The Starving Masses In Africa
Jul. 15th, 2007 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanWell, there was a starving mass of us at an African restaurant last night... close enough.
The 30th birthday party for a once & future bandmate was the occasion & Le Kilimanjaro in Newtown was the place. SG & I arrived right on time at 7pm, went in & were told that Birthday Girl had not yet arrived, so we'd have to wait outside 'til she did. Which in due course, happened not long afterwards. With the strength of increased numbers, we again assailed the restaurant, only to be told that ~ because not all of us had arrived, we'd have to wait outside 'til they did. At this point, it emerged that B.G. had paid a hefty deposit weeks earlier to secure a large table for 15 people, as the restaurant didn't 'officially' take bookings, though they did take her money & assure her that all would be okay on the night... yeah, right.
As anyone who's organised a large dinner party would know, guests never all arrive on time & although our numbers were swelled by a few while we were out on the street, it still wasn't our full complement. By this stage, however, more than a few of us were jack of the wind & cold, so a full-frontal, final assault was planned. Once more into the breach... Terse words were exchanged, steely gazes were flashed & we prevailed. Up to our small table we went & immediately grafted all the other free tables onto ours. The next battle was to get staff to provide glasses, plates, cutlery & some menus would be nice too. Don't hurry (they didn't...)!! By the time the first dishes of a haphazardly set menu began arriving, only half of us had plates to put it on or utensils to eat it with. Over the next couple of hours SG, Maelefic, myself, half the cast of RokChikz & associated friends, family & others ate, drank & conversed... unaware of the drama to come. SG had discovered a friend from her night job amongst the guests, who proved to be the table dynamo ~ switching seats all around the table. Nice lady, but I got tired just watching her...
The climactic battle was fought after a few of us had left the place ~ headed for the city Karaoke joint booked for us. With the restaurant horde's numbers depleted & the survivors not entirely sober, the owners presented B.G. with a bill far in excess of what had actually been consumed, let alone taking the substantial deposit already paid into account. Negotiations degenerated into a shouting & slanging match with the horde swearing never to return & the owners banning us from the place for good measure.
So personally, despite the food quality being pretty good, I'm imposing economic sanctions on Le Kilimanjaro (280 King St Newtown) & would urge others to find a better African place to visit... there are plenty more where they came from.
On to Karaoke World in the heart o' the city ~ or at least just under it ~ a bunker on Elizabeth St across from Hyde Park. By the time my group of 5 made it in, the survivors of the last battle in the African campaign had arrived & were primal screaming their frustrations (& lungs!) out. Over the next 5 hours, the song choices were incredibly varied, occasionally embarrassing & 1 or 2 were downright mystifying with nobody willing to own up to choosing them. After my first foray (Faith No More's 'Midlife Crisis'... appropriate, I thought), I'd pretty much shredded my voice & increased my regard for the vocal talents of Mike Patton, which made my subsequent lead & backing vocals a more ragged & rasped endeavour. Ron the BassBeast joined us for a few hours & a few songs, revealing a capable tenor vocal range & a good ear for harmony... which by that stage was badly needed. At about 4.15am, after a rousing singalong to my impression of Frank Sinatra gargling broken glass while singing 'New York, New York' (one of SGs sneaky picks), we diehard few spilled out onto Elizabeth St & in SGs & my case, spilled into a northward bound taxi. A good time was had by most... a better time was had by a few & Happy Birthday to Ann!!
An understandably late rising today, before heading to the local for lunch ~ having slept through the breakfast hours. I thought my request for my burger to have only lettuce, cheese, bacon & egg on it, without other sundry garden variety additives, would be a relatively easy ask, but I reckoned without the playful humour of the staff who decided to take advantage of my slow-to-waken wits by having the owner/chef & Blonde Waitress #2 ask if I wanted bread with it or not. Later, when 2 coffees had kickstarted my synapses, I told them that next time I wanted it on a pizza base instead. They think I was joking...
A lazy, non-eventful afternoon involving a carwash, an aborted 10-pin bowling session, 2 new episodes of House & an old favourite Angel, before heading to Cafe Otto in Glebe for dinner.
