Mouthing Off | And what? I’m done with double-barrelled restaurant names, and adjective-free menu minimalism
- Butcher & Baker, Duck & Waffle, Salt & Barrel – enough of the ampersands, please. After all, we don’t buy our fashion at Suits & Dresses or Wedges & Totes
- And another thing: fancy-pants menus that don’t tell you how a dish is cooked. What’s wrong with adjectives? You don’t see ‘chicken, herbs, spices’ at KFC
For a while now, it has seemed every new restaurant name in Hong Kong has an ampersand. There’s Butcher & Baker, Feather & Bone, Fish & Meat (now closed), Salt & Barrel (which changed its name), and Beef & Liberty. You could forgive me for occasionally getting some of them confused.
“What’s that place we’re going for a burger? Beef & Buns? Cook & Cleaner? Fries & Freedom?”
As trends go, naming a restaurant after what it serves is not going away. Feel like some Fish & Chick, Pizza & Chicken, or Bitters & Sweets? Soon, the London franchise of Duck & Waffle will open to offer … well, you know what they will offer.
I understand that, in these complicated times, folks are looking for simple answers. They want just the facts and the minimum of spin, even in their dining choices. Like populist politicians, people also want restaurants to “tell it like it is”!
However, I wouldn’t mind branding that was a little more inspired. Simplicity is all very well, but not when other food and beverage outlets are using the exact same formula. Would shopping be as much fun if the fashion boutiques in the IFC Mall were reframed as Pants & Dresses, Suits & Frocks, and Wedges & Totes?
The same plain, objectivist titling has crept into menus, too, especially in the fancier fine-dining kitchens. The more ambitious chefs will play down dramatic descriptions and assume sophisticated customers already know how each dish is put together.