Would you still choose to dine at a two-star Michelin restaurant if they gave you a time limit for dinner?
Come Christmas in a few weeks, my Other Half and I will be heading to Dublin, Ireland. Why Dublin people ask? The absolute real reason – we both LOVE Guinness and feel an inclination towards the city that brews this fantastic drink. As a child, I watched my granddad sip his black brew on the colourful plastic reclining seat, serene and at peace back in the sleepy town of Teluk Intan, Perak. He finally fell serenely into permanent sleep when I turned eight. Though we never spent much time together, he is remembered fondly each time I sip my Guinness. Perhaps that was his legacy to me (and my brother!).
Yes, back to the ‘Michelin’ question..
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud replied our email, “The only time we have a table available for dinner is at 7pm on the 23 December. Unfortunately we will need it back at 9.30pm as it is the last day we are open for dinner before the holidays.”
Surely it is no surprise that iconic restaurants around the world are doing extremely brisk business all part of the gastro-tourism boom. A friend who so fortunately lunched at the French Laundry recently had to stay up till 1am, call repetitively for 40 minutes to get through the constantly engaged line and finally to be offered only lunch at 11am exactly 3 months from that day.
We chose against dining within a time limit, even with the most fabulous food served, it ain’t good if you know you’ve got to hurry up that dessert. Dining is a sacred experience where food is one of and not the only element, that make it worthwhile and memorable. We’ll leave the food out this time and seek out the others.
How far would you go to eat, given that would be your only visit to that city and possibly your only chance to ever eat at that particular restaurant?