Feeling a bit better, we ventured out this evening. After debating dinner back and forth, we decided to try JoJo’s in Wanchai. I’ve had several people tell me it’s their favorite Indian place; one or two had negative comments about the service.

It’s certainly a nice looking place. Got to give it that. And with a view overlooking Fenwick’s, there’s no shortage of entertainment. On the other hand, it’s larger than most Indian restaurants I’ve been to. And when we entered, there were just three people working the floor. One of those three was almost constantly on the phone dealing with, I suppose, Food-By-Fone orders or something. The second was almost constantly behind the bar pouring drinks. That left just one person running back and forth to the tables for a good part of the time. After awhile, someone whom I presume was one of the bosses showed up and he took over the phone.

After we ordered, we had to wait 5 minutes for papadums and another 5 minutes for our drinks. After that, it was another 15 minutes until our food arrived. Perhaps they were equally short handed in the kitchen. This guy came in after us and ordered something for takeaway and it seemed like he was there for at least 20 minutes after ordering. (In all fairness, he didn’t use a menu to order so perhaps he’s a regular and perhaps we caught them on an off night.)

The food itself was hit and miss. I ordered some variation on chicken tikka and it was so bland that T covered hers with salt and pepper while I liberally applied the mint sauce. Our naan didn’t arrive until we’d almost finished this dish (and I usually live to wrap bits of this stuff in naan). T had selected a fish curry which I found spicy but she also thought was bland. The one dish she liked was the vegetable biryani. We agreed that next time we’d go someplace else.

After that, over to Maya. I found our usual table in the front was gone, replaced by a stand holding two Roland keyboards. I thought this did not bode well, but after a few minutes one guy stood behind the keyboards, another guy picked up a 5 string electric bass, and they proceeded to play real jazz. And these guys could really play. T said she recognized the bass player, that she’s sometimes seen him sitting in with the band at Neptune.

After the first song, I joked to the bass player that they’re not allowed to play real music in Hong Kong and that they’re supposed to just play kiddy shit like the Macarena. He laughed, he knew what I was getting at. And while the audience inside was appreciative, it was interesting to watch the people passing by. Maybe only half actually stopped and looked inside once they heard the music. Another 25% stopped but that’s because there was a football match on the TV. Another 25% just kept walking.

As they kept on playing, this guy came by, heard them and started dancing, what almost looked like real jazz moves, very slow, very precise. He then lured in two Filipino girls coming down the street, bought them drinks, kept on dancing. The girls left after they finished their drinks so the guy went back to dancing in the street. It was very Borat-like, he’d come up behind someone walking down the street and dance behind them and most often they’d turn and notice and run. One woman actually stopped and danced with him for a few bars before moving on.

At any rate, I didn’t catch the musicians’ names but I’m told they’re gonna be there every Sunday night and if you find yourself in Wanchai and want to hear something other than the Ketchup Song, you should check it out.

Hongkie Town
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