A primary school friend took this picture of me living my best life in Oxford’s University Parks at the weekend.
When I was little I had just one dream – to join the circus. For a brief moment in time I made this happen. The Spaghetti Circus in the Australian town of Mullumbimby ran classes for adults, and at the age of 30-something I finally nailed backflips and other moves I’d always dreamed of turning as a kid.
We take the children to Giffords Circus every year and I’m always the loudest member of the audience – the first to laugh, whoop and cheer. I still love a live spectacle, even if I cannot be a part of it.
Except that at the restaurant and in the festival field of course I can. Hospitality is a showground too. Here we have the opportunity to rouse the crowd in our own ways – by ensuring that our workplace is exciting and fun for everyone on our team, by cooking up the tastiest food we can produce, and by delivering the best service we can provide alongside. It’s a performance. The best restaurants and food stalls manage to delight their punters just as the juggler wows their audience.
Michelin-star restauranteur Will Guidara has written a whole book about what he calls “Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect“. It’s about how bending over backwards for your tribe – the people who support your business, whatever industry you choose work in – can reap its rewards. “It feels great to make other people feel good,” says Guidara, and we know this to be true: it’s a Tibetan concept to begin with.
We work hard for your pleasure, but we cannot be everything to everyone all the time. Apologies to all the wonderful peeps who are missing weekday lunches with us at the moment: we’re one man down in the kitchen, and much as we love the circus we cannot keep all the plates spinning.
However! We’re starting to give over some of these dormant slots to cookery classes and private lunches. Are you interested in hiring our performing troupe for a momo workshop or Christmas lunch? Maybe you’d like hot food delivered to your office? Get in touch and let us know. More on this in the weeks to come – watch this space.
For now, we’re open all the usual hours this week, as follows:
Wednesday – Friday: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 12-3 (lunch) / 5-9.30pm (dinner)
This week’s menu is out now – check it! You can dine with us or take away for a night at home. We also have good stocks of pretty much everything in our freezers, including all the momos. Come forage.
Looking forward to welcoming you in soon,
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm
Sat: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
☏ 01865 499318
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