As Ravi Kanagarajah unlocks the gate to his Adelaide Street restaurant – RaviSoups – Saturday morning,
he warns me to watch out for the pool of vomit guarding the doorway. “This is what happens in the Entertainment District,” he says with a smile, his Sri Lankan accent cushioning his consonants.
But despite the occasional mess left by over zealous club kids, Kanagarajah remains pretty blasé about his noisy neighbours. He’s not open nights so for the most part, he’s spared the headaches that come with a 3am feeding frenzy. He tried it one Friday shortly after he first opened; it was a lesson he learned very quickly.
“Not much happened in the night, then at 2:30am there was a huge, big crowd,” he says. “I got tortured. Those people are crazy, they’re kids – they’re stupid. I had so much trouble selling wraps and soups, it convinced me – never again.” Read on…