Another new try-out!

Recently, My CG (cell group) and i went to *scape to have dinner after church service.
It was my first time at the XIN WANG TAIWAN CAFE.
So this is what i got, albeit very hesitantly, this is the set dinner of "chai po" rice (i have no idea what this is called, but it is the same stuff on chwee kueh, (picture below))
The sides come together with anchovy salad, pan fried dumplings and a bubble tea drink.

(picture of chwee kueh)

Now the set dinner costs about $11, i can't remember exactly. But it was a pretty good deal eh?

However, as much as i try to stay away from buffets, i try to stay away from set meals as well.
Maybe its just me, but since i love Anthony Bourdain so much, i pretty much believe what he says.

He said before in his book Kitchen Confidential (A MUST READ), that buffets and set meals are merely but marketing gimmicks to make people eat all the crap leftover in the kitchen that they could not sell. If not, its just a sign that the business is about to close down.

Of course, in Anthony's book, its much more crude and explicit. What makes it a more absorbing read is that he is really a no-nonense writer, that writes in a cut-throat manner.

He also talks about his theory about not eating fish on mondays, which is very credible. (HAH, me and Anthony, ahhhhhhh)

Anyway, back to my meal.

I honestly do think that this really emphasize the social pressures of "eating out".
Since my cell group had common consensus that they wanted to dine at the restaurant, i did not see a point in trying to "challenge" the group for other places. (Asians and their collectivism. haha)

There will always be a kind of restraint, constraint, or norm for behaviour in eating out, in whatever social institution that you may belong to, which then MAY OR MAY NOT affect your dining experience.

Well, for me, it certainly did not, because i really enjoyed the company of my cell group members as always. (:

But i do want to talk more about set meals in restaurants.
Very often, we see this "promotions" in restaurants. And sometimes, it is very true that they are marketing gimmicks set up by owners to earn as much money out of either "almost-perishing" ingredients, or to make as much money out of a dish, a product, that is simply not good, or not "up to standard".

What happen to serving up good food because you simply want people to have a taste of good food, cooked with fresh ingredients?
Let's simply put it this way; that no lunatic would do that unless they have one billion alreayd in a Swiss bank accounts.

I mean, these days, it would simply NOT be economically sustaining to continue running the food business in the long run.

As for side of the very blinded consumer who do not have this knowledge, it seems to me that in time to come, our human palettes change, our diets change, because we simply "buy in" to all these marketing gimmicks and not look behind it, to see the food as "itself".

(Jamie Oliver had been a big big advocate for this, and he has had many other programmes emphasizing the use of fresh ingredients, and organic poultry)

i dont know how many people i lost there, but i really do find it sad that some restaurants owners, or restaurant chains serve up such distasteful food and are still able to survive and earn $$$.
I.E cafe cartel. (Dont get me started on this)

Either way, i have come to understand that only the upper class, the "bourgeoisie" can afford to survive on the "upper class" food and avoid all these "distasteful" food. Somehow, the common people simply have to suck it all up, and eat whatever food that is economically reasoning for their expenses.