MCLC: bad-eating groups

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: bad-eating groups
***********************************************************

Source: WSJ (6/13/14):
http://online.wsj.com/articles/bad-eating-groups-love-to-hate-hong-kongs-mi
ng-general-restaurant-1402713319

'Bad-Eating Groups' Love to Hate Hong Kong's Ming General Restaurant
Some Say Sushi Restaurant's Food Is Terrible, Others Like All-You-Can-Eat
Price
By TE-PING CHEN

HONG KONG—From gold-flecked dim sum to its traditional greeting, "Have you
eaten yet?" Hong Kong is famous for its obsession with fine dining.

Then there is Ming General Japanese Sushi Restaurant, which has built a
fan base united by their belief that the restaurant's food is supremely
terrible.

On a weekend, Don Tsang, 19 years old, joined friends at Ming General's
location in the working-class neighborhood of Sham Shui Po. There are some
half-a-dozen branches of the sushi chain, but Mr. Tsang and other fans say
the Sham Shui Po location, on the sixth floor of a mall, had long been
their favorite.

"It's the worst," he said. "So it's the most popular."

Hong Kong is a tough place to succeed for any restaurant. The city has
more than 11,000 restaurants. With some of the world's highest real-estate
prices, it is survival of the fittest, with chefs catering to fickle
diners who might gravitate to Nagasaki ramen one night and Wakayama ramen
the next.

Ming General has become a media sensation in Hong Kong thanks to young
diners like Mr. Tsang, who belong to "bad-eating groups." The groups,
casually created among friends or convened online, seek out what they
consider bad food, and then talk about it endlessly.

Managers at Ming General locations either declined to comment or didn't
respond to requests for comment. They declined to identify owners and said
it was against policy to speak to media. Mailed requests for comment
received no reply.

At Ming General, some diners, such as food blogger Patrick Lai, 38,
highlight the deep-fried scallop sushi or the "mini-sized" prawn sushi.
"They're very small and very skinny," he said. "I don't know where the
restaurant can find such skinny prawns."

Mr. Lai, who has posted more than 3,600 reviews on the Hong Kong-centered
food reviewing site OpenRice, said eating at Ming General is a
not-to-be-missed "life experience." "It's like reaching the final stage of
Super Mario," he said. Notable dishes, he says, include tuna sushi, which
comes topped with what he describes as a mushy brown pool of liquid—like
"raw meat." The chain has also earned fame for its unusual sushi dishes,
including fruit salad sushi and corn salad sushi.

"I have a lot of friends who won't dare come. They're scared just at the
sound of Ming General's name," said Mr. Lai, who said he nonetheless
appreciates the fact the restaurant is beloved by many locals in search of
an affordable, no-frills meal.

On the OpenRice site, the Sham Shui Po mall location has 111 "crying face"
ratings, 76 "OK" ratings and 46 "smiling face" ratings.

"The rice was warm. Sushi rice should be cool. The seaweed was wet, not
crispy," said Mr. Tsang. Like others—there are scores of videos online of
people "challenging" themselves by eating at Ming General—Mr. Tsang posted
a video of his experiences, in which he and a friend competed to see how
many pieces of sushi they could consume in a minute. (He consumed three,
while his friend downed five. As a punishment, he was obliged to take off
his shoes and carry his friend piggyback across a pathway studded with
stones.)

The restaurant has also inspired a song, "Ming General's Comrades," in
which a diner sings: "I don't know why my right hand is trembling, I can't
bring myself to eat it/Once the sushi's in my mouth, my heart cries for
help." It continues: "Once we've paid the bill, we hug our fellow
survivors/The strange thing is that outside the restaurant, there are
still warriors lining up to put themselves to the test."

One four-minute version of the ballad on YouTube, crooned over a
stationary picture of red-bean sushi, has attracted more than 360,000
views.

Many of the restaurant's young and working-class diners see a good deal
rather than a joke. They come for its signature all-you-can-eat conveyor
belt sushi, priced at under $10.

"We can sit there for around 2-3 hours, it's very convenient and
comfortable for me and my friends," said Tango Chan, 23, who appreciates
the affordable price. Though he says he knows the restaurant's more
"creative" sushis are regularly mocked, he says the salmon sushi is of a
more "acceptable" quality.

When the U.S.'s recently appointed consul general for Hong Kong, Clifford
Hart, arrived this past summer, he sampled Hong Kong's delicacies such as
egg tarts and milk tea. Soon his Facebook page received requests to add
Ming General to his list. The suggestions received hundreds of "likes."

Mr. Hart has yet to dine at Ming General. In a diplomatic response, he
called Hong Kong a "culinary paradise," and said, "Given the array of
restaurants here, however, there is just no way I can try them all."

Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said the Sham Shui
Po mall branch and the Mongkok branch had received, respectively, three
and one food complaints in the past year. Government workers found the
hygienic condition of both restaurants were fine. Follow-up food samples
were taken that also were fine, the department said.

Lau Kin-wai, a Hong Kong food writer and restaurateur who this year made
his first visit to the restaurant, said Ming General may be on to
something. "It could be a good marketing strategy," he said. "People in
Hong Kong are always looking for something new or special."

Diners recently got something new. Earlier this year, Ming General's mall
location in Sham Shui Po stopped operating, to the dismay of fans, who
sprinkled online forums with the cry, "Give me back my bad food!"
Last month, a new restaurant opened in its place sporting the name
"Korean-Japanese BBQ Buffet Restaurant" and refurbished interiors, along
with higher prices and a new menu.

Mr. Chan, who paid a visit with friends on opening night, said he felt
conflicted about the change. "The quality is better than before," he said.
"But that's a little disappointing, because now you don't feel like you're
in Ming General."

He was consoled, though, by the fact that the restaurant had some of Ming
General's old hallmarks, including sushi. And when he paid the bill, he
said, the receipt still bore the "Ming General" name, as did several
plates.
Restaurant staff declined to comment. But those picking up the phone
haven't cured themselves of old habits, it seems: "Ming General," they
say, when answering the phone.

—Chester Yung contributed to this article.