By: Venus Mari Zapedzki
You might think that a restaurant that advertises topless waitresses would only do so because their food wasn’t so good. But in the case of the Midnight Mandarin in Laveau you’d be wrong.
Laveau is notorious for its sex life and the Midnight Mandarin fits in nicely with that. It has its ‘Special menu’ ranging from lap dancing to threesomes, with a charge for each item. Being served by a topless waitress is free, but you have to ask for it. And full nudity does cost.
But the food is surprisingly good, and that alone would make it a success in many normal areas. But then, Laveau is not a normal area.
The restaurant has been owned and run for about a year by a family by the Yheng family from Hong Kong. The noodles are made according to a generations-old family recipe, and the family member on duty when our reporter dropped by, Ai-Li Yheng, described the restaurant as “the best darn noodle shop in all of Louisiana”.
Ai-Li herself was born in Hong Kong, but grew up in the States. She previously worked in the Hathian Police Department before her family took over the restaurant. Her family had previously run clubs in a number of places.
The Midnight Mandarin’s most popular dish – for eating! – at the moment is rice noodles, which comes with beef and chicken slices along with scallions, soybeans and gravy.. The tea they serve comes from the ancestral lands of the Yheng family.. Other than the tea, the food they serve is locally-sourced from Louisiana, with their fish bought a short walking distance away on the Laveau docks.
Your reporter can confirm that the food tastes good.
When asked why they feel the need to offer the sexual experience, Ai-Li says that tits and ass gets the customers through the door, but the quality of the food brings them back.
The Midnight Mandarin is easy to find, just up the hill from the Laveau marina.
Editor’s note: I am not entirely sure I concur with my colleague’s food review, but perhaps the Mandarin will consent (like the Gein) to food testing? Mmh.
