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It was about twelve thirty when Gary and I arrived at the newly-opened
chicken-rice shop. We expected the place to be packed with people but what
greeted us at the shop was beyond expectation. The twenty or so tables in the
shop were fully occupied. There were at least a hundred people crammed in the
shop and the sound of a hundred voices talking at the same time was
reminiscent of the market place. The place
had air-conditioning but it was obviously not strong enough to cope with the
crowd there. I saw some diners wipe their faces with tissue paper as the hot
food caused them to sweat. We waited outside the shop in the midday heat and
sweated as well.
It took about fifteen minutes before we could get a vacant table. it was a
small table placed against a wall but it was better than nothing. Gratefully we
sat down but had to wait again for a waitress to take our order.
The shop was clearly short-staffed. They had only three waitresses. But I
could understand that it was their opening day and they had not expected such a
crowd. The waitresses could hardly cope. So we sat down for another five minutes
before a waitress came to take our order. Then we waited for the food to be
brought.
Anyhow there we were, sitting in a noisy, not-so-cool, air-conditioned
chicken-rice shop. It was not exactly an ideal place to have lunch but we just
wanted to try the food.
Eventually our order arrived and we set about having our meal. The chicken
rice was only average. We had expected it to be something special after reading
about the 'special chicken rice' in the newspaper. It was not excellent, but it
was not bad either. Certainly it was nothing special. So we quickly finished our
meal, paid for it and left the shop.
At the entrance there were still people waiting to have a taste of the
'special' chicken rice. Well, we have had our taste and they would have theirs
in due course. |
