What's the deal with entertainment-themed restaurants at the moment?
After the not quite good enough South African outfit Madame Zingara, which was forced to abandon its London outpost next to Battersea Power Station after it went bust, and the car crash that was Bel Canto, the UK offshoot of the Parisian restaurant which combines French food with opera-singing staff, one would've thought operators would think twice before throwing themselves into the abyss of amusement-led restaurants.
But as always, people don't seem to learn from other people's mistakes and recently there has been a string of entertainment-themed ventures hitting the capital.
There was the launch of the too-cool-for-school Blues Kitchen in Camden, the über-cheesy Proud Cabaret (in the former Bel Canto site) in the City, and Eurotrash flagship Supper Club which has made the move from Amsterdam to Notting Hill.
Now there's another. Circus, due to open in mid-January in Covent Garden, will be a surrealist-inspired venue designed by ex-Habitat creative director Tom Dixon, "with entertainment at its very heart".
To make things even more obscure (inline with its surrealist theme one imagines), is the fact that the entertainment is top secret. All that is revealed is that "the acts are guaranteed to entertain", which is reassuring since that's kind of the point of entertainment.
What ever happened to the concept of focusing a restaurant on the food?
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I must admit, I usually give entertainment restaurants a wide berth.
I did have a lovely meal at Madame Zingara's in Cape Town several years ago, but even there, we were seated in a quiet, intimate side area rather than the main dining area and there wasn't, so far as we could tell, any actual entertainers, other than the friendly waiting staff, that night.
And I've also enjoyed an evening at Sarastro's in London, with quirky decor and live singing, though that was in a group, I'd have hated it were I dining with just one companion.
I once had the misfortune to go to a middle eastern restaurant in London where belly dancing and loud music seemed to be the chief draw for most customers. I hated it!
When I eat out I'm looking for great food first, good service second, a pleasant environment third and the location has to be reasonably convenient for me.
Entertainment? Not so much!