Dining Out

As 28 Hong Kong Street was the last venue we had visited prior to Phase 2 Heightened Alert, it only felt right for it to be the first place I visited as dining in as resumed. I was giddy, excited and just incredibly happy to be out and about. Might I add nervous as well. Small talk? Casual conversation? Forgot that was part and parcel of going out. And most probably my favorite part. Along with dressing up, of course. After the song and dance of scanning the QR code, and checking my temperature, Justin, the wonderful manager at 28HKS, opened the door for me.

“Also, I should mention that we aren’t permitted to play recorded music at the moment, given the current restrictions”

I barely gave that a second thought. My nervous chitchat carried on - no dining in for a month really hindered my social skills, and I stepped inside the dark foyer only to find myself immediately lowering my voice. It’s eerily quiet. It was naive of me to have thought that no music would hardly make a difference. As I walked to my seat, I could hear my heels clacking against the floor, ice cubes rattling in cocktail shakers, liquors poured into crystal, and the muted chatter of the other guests. It was kind of lovely, truth be told. A different experience from what we are used to, but I enjoyed it as much, and even more as I would have, had there been the usual dance, hip hop soundtrack playing in the background.

I know many of us enjoy dining out for the atmosphere, the ambiance, the vibe, and much of that is created from the loud music, the even louder voices attempting to have conversation, along with the standard white noises native to all restaurants, such as cutlery dropping, the kitchen voices, etc etc. While I was certainly more conscious about what I was saying, given the lack of music that would mask my embarrassing conversations, I still had an incredible night. I do thank the lovely staff at 28HKS for bearing with my chatter, especially the forced small talk that I feel obliged to initiate - yup, it's a problem, I'm aware and working on it. Often times, you never really get to chat or show your appreciation for your drink, or your meal. I see the lack of music as a great opportunity to get to know who works at your favorite restaurants, learn what they like to eat, where they go for a drink, and just about who they are. Everyone always asks me how I compile my list of restaurants and bars to visit, and while I do my research, a lot of the times, I go off of suggestions given to me by staff, managers, and chefs at the restaurants I visit. While great food and good drinks are what I look forward to when I go out, I’m more excited to learn more about the restaurant and its people. It makes visiting a restaurant so much more personal, enjoyable, and special just by becoming familiar with the individuals behind it. I was able to meet, chat, joke around with more of the affable team of 28HKS last night. And I wouldn’t have been able to had I just let the music fill the silences that come about.

I know that we all have had challenges during the past year and a half, and I know many of us will hesitate going out to restaurants and bars by saying there isn’t a point without a good ambiance, or that you rather have a drink at home with no curfew at 10:30 PM, or that you rather wait for everything to go back to “normal” in order to splurge. And to that, all I can say is, if you are able to dine out, and support local restaurants and bars, I urge you to. So what, if there isn’t music playing? Enjoy your night out. Have a conversation you can hear fully. Make a new friend! Support your favorites now, so that they will be able to play the music for your next visit when we do get back to “normal”.

Cheers.