A pair of “drunk” women allegedly broke into a Chinese restaurant in New York City to satisfy a late-night craving for dumplings.
How they did it: The trespassers managed to break into the Chelsea location of Xi’an Famous Foods after an electronic lock disengaged due to a temporary power failure in their door mechanism, founder Jason Wang said.
- The break-in at 12:30 a.m. on July 11 was caught on a Nest Cam security footage, which Wang posted on YouTube and has now received more than 45,000 views.
- In the video, the women can be seen trying to cook dumplings in cold water before stealing a bag of them and taking off.
- The intruders left a mess that puzzled Wang and his staff the next morning — including uncooked dumplings “strangely dropped” into a cooker and a bun “floating on water.”
- Due to the incident, the staff had to do a thorough cleaning and throw out affected food, putting the restaurant out of business for the day.
Second chance offered: The restaurant is providing the trespassers a chance to fix their “momentary lapse in judgment (and sobriety, apparently)” — so no police report has been filed yet.
- “We hope you enjoyed the bag of dumplings you stole (remember, they don’t cook in cold water),” Wang noted. “When you are ready to pay for them, as well as for related expenses, you can contact us through www.xianfoods.com/contact.”
- Wang promised that there will be no hard feelings if the intruders reach out soon. They can also still enjoy Xi’an Famous Foods and “this will just be a funny story to tell your friends.”
- The incident has drawn mixed reactions on social media before all comments were disabled on the YouTube video and Instagram post. Some urged the restaurant to file a police report, while others praised their compassion and sense of humor.
- Wang pointed out that the women’s actions were unacceptable and that the restaurant can choose to file a report “if that is a more effective way to bring accountability.”
- Wang told Eater that he was aiming to “harness social media to hold the suspects accountable.”
- For now, they are choosing to delay it over “doubts about how effective [the] NYPD or our legal system is at prosecuting these offenders for their acts.”
Featured Image via Jason Wang
