resorted to the
technique employed by British tourists the world over, we spoke more slowly
and louder. There was also a great deal of miming. If this did not seem to
work then we just sat back and waited to see what would arrive - often with
fairly humorous results.
The first time that we were faced with our own linguistic ignorance was
in Chinatown in New York. We chose the New Green Bo based on the
plaudits it had received and cellotaped to its windows. Normally we relied on
our guidebook when choosing from the plethora of eateries available -
especially in the cities, but on this occasion the restaurant that we were
searching for had moved and we just noticed the New Green Bo as we
walked past. The place was very small, sparsely decorated and very popular -
a good sign – and it had a ‘greasy spoon’ feel to it. Once we secured a table
we turned our attention to the extensive menu. We soon spotted dishes
similar to those we buy from take away places in England and decided to
order about the same amount as we usually would - a dish each, rice, a
starter and a portion of crispy duck as a middle course. Our waitress arrived
and spoke very little English (practically none), so it was a bit of a 'point at the
menu' order, but OK, not the first time we had done that. However, as we