Exposed in public

So how come so many new restaurants think it's hip to have their whole kitchen on display to the customers? Kitchens are NOISY what with constant clanging and chinking, yelling, chopping, sizzling, banging. How does this cacophony enhance the diner's experience in any way? When first seen years ago, it was a novel idea to have curious customers shimmy up to the window for a little wok watching, grant you that one, but behind soundproof glass if you please ! And it's not much better when there's a lull in the cooking action because then the cooks get sorta sociable with one another, which is natural, though it's not exactly the sort of background murmur of other diners, more like guys "chatting" in a factory with the machinery still running. It's just as well I can't understand the various languages because then I'd get caught up in whatever they're going on about, especially if I'm eating alone and don't have anything to read.

There's a restaurant review system that rates decibels and I'm coming to see the real value in it, because rather than thinking of noisy nosh spots as places to avoid, I can see where some people might actually enjoy them: it can get the old adrenaline rushing around and gives one a false sense of being at a party, or at least something involving a group. This also works quite well if you're having dinner with someone who's sort of ho-hum company but you've been friends for so long you hate to break it off just because the conversations are going through a dry spell. You keep chugging along, making little dates, hoping the rain gods will eventually bless your dialogue desert with a flowering cactus now and again. So, yeah, I can see that you'd want a nice noisy place to cover up the bald spots in the friendship, a sort of conversational combover.

So, if your friend suggests a new place to eat that's especially noisy, you might want to take the pulse of your witty repartee, but then again, maybe your friend's life is just boring and she's pretending you're both at a lavishly attended house party. We just survived lunch at one of our favorite cafes and the kitchen was especially tuneful today and as you can tell, I wasn't really in the mood. Sunday nap time methinks.