BROW-BEATING THE DINERS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30592, 7 November 1964, Page 5

BROW-BEATING THE DINERS

(From RACHEL McALPINE in Geneva) are two restaurants in Geneva which are exploiting a hitherto neglected category. They owe their considerable popularity to patrons who, although outwardly self-assured, must certainly have a secret desire to be bullied. The service in the majority of Swiss restaurants is extremely good: waiters are deferential, helpful, genuinely willing to please since their income consists largely on tips. Yet the two establishments which violate this basic rule are among the most crowded and successful. The first is Chez Mady, who has this notice at the door: “My specialty is atmosphere.” Mady is a benevolent dictator, bearded and with the girth of three or four lesser men. When first you enter, you might imagine that you are in a restaurant like any other—-

red gingham curtains, fishy decor, rustic wooden chairs and tables. You are permitted to scrutinise the menu and to make your “decisions” as anywhere else. It is now that Mady bears down upon you, and listens to you for the first and only time. You explain that as you’re not very hungry, you would like a seafood cocktail followed by . . . “Nonsense!” states your host. “You will have my wonderful terrine, and then Chateaubriand aux Morilles. Perhaps for dessert you will take just a few grapes.” He displays an extravagant enthusiasm for the menu he has chosen, but this is just for appearances’ sake, since the customer has no choice whatever.

Mady’s tremendous Insolence and his sheer physical enormity combine to intimidate all but the Michelin inspectors themselves. It is he chooses your wine, tastes it, and pronounces it excellent. Occasionally a gargantuan finger plunges into the sauce on a plate, and an eloquent grunt indicates Mady’s satisfaction—or else the astonished diner discovers that his meal has been whisked back to the kitchen.

If Mady has over-estimated the appetite of a customer, he often serves up helping after helping until the poor fellow is wincing with the first twinges of a liver attack.

In common with other dictators, Mady has his escape route near at hand. He has sensibly built his restaurant right by the French border, so that if some day a worm should turn, he can stagger into exile without much effort. Most of the devotees of this restaurant are obviously delighted with both the food and the treatment they receive. But a cynic rises from the table unsettled by a number of doubts. Though the food was excellent, was it as unparalleled as Mady claimed? Did he really believe that his terrine was superior to his sea-food cocktail, or was he just clean out of shrimps? Was his arbitrary choice of that wine due to the fact that he had bought too much of it in 1956? Did the entrecote return from the kitchen with subtle changes in sauce, or just as it had entered? And does Mady have a couple of pillows concealed beneath his shirt? On the other hand, the best Chinese restaurant in Geneva seems to be run on a system

nearer the other end of the political spectrum. Capitalists are barely tolerated as patrons. When you ring to reserve a table, a curt voice says “First or second sitting?”, and you are advised to turn up promptly at either 7.15 or 8.30. On your first attempt to catch the ancient waitress’s eye, you are liable to be severely admonished. On your second to fourth, you will be openly ignored, and impatience serves no purpose whatever. After half an hour or so, she will come of her own accord obviously doing you a tremendous favour. An dso forth, throughout a magnificent meal in a dusty, vaguely shoddy setting. This sort of service may be commonplace elsewhere, but in Geneva it is extraordinary—yet it’s necessary to reserve several days in advance, so popular is the Chinese restaurant.

The resounding success of these two eating places seems to indicate that the steady diet of enthusiastic good will and politeness which Geneva usually provides must eventually pall, unless relieved by occasional surliness and tyranny. Certainly we find their atmosphere a most refreshing change.