In upholding the civility of enjoying English tea with style in a building retroffied with old world charm, the owner of a tea house has set a few rules for customers.
First, kids under the age of nine are not allowed in Mrs Christina Lim's Chris Tea House, a Upper Paya Lebar shophouse that has been restored to resemble a Victorian building.
Second, customers are encouraged not to conduct business meetings over the tea tables and place chunky materials like files and business plans on them.
While Mrs Lim is absolutely right to enforce such rules to allow genuine tea lovers to enjoy the stylish English tea ritual in peace, it has also offended those who don't quite understand the philosophy behind the guidelines.
One angry mother said it was unfair to ban her three-year-old as he enjoyed eating designer macarons and tea.
But there are those who prefer not to have children around in genteel venues like Chris' Tea House.
Mrs Lim's move to keep young children away was nothing new or unusual although most hotels serving afternoon tea or Sunday brunch do not turn away children.
There are fine-dining places that ban children as they behaviour can be unpredictable. Certain orchestral concerts and music recitals also ban kids.
While most kids don't cause trouble in restaurants, we do see the occasional brat upsetting the peace. And you certainly don't want kids running into expensive crockery at fine-dining places or mishandling them.
Explaining her position on the cafe's Facebook page, Mrs Lim said: "Chris' Tea House is suitable for adults gathering and corporate functions. Children below age 9 are not allowed as we do not have food/drinks suitable for them. The place is also not conducive for the small ones. Considerate parents should bring their young ones to places where kids' food are served and space for them to enjoy."
On disallowing business meetings to be conducted over a cuppa, she said on Facebook: "My intention of opening this tea house is for adults to relax with friends and business partners to communicate. However, meetings with files and plans being laid down all over the tables should not be done in this small tea house."
This would deprive customers, genuinely there for tea or food, of adequate space to enjoy it what with the tea paraphernalia that's laden on the table, from tea cup with saucer and the cutlery, to serving plate and the tiered tray.
Instead of turning away such customers, she offers them a thoughtful solution - she has office space for ad-hoc rental if they want.
While stating clearly her cafe's dos and don'ts might reduce misunderstandings with customers, the unwritten ones that fall in fuzzy grey zones could turn out to be problematic.
Just like the recent case between her and customer Kenneth Lee, who aired his unhappiness online.
He was taken aback when she kicked up a fuss over her stained floor tiles after his friend's glass tipped over the table edge and broke on the expensive flooring.
She could not believe that his friend could be so careless in a setting which called for one's attention to handling and placing fragile china and glassware in a safe manner.
So who says it's only kids who can be so blur or ungovernable?
But many netizens are up in arms after a representative of Chris' Tea House, in a reply to Mr Lee on SoShiok.com, called him "cheapskate" for he had the cheek to make a lot of complaints when he had bought only the cheapest drink on its menu.
She also reminded him that he was visiting a "high-classed" cafe.
That angered Mr Lee and many netizens, who saw her response as being condescending. So they have called on people to boycott the tea house.
Read the latest posts by netizens -> HERE (
http://www.soshiok.com/where_to_eat/restaurant/article/2332)
But there are also those who felt that Mr Lee had been unreasonable too. Like wanting to split his group of eight into four so that each pair could take up a table each, hence depriving subsequent walk-ins of a table in the small 25-seat cafe.
They also urged him to tell his friend to pay for the broken glass and removal of floor stains.
While the debate on who's right, who's wrong rages on, it's clear what both parties want and expect, and hopefully the twain shall meet.
Mr Lee and his supporters would like restaurant owners to treat the customer like a king with good service, and be flexible in accommodating their requests.
On the part of business owners like Mrs Lim, they would like the customer to observe restaurant rules and etiquette for certain food traditions so that the majority of the customers could enjoy them.
They also expect customers to have a sense of decorum and respect for the eatery and its staff. And understand that they must run a viable business.
With the opening of more eateries serving a wider variety of cuisines from different nationalities and the entry of new restaurant owners, perhaps it would be good to promote the different kinds of dining etiquette and the right customer service.
Then the dining scene would see fewer of such spats.
