A name by any other rose

After many months of forewarning, Tuk Tuk, one of my favourite Thai eateries in Dili is gone. So sad it was to drive past last month and see it empty. It was one of the most popular places in an (increasingly dwindling) line of cute little beachfront restaurants. I really liked it because it was a pretty green hut with lots of character, and the food was pretty good too (by Dili standards).

So you can imagine my excitement (and slight confusion) when we drove past again just last week to see some people setting up tables inside and a sign outside saying, “The New Tuk Tuk”!!

We made haste to dine once again on fish cakes and seafood red curry in little banana leaf parcels.

Upon our arrival at “The New Tuk Tuk”!! we noted the fresh paint job in primary colours and an unusual mural on the wall - a silhouette in red of a naked woman, looking like the lead singer of a heavy metal band with a background of drums, guitars and psychedelic swirls.

We then noted the menu -a laminated piece of white A4 paper, entitled: “Garden 88”.

This wouldn’t mean anything to those unfamiliar with beachfront Dili eateries, but it meant a hell of a lot to us.

Garden 88 is another beachfront restaurant just 50 metres down the road.  It is always empty.

As you can imagine, our suspicions were aroused at this point.

Still, we were hungry, so we chose a few dishes, and after being told “no have” to around half a dozen of them, we settled on some spring rolls, a papaya salad and some barbecued squid.

Our suspicions were further aroused when we noticed that “The New Tuk Tuk”!! didn’t appear to have a kitchen, and that our food was arriving through the front door, in the arms of an exhausted-looking waitress.

Our suspicions were finally confirmed upon the eating of the food which was, at best, mediocre.

To give you an idea about just how disappointed I was, think of “The New Tuk Tuk”!! as the Grease 2 of restaurants - Big hype, same name, but none of the stars of the original.

How can these people sleep at night when they know they are so blatantly capitalising on another’s success?

Bastards!!

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There is an ironic twist to this story.

I was grocery shopping the other day at Landmark Plaza. There is a Chinese restaurant next door. Guess what it’s called...

“The New Garden 88”.