So, the hunter becomes the hunted, the chewer the chewed, the blah-er the blah-ed etc. Every article about the Sydney restaurant that successfully sued a critic started with a rehash of this idiom, so why differ?
It’s not the first time that a restaurant has managed this feat. In Belfast in 2000, Goodfellas Italian restaurant successfully sued The Irish News for £25,000 because of bad comments. The irony of an Irishman running an Italian restaurant with the name Goodfellas, suing because the article made them ‘look amateur’, obviously lost on the jury.
While Goodfellas is by all accounts still operating, the Sydney restaurant, Coco Roco, that sued the Morning Heralnd promptly went bust. Why? I’m guessing because it was rubbish, just as the paper suggested. But the Sydney High Court still decided the review had indeed been detrimental to business.
To me this all seems a load of tosh. As AA Gill pointed out over the weekend, no other reviewer would be sued for his opinion: a film critic, for example, wouldn’t have Tom Selleck’s mustachioed lawyers (I assume that’s how he selects them) knocking on his door because he slated Three Men and a Little Lady. Same for music and theatre critics.
What they accept is that if they put out dross, then they deserve to be ignored by the public. They write the money off, have a think and eventually admit that Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow was a film too far. But restaurateurs seem ignorant to this objective appraisal.
The whole affair, to me, sounds as ridiculous as suing a girlfriend because you’ve been dumped.
“Tom, you’ve been witty, charming and devilishly good looking while we’ve gone out but I think we should break up.”
“No. I’m afraid I’m not having that. You’ll be hearing from my people.”
That honks of dignity.
It’s absurd. Criticism is made because 99% of the time, it’s true. So, Roco Coco, if the flavours of your limoncello oysters "jangle like a car crash", then accept it and think about improving, just as i do when i get dumped (which, quite obviously, is an extremely rare occurence).
