Marius

I had the pleasure of working in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of May, where I think I can safely say I had one the best restaurant experiences ever. Upon arrival we were seated at a round table and admired all the paraphernalia on the walls (like old china plates, a pirate's treasure chest, giant sea shells). One of my colleagues came back from the bathroom and told us all we MUST have a look. I later went myself and was amazed to see the floor covered in stones, and tubs of ice to urinate in.

Two beers and three oysters later there was a tremendous crash on the floor and everybody cheered - a waiter had obviously dropped a plate by mistake and couldn't hide the fact. Then another plate dropped, and the customers reacted again, but not so loud. Then a third and fourth time, and the customers had stopped cheering for fear that the chef was perhaps arguing with the owner infront of everyone. But the plates kept crashing, so much that shards of china would spread to our table! After a while I asked a waiter why this was happening, and he told me it was a form of celebration, similar to the Greeks, when they do good business. A few minutes passed and the same waiter approached me again, this time asking me to follow him. Naturally curious I got up from my seat and he took me round the corner to where all the waiters passed through. There before me were loads of broken wine bottles littered all over the floor. He took a bottle from the floor that only had a chip at the top and said, 'Here, break it!' So I did. Then I picked up another, and another. It was a fantastic stress reliever!


I enthusiastically returned to our table and called everybody to come have a look and everyone had a go. Then my friend Dave said 'Hey Ric, look at these!' and to our right were around twenty old military helmets displayed on shelves. So I promptly picked up a knight's lancing helmet whilst two others did, and we returned to the table together.



When we got back to the hotel we met a guy who we were working with on the same event and told him all about it. He asked us what the restaurant was called, and when we said Marius he said 'But we went there this evening and saw nothing like this! Where were you guys!?' That was the funniest thing of all. Who said curiousity killed the cat?