Sensitive South African restaurant patrons have found the use of the word ”tsunami” by local eateries a bit hard to swallow, accusing it of cashing in on the Asian wave disaster, a report said on Tuesday.
Offended because of the devastating waves that killed more than 150 000 people, several people have lodged complaints at two Johannesburg eateries — one a chain of breakfast restaurants that sells a ”tsunami chicken burger”, the other a sushi bar named after the killer wave.
But the restaurants hit back, saying they used the word ”tsunami” long before the disaster struck the south-eastern Asian coast, The Star newspaper reported.
”Long before the gigantic waves wreaked havoc in south-east Asia and East Africa, South African diners were devouring the tsunami chicken burger sold at the Mugg & Bean restaurants,” the paper said.
”But since December 26 the name of this once-popular chicken burger has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many patrons — especially those who spotted it for the first time,” it added.
Complaints have also come pouring in at the Tsunami Seafood Emporium, a Japanese sushi bar in Johannesburg’s upmarket Rosebank suburb.
”Plenty of people have come in here to complain,” said Claudio Goncalves, the restaurant’s manager.
”But we opened in the beginning of December after a lot of research went into the name. There is obviously no way that we could have foreseen this disaster,” a distraught Goncalves said.
”This morning I received a call from a lady asking me if I did not think it was insensitive to name the restaurant after the tsunami,” he told The Star. ”Before I could answer her, she asked what I would think if someone opened a 9/11 grill house.”
”We could have chosen to call the place ‘meteorite’, and if a meteorite had struck I do not think these people would have held us responsible,” he said.
To appease unhappy patrons, both restaurants have pledged to donate profits to tsunami victims, with Goncalves saying that 10% of Tsunami’s January earnings will go to disaster aid. — Sapa-AFP