By Nico Prins
Some restaurants are bad, some are terrible, but this one was just disgusting. It would have been better if it was a comedy series like Fawlty Towers. The scene would be accompanied by plenty of awkward laughter. Unfortunately it was real life.
My problems began when I found out my favorite street stall had run out of food. It was almost 12 and everything was closing down, so we decided to eat at the stall next door. It seemed ok and anyway, I was starving so I didn’t really care what I ate, I just wanted to eat.
The stall was on a busy road and there was a faint smell of sewage from the open drains. The place was also awkwardly full – by which I mean it was almost empty, but it felt like there was nowhere to sit. You know what I mean – so we took the only empty table and sat down by the kitchen. We didn’t know what we had let ourselves in for.
A Cut in the Kitchen
Within two minutes of sitting down, one of the five people working in the kitchen cut himself. He sucked his finger a few times, continued scaling the fish and when he was done, he cleaned his fingers on a dirty towel that fell onto the dirty floor.
Kitchen Help
At this point, someone was throwing fish into an ice box. His aim wasn’t good and one of the fish hit the floor, where it stayed for the next five minutes. A few people stood on it, a cat tried to eat it and then it was put back into the ice box.
The Chef
The same ice box was filled with dead chickens and fish. A chef prepared the meat, alternatively cutting the fish, chicken and vegetables with the same knife on the cutting board. I was so glad that salmonella is not an issue.
The Waiter
Our food was almost prepared at this point, so the waiter started getting our drinks ready. We’d asked for ice tea. He had to cut up the ice with his hands, but not before itching his feet and sorting out his flip flops. Itch taken care of, he carefully chopped up the ice and added the tea.
The Result
I’ve never walked away from my food before, so this was a first.
