Manhattan is a famously elitist place when it comes to fine dining. Who you know, rather than the size of your wallet, is often the key to securing a table at one of the hot new restaurants.
Imagine the horror then, when the latest hyper-chic establishment of New York’s most happening chef abolished the old reservation system and opted for an egalitarian alternative. David Chang opened his Momofuku Ko in the East Village just a few weeks ago and the city’s dining world has been in a lather ever since.
The only way to secure one of the tiny restaurant’s 12 bar stools is via the Internet. To foil syndicates booking seats using computer programs, valid credit card details are required on the restaurant’s Web site.
Then you have to start frantically bashing your keyboard in an attempt to snatch one of the openings logged on a virtual grid. Places become available at 10am each morning for the next seven-day period, and only for a matter seconds. The competition among diners is that fierce.
And do not bother trying to bypass the online system with a quiet call to the maitre d’ about who you are. Dignatories, from the editor of Gourmet magazine to a former top Microsoft executive, have all been turned away with a polite reference to the booking Web site momofuku.com.
Frank Bruni, the food critic for the New York Times, spent days trying to get a seat. He was so determined to sample the US$85-tasting menu he perfected his technique.
The way to do it, Bruni writes on his blog, is to “click-click-hope-click-pray-click-please-God-click-fret-sweat-panic-pray-some-more.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS