Status Anxiety

31 January 2009

An unbiased review of the restaurant owned by my new employer at the Standard

Judging from the number of people eating in Sake No Hana’s dining-room, the Standard’s circulation is about to plummet — though, to be fair, no restaurant is full on a Monday lunchtime. Evgeny Lebedev himself was entertaining some business associates in the private dining-room and my friend suggested we march up and introduce ourselves. However, I felt a little underdressed without my shoes on, particularly as I was wearing odd socks. In my experience, it is better not to make yourself known to newspaper proprietors. Seeing their journalistic employees in the flesh is always a crushing disappointment.

We each ordered a Bento box, the Japanese equivalent of a packed lunch, and they arrived promptly at our table. At this point, you probably won’t believe me if I say the food was fantastic since I cannot really say anything else, but we had no complaints. At £25 a pop, our boxes were not too expensive, either, at least not for this part of town. If the cuisine at Sake No Hana is any indication of the future editorial direction of the Standard, expect the paper to become much more upmarket, with plenty of fizz and pep. Not too saucy, but with a hint of spice. Okay, that is enough grovelling. I daresay the Lebedevs will find some reason to sack me, even if I have not been rude about Sake No Hana. Hand me the loaded revolver, Colonel, and leave the room for a moment. I promise to do the right thing — only please don’t insist I remove my shoes.