Mixed up…

Lately, I have been reading in some friends’ blogs about how the service even at those classy joints is sadly less than satisfactory.

Well, I guess I have had my share of that here especially those mono-lingual ones at the upscale western restaurants or those who do not seem to know anything other than taking your orders and serving. You ask what is nice, they say they do not know…or they say all are nice. Then you ask what the favourites are and they say, all are…and you ask what an unfamiliar dish or what fish or meat they use, they say they do not know. At places such as these, I would just order and if the food is really very nice and not too expensive, I probably would want to come again, otherwise, I would much sooner go some place else.

That day, when my girl was home for the weekend, I asked her if she wanted to go for a nasi kerabu lunch because I saw that in Rose’s blog and was feeling like having that but unfortunately she said no and she wanted some nasi bryani instead so we made our way to our usual place with the true blue North Indian chef. The very nice and friendly waitress was nowhere to be seen and in her place, there was a sweet young girl who took our orders. She was very well-versed with what was on the menu and noted everything that we wanted…and she even repeated our orders to confirm that she had got everything right.

Our iced water, mine and my missus, came promptly but my daughter’s order for one iced ginger tea took quite a while to appear…and it was served hot! We said that we wanted it cold so they had to take back the drink…and I guess they just poured it into a tall glass filled with iced cubes and took it out again. It was all right with us as long as it was ginger tea, iced (RM6.50).

My girl wanted the butter chicken curry set but asked for the pilau rice to be substituted with bryani as that was what she wanted and that was what we went there for but this was served…

…and of course, we protested and sent it back to the kitchen. Again, it was all right as it came out almost immediately with the bryani rice (RM18.00)…

…the way we wanted it.

I guess it was the chef’s fault as it was not even pilau rice that was served originally but basmati rice which, according to the menu, would come in the fish curry set (RM16.50)…

…that I ordered so all he had to do was to swap the two – no harm done, no problem at all.

I had never had the fish curry before so that day, I thought I wanted to give it a try and yes, it was very nice but no, it did not taste like any fish curry that I had had before. I guess this was cooked, Indian style…

…probably using yogurt in place of the santan (coconut milk) or evaporated milk in the regular ones. There was just a slice of ikan tenggiri (mackerel) inside and a few bits of lady’s fingers, three altogether and a couple of curry leaves. I would not expect a lot more fish as it is indeed very expensive these days but I was wishing that there could be a little bit more of the vegetable or maybe the chef could add some brinjal as well…unless doing that would change and ruin the whole taste of the dish, that I would not know.

My missus had the kalio ayam (RM14.50)…

…from the Indonesian menu that we had a few times before and it was consistently good, plus this time around, they seemed to be very generous with the chicken curry and the mixed vegetables by the side but they could have been more careful with the gravy and if it had spilled onto the side of the banana leaf “basket”…

…they could have easily grabbed a kitchen towel and wiped that away before serving. I know something like this would be no big deal had it been in some coffee shop or food stall but for a place like this…

…and at those prices, these little things may make a difference and leave a lasting not-too-favourable impression.

We have been here many times and the previous occasions had been good, no “bumps” along the way like this time around so hopefully, this is just what one would brush off as “one of those days” and not a recurring problem. Thankfully, the food was good, as always, and that, to me, was the most important thing. After all, these little hitches weren’t anything serious – not anything to really get all upset about and I sure would not mind going back there for more…unlike those places where the people are snooty and downright rude and will not think twice about snapping at you as and when it pleases them, places where they ill-treat you and show you no respect at all – like the ones where you have to stand in line and wait…or where you would have to go in and register your name and then shoo..shoo…you cannot sit at the vacant tables to wait, you go and queue outside in the sun – and also places where the service sucks big time – I’d rather go elsewhere and settle for what’s second best or something else.

Incidentally, the boss gave us three complimentary pieces of papadums (I was charged RM1.00 each at a nasi kandar shop in Sungai Petani, Kedah, believe it or not) and talking about those, I wonder if you all have seen this hilarious video clip before…

…and that wasn’t all. The two glasses of iced water that we had were on the house and the extra 50 sen was written off so when I gave RM60.00 to pay the overall total of RM59.50, the boss gave me RM5.00 change, hapus kira. Ain’t that nice?