Your inbox right now may be inundated with companies flogging gift card suggestions as a Christmas present for your loved ones. I get these too– straight in the virtual bin they go. I don’t even open the emails, and as I delete them one-by-one, I narrate a “fuck off” with each delete. It gives me a minor satisfaction, and I cannot help myself.
And here I am, writing our last newsletter of the year where I will try and convince you, the reader, to purchase a gift card from us here at Mangal II before Christmas Day as an offering for someone special in your life. I fully acknowledge the hypocrisy in my actions and hold my hands up (only for so long, because this piece here needs to be written and, well, I need my fingers). But we are all flawed and I am no exception.
Below I will list why you and your hard-earned money should part ways via the channel of a Mangal II Gift Card (available to purchase through our website under ‘Shop’). If the following doesn’t tempt you, nothing will! But I have faith – it’s that time of year where miracles happen, and in lieu of Christmas tradition, here are twelve reasons I can conjure:
1. You would be paying for someone to have a meal here at Mangal II, most likely next year some point. It is useable for a good 365 days. It can be a rainy-day refuge for someone; a little pick-me-up when they need it most!
2. We are not asking you for money to help us, I don’t know, open a new site and you get nothing in return. This is not a GoFundMe, not a Crowdfunder. This would be a meal you purchase for someone (or yourself)!
3. I almost had a fight with a customer 3 weeks ago. He was an old man. Like, really old. Like, I don’t know – 75? I almost got in a fist fight with a 75-year-old man. He was being incredible rude and abusive all night, cornering me all evening (he was at least 6’5) and refusing to allow me space to clear his table or serve him food throughout, whilst belittling me and being incredibly condescending. All of his language had a colonial undertone, where he spoke down to me as if he were a pompous lord, and I was his servant, and by the end I simply told him to “get the fuck out of my way, and get the fuck out of my restaurant you prick” after he cornered me for a third time whilst lying about how cold his chicken was. My restraint in not hitting him after he said “Who’s the owner, I want to know your name” and I replied “I am” and he said “No, you’re not”, deserves some sort of reward in saintly patience. For every moment you, the reader, have been spoken down to over your race, colour, gender, orientation, class, I request you add a quid to your gift card and treat yo’self when the Mangal II mood strikes later next year. It will be an act of solidarity against the condescending upper classes and how they treat and views all “others”.
4. Next year, we will be bringing out an array of outlandish dishes. Chef Jack, chef Jess, and the whole kitchen have incredible plans in the works and I for one am unbelievably excited to present it to you as and when they arrive. Today’s investment of a gift card will be richly rewarded by tomorrow’s 10/10 meal.
5. I run this restaurant alone. It’s just me. Everything I make from this (barely breaking even year-upon-year) supports me, my parents, and my two children. We have no investors, no backers, no savings, no compassion from our landlord or Turkish customers who walk in without a booking and sit and eat and not understand what it is we do, who then proceed to leave a 1* review because what we do isn’t traditional, and this is then plastered on our Google rating and that drags our score down and it puts off prospective new customers. Buying a gift card today will ease our cash flow during a potentially very quiet January, whilst also affording someone (or yourself) a chance to dine here and really experience the joys of what we do.
6. We released a book this year and it is a thing of beauty. When you enter our website to purchase a gift card, maybe you could buy a copy of the book, too? May as well, lads. I dare ya.
7. We released a shoe with Puma after collaborating with END clothing this year. This, you cannot buy, as they only manufactured 300 editions but my word, what a shoe. And more so, what a team of angels they have over there at END. They flew my brother and I out to our dad’s hometown in Kayseri and we had a trip of a lifetime. It was magical. Please watch the video when you have 15 minutes to spare: https://www.endclothing.com/gb/features/mangal-ii-an-anatolian-odyssey
Anyway, by purchasing a gift card, the recipient be able to come in here and see the shoe on display like a gallery piece. Two experiences for the price of one! Who needs ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’?!
8. One in ten restaurants are expected to close next year across Britain. We have survived – and I don’t use that word lightly, for 30 years now, and we intend to stay afloat a few years yet. Support us; support all restaurants you care about, because I assure you, many won’t be around in a few years.
9. Speaking of which, we entered our 30th year last month. Remaining open for three decades is no short of a miracle in our industry, especially as an independently-run business. Keep us going for a few years yet, because once it’s gone, it’s gone! There will not be a Mangal III.
10. Sometimes you don’t know what to get someone for Christmas, and any material present carries the risk of being underwhelming. But a gift card from a great restaurant? Hell yeah, that is a great thing to provide someone you care about. You’re buying someone an experience, one they will undoubtably enjoy and savour, and they’ll leave that night happy and full, and they’ll probably send you a text thanking you, and you’ll feel pretty good about yourself. And it’s nice to feel good.
11. Because we care. Like, everyone working here today at Mangal II, they all care. Our team are good people. There’s no workplace bullying. No cutting corners. No meanness. No lack of effort. We’re a small team, and a great team at that. I’d go to war with any and everyone in our roster, knowing full well they’ll have my back and I have theirs. A gift card will show how you support and love Mangal II and everyone working here. Rather us than some restaurant that’s plush with arsehole head chefs harassing people and owners from a hedge fund background expanding all the time. No soul, no character, no story. Just incremental growth at the expense of everyone else’s hard-worked labour. Boo! Not ‘ere, though! Not us!
12. If that old man comes back in, I will punch him. I promise. I’ve never hit a customer (or elderly person before), let alone cursed at one, but I am willing to make an exception. I’m ready x