Gradlife

Jump to Comments

So this time last year, I had never been to Salad King because a) I am not a Ryerson University student and b) I hadn’t been on a date for a long time. However, this time last year I also had the privilege of meeting a charming young man in front of a club who insisted he take me out to dinner (it was all very classy). Since I love food, I gave him my number (assumed he wouldn’t call), and agreed to what he assured me would be worth my time (you should never trust someone you don’t know).

A few days later (Tuesday), I found myself at Salad King with who I will call Mr. Charm. We were seated at the end of a long table, communally shared with others, a buffer zone of empty table-settings between us and the next people over. We ate, things were dandy, he wasn’t my dream man, but he was perfectly suitable company to share some Tom Yum Soup ($3.50), Beef Golden Curry ($8.75) and Veggie Phad Thai ($8.25).

 

Until of course, he went to drive me home, we were saying our goodbyes, and he stuck his tongue down my throat (after I said — VERBATIM — “Ok, I’ll give you a hug”). That was gross, awful and WRONG. I ran upstairs to my apartment, unfriended him on facebook, deleted him from my phone and that was end of the Mr. Charm (hooray!).

Although Mr. Charm was more delete-able than date-able, I couldn’t help but remember the restaurant. It was good! It was cheap! There was a frenetic buzz in the room! These are some of my favourite things – if only I could acquire better company…

Fast forward to this year. I have better (the best) and more consistent (I’ve seen him a few times more than once) company! And so I have introduced him to Salad King, because the only way to get over bad memories is to create new, grander ones! Except now we are the been-together-for-long-enough-to-eat-not-joke-and-giggle couple who goes to Salad King to eavesdrop. Yes. Eavesdrop. 

You see, because this is the thing about Salad King. If you go as a twosome, on a Friday, like we did, you will most certainly be placed at the banquet style table. Except there won’t be a buffer zone, you will be seated, bumping elbows with strangers… on dates! And, maybe Mr. Charm was onto something I wasn’t, but from my experience this is where at least 87% of first dates of people aged 18-29, in Toronto, go on first dates (almost failed stats in undergrad). And this means, if you are in a been-together-for-long-enough-to-eat-not-joke-and-giggle couple you are going to be placed in between not one, but TWO first dates. This my friends, is far better dinner material than you and your been-together-for-long-enough-to-eat-not-joke-and-giggle partner could ever come up with.

So this is what we do. We sit there, listening, staring deep into each other eyes, in near silence, trying not to laugh.

Then we have to debrief for two hours about the first dates we eavesdropped on… over dessert. In a private booth.