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On The Menu | How to become a better diner – 6 New Year’s resolutions to make you the sort of guest a restaurant will love

  • If you want to stay on the good side of restaurateurs this year, try honouring your reservations – put them in your calendar and bug fellow diners to do so too
  • Don’t feel so entitled – bringing your own wine AND asking for corkage to be waived? Come on! Cut down on the food porn, and the post-meal social media rants

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Diners waiting at Tim Ho Wan at Central, Hong Kong. We take a look at how to be a better diner, from not making last-minute cancellations to not bringing your own wine. Photo: Shutterstock

What a difference three years makes.

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If you recall the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic – or rather, the point at which we were a good half a year in and it became apparent we were in it for the long haul – it was widely accepted that we needed to support each other in tough times. In particular, it was important to try to be better in every way as a diner.

That meant showing up for restaurants, and not just literally.

At the time I penned a guide on how to best support the food and beverage industry during that incredibly difficult period when they were banned from operating dine-in service – first for the entire day, then in the evening only when the government hastily backtracked – which included suggestions such as buying takeaway directly from restaurants rather than through third-party delivery apps.
Buying takeaway meals directly from restaurants rather than through third-party delivery apps was a way to help them during the pandemic. Photo: Felix Wong
Buying takeaway meals directly from restaurants rather than through third-party delivery apps was a way to help them during the pandemic. Photo: Felix Wong

We believed that every little bit would help save our favourite restaurants from going under. Gift cards and vouchers were a huge deal back then, too; I think many of us really never thought about cashing them in, either.

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