Food Courts

My son and I wandered down to the Mall today for lunch.

There are a great number of eateries there – mostly centred on the third floor, so choice is hardly a problem.

We have, over the last few months, dined in several of these restaurants and found a couple of them to be wanting. Wanting, in fact, to be avoided in the future.

On the other hand there have been some that offer a delightful menu that is well prepared and served with a good countenance from the waiting staff.

Those we shall revisit.

Some of the better ones have prices that put them above what I should wish to pay for the quality or the portions available; this is sad because they are, otherwise, perfectly acceptable.

There are yet more to visit and explore. Those that have been on the approved list may be visited again to survey the contents of the menu that have yet to be tested.

Today we elected to go to the food court. It is called the ‘Food Empire’ for some reason that defies normal logic. ‘Food’ it certainly has but ‘Empire’? We wonder at that.

We had a tasty repast at more normal prices given the quantity and quality to hand and left, satiated, to return home.

The Little Wok (right) is favoured by my son.

Over the years I have had occasion to visit Malls in several countries. Some countries seem not to have shopping malls of any size. 

In Mauretania and Sudan, for example, the places to eat were all restaurants or roadside eateries. Mauretania had superb restaurants in abundance and I am quite sure that, one way or another, I visited most of them.

Oman, Kuwait and Bahrein were all similar. Germany had huge malls but no food court as such – not in any of the Malls that I visited. Often there was a small café tucked away where you could get a snack and a wonderful coffee since the Germans make absolutely the best coffee ever. I shall now get hate mail from my Italian friends!

Food courts seemed to be mostly restricted to the USA and Malaysia. 

The Grapevine Mall in Texas had an extended food court that offered a wide variety of food types. Almost all the food was prepared and served by Mexicans who did a really great job with some of the menus that they were, clearly, unfamiliar with cooking.

The most wonderful thing about the Grapevine Mall as far as eating goes was that they had a cookie stall near one of the main entrances - entrance '5', in fact.

https://www.greatamericancookies.com/menu/

Before leaving I asked for a pack of cookies to take back to my wife. The lady in charge sealed it down thoroughly and admonished me to make sure the seals were unbroken when I handed it over to my Beloved! 

Yes. My wife received them in good order but it made me recall a quote I heard some time before:

“A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say that America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

This was a response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting ‘Mrs. Fields’ Cookies’.

Even in China where they had the ‘People’s Friendship Store’ that was, in effect, a damn great Mall, there was no sign of a food court. Something I found rather odd given the Chinese peoples’ predilection for eating!

Perhaps, one day, I shall wander around some food courts elsewhere to see what is on offer. I’m told there is a great one in Berlin or we could pop in to Harrods in Knightsbridge and sample the high tea in the Ladurée tea room.

Or perhaps we shall just go down to the village and sample the wonderful Malaysian food there.