Maneki-neko Gate breaks out: customers of Ramsay's new London eatery steal lucky kittens, causing financial losses to the sign.
The News
Evidently the diners at Lucky Cat - 22 Bishopsgate, Gordon Ramsay's new London restaurant, are not superstitious at all, let alone believe in karma. During an episode of The Jonathan Ross Show last Feb. 22, it was the British celebrity chef himself, with a string of restaurants around the world and patron of Hell's Kitchen and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, who revealed the theft of some 500 Maneki-neko - 477 to be exact - that adorned the restaurant on the 60th floor of one of the tallest buildings in the English capital. Ramsay, who is very attentive to the traditions and symbolism of the cuisines he interprets, had chosen to adorn every table in the restaurant with Maneki-neko, i.e., the typical kittens that move their paws and beckon to approach, bringers of good luck in the Empire of the Rising Sun.
Statuettes that seem to meet the taste of his guests, so much so that: “They disappear all the time, it's a practice that seems to have spread by word of mouth...Cats are being stolen. Last week 477 were stolen, costing £4.50 each!” reports Ramsay. With a simple multiplication, it is easy to calculate that this bizarre, yet disrespectful practice of “customer-stealing” implies a negative entry in the restaurant's budget of £2,146.50 (equal to over €2,500) per week.
These thefts, however, do not seem to be the only shortcoming in the guest etiquette of Lucky Cat - 22 Bishopsgate. In fact, during the same interview, the chef pointed out that many customers like to make love in the restaurant's bathrooms, “We have a problem with the bathrooms. There are a lot of couples who specifically go there and have unorthodox conduct." In his new establishment, Ramsay is, therefore, facing several nuisances when it comes to politeness. Who knows if future patrons of Lucky Cat - 22 Bishopsgate along with their reservation confirmation will also receive a decalogue of manners!
