Work that concept

You know what they say - "birds of a feather they flock together" - and I find it to be true when one of my favourite classmates turns out to be one of us. One of us as in living the restaurant life. So what do two birds do on a Friday night? We go to a good restaurant. Really partying up the nest, so to speak.
I've written before about my addiction to Kin Long (you know, the Chinese restaurant next to the Hilton). I've known the owners for as long as I've known my husband. In fact, we used to live just down the road and so would go for dinner every Sunday. To someone who grew up eating vindaloo for Sunday dinner, putting the heat on with spices and a nice bottle of wine (and he's got a good wine selection) was just enough R&R to allow for another 16h-a-day workweek.
Anyway, my classmate and I enjoyed a fabulous seven-course dinner. We also enjoyed the company of Chien the owner, who took over the restaurant after his father retired. Being Malmö's oldest Chinese restaurant, it would be a terrible thing if it wasn't the best. But it is. Believe me. Why? Because of the concept. There are no dodgy springrolls here. No bamboo-beef. No four-litte-courses-on-a-plate-with-gloopy-rice. No. Instead, three-cup chicken, crispy beef, cucumber salad. Fine Chinese home cooking. Or, as my classmate put it (she's Chinese): just like Mum made at home. It's genuine, everything is cooked on site from good produce, it's presented well, it's thought through. They have amazing teas, and the (joke intended) cognacs. They have thought about what they're doing and why they're doing it.
If you think about it, I'm sure your favourite restaurant also has a very clear concept. You know what it is you're buying, and you're unlikely to get unpleasantly surprised with something schizophrenic, such as black and white with bearnaise and sweet and sour sauce-pizza (yes, I've seen it). See, if you take the time to think about what you're doing, you're mostly better off for it. Like, if you're a Chinese restaurant, it's a bit of a mistake to try to cater to those who wander in wanting Italian. It just doesn't fit the concept. There are only so many things you can do at once without the other items on the menu suffering.

I'm not going to take a poke at the people who actually walk in to a Chinese restaurant and try to order pizza. There is so much wrong with the reasoning and attitude of some that there's just no space in my mind to deal with it tonight. But I will, soon, write a small satirical story about it, I promise.