Now... sleep.
The 30th birthday party for a once & future bandmate was the occasion & Le Kilimanjaro in Newtown was the place. SG & I arrived right on time at 7pm, went in & were told that Birthday Girl had not yet arrived, so we'd have to wait outside 'til she did. Which in due course, happened not long afterwards. With the strength of increased numbers, we again assailed the restaurant, only to be told that ~ because not all of us had arrived, we'd have to wait outside 'til they did. At this point, it emerged that B.G. had paid a hefty deposit weeks earlier to secure a large table for 15 people, as the restaurant didn't 'officially' take bookings, though they did take her money & assure her that all would be okay on the night... yeah, right.
As anyone who's organised a large dinner party would know, guests never all arrive on time & although our numbers were swelled by a few while we were out on the street, it still wasn't our full complement. By this stage, however, more than a few of us were jack of the wind & cold, so a full-frontal, final assault was planned. Once more into the breach... Terse words were exchanged, steely gazes were flashed & we prevailed. Up to our small table we went & immediately grafted all the other free tables onto ours. The next battle was to get staff to provide glasses, plates, cutlery & some menus would be nice too. Don't hurry (they didn't...)!! By the time the first dishes of a haphazardly set menu began arriving, only half of us had plates to put it on or utensils to eat it with. Over the next couple of hours SG, Maelefic, myself, half the cast of RokChikz & associated friends, family & others ate, drank & conversed... unaware of the drama to come. SG had discovered a friend from her night job amongst the guests, who proved to be the table dynamo ~ switching seats all around the table. Nice lady, but I got tired just watching her...
The climactic battle was fought after a few of us had left the place ~ headed for the city Karaoke joint booked for us. With the restaurant horde's numbers depleted & the survivors not entirely sober, the owners presented B.G. with a bill far in excess of what had actually been consumed, let alone taking the substantial deposit already paid into account. Negotiations degenerated into a shouting & slanging match with the horde swearing never to return & the owners banning us from the place for good measure.
So personally, despite the food quality being pretty good, I'm imposing economic sanctions on Le Kilimanjaro (280 King St Newtown) & would urge others to find a better African place to visit... there are plenty more where they came from.
On to Karaoke World in the heart o' the city ~ or at least just under it ~ a bunker on Elizabeth St across from Hyde Park. By the time my group of 5 made it in, the survivors of the last battle in the African campaign had arrived & were primal screaming their frustrations (& lungs!) out. Over the next 5 hours, the song choices were incredibly varied, occasionally embarrassing & 1 or 2 were downright mystifying with nobody willing to own up to choosing them. After my first foray (Faith No More's 'Midlife Crisis'... appropriate, I thought), I'd pretty much shredded my voice & increased my regard for the vocal talents of Mike Patton, which made my subsequent lead & backing vocals a more ragged & rasped endeavour. Ron the BassBeast joined us for a few hours & a few songs, revealing a capable tenor vocal range & a good ear for harmony... which by that stage was badly needed. At about 4.15am, after a rousing singalong to my impression of Frank Sinatra gargling broken glass while singing 'New York, New York' (one of SGs sneaky picks), we diehard few spilled out onto Elizabeth St & in SGs & my case, spilled into a northward bound taxi. A good time was had by most... a better time was had by a few & Happy Birthday to Ann!!
An understandably late rising today, before heading to the local for lunch ~ having slept through the breakfast hours. I thought my request for my burger to have only lettuce, cheese, bacon & egg on it, without other sundry garden variety additives, would be a relatively easy ask, but I reckoned without the playful humour of the staff who decided to take advantage of my slow-to-waken wits by having the owner/chef & Blonde Waitress #2 ask if I wanted bread with it or not. Later, when 2 coffees had kickstarted my synapses, I told them that next time I wanted it on a pizza base instead. They think I was joking...
A lazy, non-eventful afternoon involving a carwash, an aborted 10-pin bowling session, 2 new episodes of House & an old favourite Angel, before heading to Cafe Otto in Glebe for dinner.
Now... sleep.
