Nali Patio, it seems, has ushered in a new era of coolness, with hot spots Niajo and Apothecary joining area stalwart Mosto and the newly remodeled The Mughal’s Restaurant in a new dining microcosm. I’m a huge cheerleader of new mini-districts, as it makes my dining and drinking choices easier and more logistically possible. But, what do these afore mentioned destinations have over their other patio brethren? Toilets. Honest to goodness, in-house crappers. I don’t know if other squatterless outlets are cheap bastards or if they assumed their genteel clientele don’t sink so low as to evacuate themselves in a public facility, or if they all get some sort of perverse pleasure through telling their customers to literally, “take a hike”, but this oversight is ridiculous.
The long, particularly harsh winter season this year has shown the folly in such irrational thinking. Why would I want to pay RMB130 for a chicken chili burger, fries and a beverage (yes, I’m talking to you Let’s Burger and Seafood) and be forced to drop trough next to a cell-phone chatting, chain-smoking dabian-ing shop keeper? There is nothing wrong with shopkeepers, but something serious silly with charging me western prices and giving me a hutong bathroom experience to cap off my dining encounter. Though men hardly encounter this sitting/squatting issue with the frequency of women, take my word for it, there is nothing that ingenders a pissed off (pun intended) feeling, as the burn of glacier temperature porcelain against one’s pink parts.
La Sushi and Bali Papaya, you don’t get off so easy either. If Apothecary can fit in a toilet with the same floor plan, I know it’s not just an issue of a lack of water line or some other weak excuse for forcing clients to use a shoddy public toilet.
I know you probably can’t tell that I’ve been stewing over this issue for months now, but I don’t want to go one more winter skipping over some of these perfectly palatable restaurants because they wanted to fit in one more four-top rather than install a single unisex comfort station. Lucky for all of us, warmer weather is fast upon us and the cross-building walk won’t be as unbearable as it was during January, but it won’t make me any less frustrated with this ludicrous situation. Does anyone else thing this is ridiculous? Leave a comment and let me know I’m not alone!!!
