Grow Up, Singaporeans

Popped out to supper and a quick drink at Bar Orihara Shoten. Made it to the call for last orders at 9.45pm. It was surprisingly uncrowded for a Saturday night. Of course we opted to sit at a table outdoors. It was a cool night after the rains, and the overhead fans made it even more comfortable to chill out for a bit. 

And since the bar shares a kitchen with Toritama, we could order food too. Had yakitori and a portion of oden. The oden was completely unnecessary, but it was so delicious. Hahaha All those processed fish cakes. No eggs tonight. The dashi here has always leaned on the salty side, but I love it. The big slice of daikon in there makes it feel so healthy.

Well chicken. BUT. I can never resist chicken hearts. Sambal, grilled, masala stir-fried, etc. LOVE. Toritama does theirs so well. I didn't understand why they offered the option of halves or whole for chicken hearts. Why on earth would I want halves? Gimme the whole heart! Hearts. Two skewers お願いします, ありがとう. 🤎

I wanted sake, but they didn't have the one I wanted in the manageable 300ml. I couldn't finish a 720ml bottle on my own, not in 30 minutes. Ah well, I'd do beer and a highball then. A super gorgeous pint of Suntory Master Brew on tap and a Kaku highball made our night, and we quaffed it down easy. By 10.30 pm, our glasses were empty and ready to be cleared away.

I sighed and shook my head at one table of five women celebrating a birthday. Yup, I totally judged them. They were loud and annoying and didn't respect personal space. But this wasn't a big deal. The deal was- they didn't let the server clear their alcohol from the table when 10.25 pm came around. The women took their glasses and bottle away and refused to hand it to her. They said that she was making it difficult for them, "stressing us [them] out”, and they felt "so pressurized". WHAT THE.

I didn't step in because the situation didn't need my interference. The entire crew at both bar and restaurant was ready to back up the server, waiting for the minute hand to turn to 10.30 pm  so that they could take more forceful actions. They should be allowed to do their jobs. I did however, give the group of women very scathing looks. All the rest of us patrons at the al fresco tables did, as we left the bar at 10.35 pm.

I wouldn't take a photo of the group and upload it to the baotoh app. Because that app is so damn stupid that it ends up being abused by kaypohs. It isn't clever enough to discern that it's the patrons who're causing trouble, and leave the restaurants be. If there’re potential legal and criminal repercussions, it would take a lawsuit to sort it out. The current laws (Part 7 Covid-19 Control Orders, 34 and 35) deem it the responsibility of the restaurants to manage their patrons. The onus is on the staff to become bouncers and enforcers every night come 10.25 pm. 

Ladies, y'all obviously Singaporeans. Your loud conversation made that clear. Last I checked, we're still in Phase 2 of lockdown Circuit Breaker and living in a pandemic with leisure travel closed off to us. Grow some brains can? By obstructing the server from doing her job and letting alcohol remain on the table after 10.30pm, you're being obtusely selfish and overly self-entitled. The restaurant didn't set the rules. The government did. If you don’t like it, feel free to protest to your Ministers. The world doesn't revolve around you. If your selfish acts cause this bar and restaurant to close for 10 days or so, you're killing off the income and livelihoods of all the kitchen staff and service crew. Grow the fuck up.