Dinner in Banana Chilli restaurant
Posted on October 23, 2006
Filed Under Outside Ireland, customer service, relationships, restaurant, review, wet Wednesday rule, women | Leave a Comment
Before I tell you about Banana Chilli, something extraordinary happened to me today. I had to collect someone from Fingal International Airport, aka Dublin airport, and the plane arrived on time! From the UK! And we got out of the airport quickly! And the ticket machine gave me a receipt! Still had to park in Block C of the short term carpark but, wow, I left Dublin airport and I wasn’t in a pissed-off mood.
Anyway, just back from dinner in Banana Chilli in Drumcondra. It was a business dinner, I guess, with clients. All in all, it wasn’t too bad and I would recommend it to others. Just bring your credit card! It’s not cheap for where it is and the dessert menu was a laminated menu that offers those flash-frozen desserts which are seen far too often in restaurants these days.
Apart from the conversation, more anon, the most memorable thing about the evening was the waitress. I’m guessing she was Korean and I’ve never anyone so smiley-happy with their lot in life. She constantly had a smile on her face and she giggled a lot. The giggling combined with her accent made her impossible to understand but she was delightful. We slagged her a little bit about her delirium and she replied, with all seriousness, that she couldn’t possibly do anything ‘bad’ to customers. I’d definitely go back just to be served by her. She made everyone smile altough we did think it would be hard to live with yourself if you were that happy all the time. Imagine waking up on a deary wet November morning and giggling your way through the rain to the bus stop. Madness, for sure, lies that way.
One of my guests was visiting from the UK. Before her departure, her husband insisted she try the Oirish Guinness so she did, ever so reluctantly. She polished off her ‘alf with aplomb so I don’t think she was that reluctant after all. She was a hoot because, even though she was Welsh, she really had the ‘little Englander’ thing down to a tee. She marvelled at how Irish houses were that same as in the UK. I explained about similar cultures, similar climates and so on, but every time we turned a corner in the car, the fascination returned. Maybe she holidays in Butlins or something, but it was a weird experience for me.
My clients want me to buy their company but they’re too shy or too amateur to say so directly. So I get love-bombed every time we meet. They also try to head-hunt me every 6 months. This week, they’re going to set me up with a woman (I’m single, btw). Sadly, all they could think of was a single mother with a one-year old baby in Limerick. On reflection, I guess the advantage is getting the family unit without the nappies. Don’t choke on your cornflakes – I’m only joking!
Dinner was about €170 for the five of us. This included, ahem, some beer and wine at about €5 each. You could justify paying that in town but Drumcondra? There’s 3 or 4 restuarants, plus a gastro-pub, in a row beside it and I’m pretty sure they’re not as expensive. Having said that, Banana Chilli don’t do 2 sittings a night so we didn’t have to rush dinner.
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