Is It Still Okay to Blog About Restaurants?

by | Mar 15, 2020 | Food and Drink, Johannesburg, Melville and Surrounds | 9 comments

I’m not trying to be trite or make light of a serious situation. I’m just legitimately baffled and sad and unsure what to say or do about basically everything.

For the purposes of this post I’m wondering if it’s currently acceptable to: A) Eat meals in restaurants; B) Order food from restaurants; and/or C) Write a blog encouraging others to go to a restaurant.

I have no f*cking idea about about A or B but I’ve decided to go ahead with C.

Bamboo Thai is a great restaurant serving solidly good Thai and other Asian cuisine. Also it’s in Melville and three blocks from my house. If there’s any restaurant that it’s still okay for me to go to, and blog about, Bamboo Thai is it.

Bamboo Thai, one of my favorite Asian restaurants
Bamboo Thai.
Inside Bamboo Thai
Inside Bamboo Thai.

Bamboo Thai is at the corner of 5th Street and 4th Avenue (next to Winner Winner), where the Dizzy Lizzy laundromat used to be. The menu is mostly Thai (pad Thai, green and yellow curry, massaman curry, etc.) but they also have sushi, dim sum, and poke bowls. My favorite dishes are the pad Thai and the salmon poke bowl.

Chicken pad thai.
Chicken pad thai.
Dumplings.
Vegetarian spring rolls
Vegetarian spring rolls.
Stir-fry ginger with vegetables.

The atmosphere at Bamboo Thai is extremely pleasant, with giant windows opening onto the street, and the service is efficient, friendly, and attentive.

Bamboo Thai does not have a liquor license but guests are welcome to bring their own booze.

Staff at Bamboo Thai
Dorcas (left) and Jam, the server and owner/chef at Bamboo Thai.

There are about 100 corona-virus-related problems worrying me at the moment. Near the top of the list is concern for all the restaurants and other small businesses that are going to struggle to survive this crisis. So I, for one, am going to try to support Bamboo Thai as much as possible. I can walk there. I can use hand-sanitizer and order take-away and not touch anything except the delicious food.

Is it okay to continue supporting small businesses in our own neighborhoods? As long as we’re careful? I really hope so.

This post wasn’t supposed to be pandemic-related but oh well. Be safe out there.

Bamboo Thai is at the corner of 5th Street and 4th Avenue, Melville. Call 073-798-6745.

9 Comments

  1. AutumnAshbough

    Oh, this is so hard. You want your favorite little places to survive, and yet people shouldn’t gather in crowds. Maybe you can encourage places to do takeout, limited seating, or gift cards the could be used later?

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Luckily there is never really a crowd there (tables far apart) and they do a lot of takeaway.

      Reply
      • AutumnAshbough

        As long as they wipe down tables after each customer with disinfecting wipes and wait 9 seconds!

        Reply
  2. lindasneedLinda Sneed

    If in doubt take your Lysol wipes with you and sit 6 feet away from others. Corona virus really isn’t passed through food so with limited contact with others and careful hand washing you should be OK. I agree we hope restaurants won’t close but some are cutting hours here.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Thank you, Nurse Sneed! Sounds like good advice.

      Reply
  3. tomatom

    It’s very hard to know what to do. My instinct is to stay for my own selfish safety but these businesses also need our support. However, a friend noted recently that there are quite a few restaurants that supply only single hand towels in bathrooms. That’s a towel for all their staff and customers to use rather than a drier (which can spread germs) or paper towels. I like some of these places very much but for my own safety shall be keeping away from these. I suspect I’m going to keep on the side of safety until we see how this situation develops. I wonder what position we will be in a week’s time? Based on the European situation all but essential retail outlets – food shops, pharmecies etc – could be ordered to close as in Italy and France.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Yes. So hard to predict what will happen. I agree re: the bathrooms – I think ordering take-away food is a good compromise 🙂

      Reply
  4. eremophila

    It’s gone crazy over here, Aussie have fallen into the trap of fearmongers. Supermarket shelves empty, cafes less than normal and people told not to travel with caravans. Now Victoria has gone into State of Emergency, which means government can do what they want for a month at least. Next step will be curfews and then martial law.
    Well, at least my conscience is clean, I never voted for any of them. It’s a whole global setup Heather. But I’ll try to stay out of jail????????Happy saint Patrick s day!

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Hahaha. Definitely stay out of jail! You won’t be allowed visitors 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply