View Full Version : Dear Camden Food Stall Worker
Dubversion
22-04-2007, 18:16
A little tip:
If you want my business, can I recommend that you don't all scream at me at once, wave little chunks of food in my face and keep doing this even when I'm stood right in front of you trying to decide what to buy. This is almost certain to have the reverse effect and probably result in me not buying anything from any of you.
Shut the fuck up :)
thanks
Dear Whinger,
No 'Camden Food Stall Worker' was found in our directory, and thus your whinge could not be transferred. Please accept our apologies. If you would like to whinge about this as well, feel free to pen a new whinge on the matter.
However please be aware that none of this will be the slightest bit of fucking use whatsoever.
Yours sincerely,
The Internets.
Dubversion
22-04-2007, 18:26
Dear Internets
sometimes it just helps to share.
Yours Sincerely
That bloke outside your front door with the machete
Dear man with a machete,
We are pleased to have been of at least some assistance. However we must also point out that unfortunately we are not able to offer a door at this time.
Thank you again,
The Internets.
SPRING ROLLS VERY CHEAP ONLY £1.50 HELLO SIR!
:cool:
Dubversion
22-04-2007, 18:31
they didn't use to be this fucking bad.
All I wanted was some noodles and i was penned in by people fucking SCREAMING at me.
I went and got a sandwich :(
(and Drag Strip's gone downhill :( )
gaijingirl
22-04-2007, 18:36
Dear man with a machete,
We are pleased to have been of at least some assistance. However we must also point out that unfortunately we are not able to offer a door at this time.
Thank you again,
The Internets.
:D :D :D
That applies to lots of other things. If I'm stood in a clothes shop looking at clothes then the chances are I will try something on. Chances are if you start talking to me and giving advice I will fuck off pronto...
Dubversion
22-04-2007, 20:50
That applies to lots of other things. If I'm stood in a clothes shop looking at clothes then the chances are I will try something on. Chances are if you start talking to me and giving advice I will fuck off pronto...
definitely. If i want your help, i'll be right on over to ask for it, and i'll appreciate it too :)
till then, fuck off.
Kid_Eternity
23-04-2007, 12:14
Ah the delights of Camden...which food stall was it?
littlebabyjesus
23-04-2007, 12:24
Same goes for Brick Lane restaurants.
It is impossible to stop and look at a menu without being harassed by someone asking you to come in. Last time we were there, we pointed out to one chap that his haranging had meant that we definitely were not going to eat at his place, and he proceeded to explain at length how tough it was as we tried to read the menu next door.
We should all make a point of not giving the annoying our custom, then they will decide that it is not worth their while being annoying and stop.
Once one eateries gets touts they all do. Brick lane is shite IMO anyway. Lahore in Commercial Road is miles better.
Dubversion
23-04-2007, 12:27
Ah the delights of Camden...which food stall was it?
all of them, as i said.
littlebabyjesus
23-04-2007, 12:29
Once one eateries gets touts they all do. Brick lane is shite IMO anyway. Lahore in Commercial Road is miles better.
We'll try it.:)
Best I know is Babur Brasserie in Brockley. Hard job to get the missis to go to SE just to eat though.:(
Alternatively, the touts should be manipulated.
"Hmmm. Your prices look good. Free naans you say? Well that is tempting. But you know what would really seal the deal? Do a little dance. An Oirish one, with the feet all over the place. Yeah"
It might work.
ohmyliver
23-04-2007, 12:30
Apparently the Council regularly tries to ban the touts... There was about a month of no touts on BL after Tower Hamlets said they'd take away the licence of any resteraunt with touts last year... but they don't seem to enforce it unfortunately. Sweet and Spicey has no touts and is the best on Brick Lane...
and yeah Tayyabs on fieldgate street or Lahore just off commercial road are much much better... I prefer Tayyabs because of the naans, my girlfriend prefers Lahore, I'll bow to her superiour knowledge of indian home cooking on this one though.
littlebabyjesus
23-04-2007, 12:34
Tayyabs make you feel under pressure to eat up and fuck off. Good, cheap fodder, but I prefer to pay a bit more and take my time.
I think I'm getting old.
We'll try it.:)
Best I know is Babur Brasserie in Brockley. Hard job to get the missis to go to SE just to eat though.:(
I was in brockley on sat. Where is this place you mention?
pinkychukkles
23-04-2007, 12:34
Lahore in Commercial Road is miles better.
SSSShhhhhhh! Keep it down, it was packed enough last Thursday when I went... for some reason they didn't seem to have the upstairs area opened up either (maybe a private function :confused: )
Tayyabs make you feel under pressure to eat up and fuck off. Good, cheap fodder, but I prefer to pay a bit more and take my time.
I think I'm getting old.
lahore have the best breads in London.
littlebabyjesus
23-04-2007, 12:35
I was in brockley on sat. Where is this place you mention?
Brockley rise, just past the Brockley Jack on the right. Not cheap, but the food can be wonderful.
SSSShhhhhhh! Keep it down, it was packed enough last Thursday when I went... for some reason they didn't seem to have the upstairs area opened up either (maybe a private function :confused: )
Sorry, lahore have rats and mice and smelly loo's and only cook once a week from bins. :)
Kid_Eternity
23-04-2007, 12:42
all of them, as i said.
Sorry, bad wording, meant, where abouts? Nearly the market or the stables end?
Dubversion
23-04-2007, 12:45
Sorry, bad wording, meant, where abouts? Nearly the market or the stables end?
i got driven from the food area by the arts and crafts building place to the other end of the market down by the stables, where there were less of them but they shouted louder.
littlebabyjesus
23-04-2007, 12:47
Continuing to derail, Brockley also has the best Thai restaurant I know, which is also a BYOB and pretty cheap. It's tucked away on Foxberry Road just roud the corner from the Cop Shop. Because of where it is it's usually really quiet, but if you're around there, go. Their soups are brilliant. Ask for 'spicy bean curd noodles with cashew nuts' (use those exact words) for mains. It isn't on the menu, but I think it's possibly my favourite meal ever, and I usually eat meat.
*end derail*
ohmyliver
23-04-2007, 12:48
lahore have the best breads in London.
Didn't see any naans on the menu when I went last week though.
Kid_Eternity
23-04-2007, 13:49
i got driven from the food area by the arts and crafts building place to the other end of the market down by the stables, where there were less of them but they shouted louder.
Oh right, thought so, ime they tend to be like that near the end of the day (where you can normally get stuff quite cheap).
Monkeynuts
23-04-2007, 16:43
Brockley rise, just past the Brockley Jack on the right. Not cheap, but the food can be wonderful.
Sorry to be a pedant, but I have to claim Babur for Forest Hill (decent places are a little thin on the ground round here so we have to protect them jealously!)
phildwyer
23-04-2007, 16:53
Cultural differences innit. Not every country in the world shares the Brit obsession with personal space and public decorum. If you walk down a souk in Tangiers or the night market in Chang Mai or the beach in Montego Bay you'll get the same or more aggressive sales tactics. And a good thing too.
Monkeynuts
23-04-2007, 17:10
Cultural differences innit. Not every country in the world shares the Brit obsession with personal space and public decorum. If you walk down a souk in Tangiers or the night market in Chang Mai or the beach in Montego Bay you'll get the same or more aggressive sales tactics. And a good thing too.
Erm why would aggressive sales tactics be good? I'm unconvinced that Thais or Jamaicans would be all that appreciative either TBH, given the choice
Dear Internet Whiner,
You say you don't want me shouting at you but if I hadn't of you wouldn't have known about that half price cheese the other week. I notice you bought 2 kilos of it.
Love
Shouty market person
phildwyer
23-04-2007, 18:23
Erm why would aggressive sales tactics be good? I'm unconvinced that Thais or Jamaicans would be all that appreciative either TBH, given the choice
They would, they love it. Especially Jamaicans. They call it "higgling." The idea that people shouting at you to try to make you buy their wares is somehow offensive is uniquely British.
gaijingirl
23-04-2007, 18:25
They would, they love it. Especially Jamaicans. They call it "higgling." The idea that people shouting at you to try to make you buy their wares is somehow offensive is uniquely British.
Well not uniquely British - you don't see that in lots of places.
phildwyer
23-04-2007, 18:32
Well not uniquely British - you don't see that in lots of places.
Hmm... Japan and Western Europe are the only places I haven't seen it. It is especially funny to see British tourists' reactions to the kind of aggressive selling that goes on in Islamic countries. They can't handle it at all, it freaks them right out. The locals think they're terribly sensitive little flowers.
gaijingirl
23-04-2007, 18:51
Hmm... Japan and Western Europe are the only places I haven't seen it.
That's what I was thinking too - so quite far off being uniquely British really!! :D
Well, I wouldn't expect to do much business in an Egyptian market by being very british, quiet, with carefully labelled prices and maybe 5% off the slow-moving stock. I'd expect to have to muscle in with the other big boys and shout my wares.
Likewise, if I wanted to sell to timid brits in their native environment, I wouldn't shout at them. Simple, really.
Hmm... Japan and Western Europe are the only places I haven't seen it. It is especially funny to see British tourists' reactions to the kind of aggressive selling that goes on in Islamic countries. They can't handle it at all, it freaks them right out. The locals think they're terribly sensitive little flowers.
Grrr, those bloody British tourists.
You do know where Camden is, right?
gaijingirl
23-04-2007, 19:09
Mind you - when you go to the fruit and veg market there's that whole "lovely apples £1 for 10" type thing going on - so maybe we're not as timid as we think??
Perhaps it's more about where you are within the country - I have seen some quite aggressive food selling of the souk type going on in Japan - just recently at a local products farmers' market outside a train station, you couldn't get through without being waylaid and made to sample (although nowhere near as full on - just "aggressive" for Japan).
phildwyer
23-04-2007, 20:08
Likewise, if I wanted to sell to timid brits in their native environment, I wouldn't shout at them. Simple, really.
How many people walking through Camden market do you reckon are Brits?
How many people walking through Camden market do you reckon are Brits?
Depends what day of the week and which bit of the market. 20-70% spread at a wild guess.
DeadManWalking
24-04-2007, 12:33
Brockley rise, just past the Brockley Jack on the right. Not cheap, but the food can be wonderful.
Careful there are two Baburs, one opposite the Brockley Jack that is take away only, and one in Honor Oak Park that's eat in, different kitchens and the food is better in the HOP one. Well presented but not big portions.
Louloubelle
24-04-2007, 12:41
You want to walk past at 5pm
they put the prices down to £2 to get rid of the last of the food and they all shout "ohlee too pouh, jus too pouh laydeee" while waving trays of food in your face
drives me nuts
Dubversion
24-04-2007, 13:49
good to see Dwyer's still generalising - incorrectly - as a way of life :)
phildwyer
24-04-2007, 13:51
good to see Dwyer's still generalising - incorrectly - as a way of life :)
Bad to see Dubversion's still turning every debate into a personal spat. But not very surprising.
DapperDonDamaja
24-04-2007, 14:09
If people shout at me and piss me off, fair play to them, but they don't get my custom.
But my rather greater objection is the amount of sodium nitrite they load their meat with. On having finally bought what looked to be a half decent green chicken curry, I noticed as I bit down on the chicken that it had the consistency of soggy toilet paper.
That shit is out of order. By all means don't put as much meat in the portions, but conning people into thinking they're getting a good deal by pumping their food with chemicals that make you retain water, is pretty despicable.
Camden is shite, utter, utter shite, I ve seen mice, rats you fucking name all over those "food" places - wouldn't want my cat to die a painful death by eating any of the crap - I should point out I lived in Camden for 5 years, Kentish Yown for a couple etc so its not just some kneee jerk South of the River Bollocks, but over recent years it really has become utter crap-land
Babur is ace, their Chefs are all ex Oberoi guys, one from Jodpur one from Dehli - Oberoi Hotels regularly top polls in India for the best eats - I saw one Oberoi chef on TV in India a few years go completely and utterly berzerk when he was offered a taste of Chicken Tikka Masala - guess hes not keen on our UK version of Indian eats. He was also very amusing on the subject of Balti, saying it was actually a Punjabi word for bucket, well actually he pointed out that his family used to use a balti to relieve themsleves in at night so the results to be spread around the farm adding that the CTM tasted like it had been cooked in one of his old buckets. It was ace, I laffed and laffed, better than any cookery show I've seen in the UK, much better insults.
Become a wheelchair user; this will give you guaranteed anonymity, to the point of invisibility. It’s great; no one tries to entice you into their shop, boutique, restaurant, bus, taxi, business, employment etc.
Mind you, the feeling of total exclusion can get a bit lonely from time to time.
RubyToogood
28-04-2007, 13:07
Did someone say something?
<looks round at head height>
bluestreak
28-04-2007, 13:24
i'm sure i heard something. must have been the wind.
Did someone say something?
<looks round at head height>
See, I sit here vindicated.
OY, I SAID: “I SIT HERE VINDICATED!”
Oh bollocks…
Yossarian
29-04-2007, 17:26
Cultural differences innit. Not every country in the world shares the Brit obsession with personal space and public decorum. If you walk down a souk in Tangiers or the night market in Chang Mai or the beach in Montego Bay you'll get the same or more aggressive sales tactics. And a good thing too.
Chiang Mai night market? :D Yeah, I guess if you walk down a street with one of the highest concentrations of people selling overpriced souveneirs to Western tourists in the whole of Southeast Asia you might encounter some slightly aggressive sales tactics.
You´ll find things much more relaxed just about everywhere else in the region, though I can´t remember getting stuff shoved in my face even in Chiang Mai´s night market - maybe you just look like a mug?
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