Theme for a dream…

I had not dropped by here since that very first time quite a while ago for a reason. It seems that they are having some kind of theme at their place and the last one that seemed to make the place come across like some little kid’s birthday party did not appeal to me all that much so I had stayed away. The current theme is in conjunction with Christmas so there is this huge Christmas tree outside…

…and all the blue, silver and white baubles…

…dangling from the ceiling inside…

No prize for guessing what theme this is and thankfully, there is no sign of Elsa nor Olaf…nor any of the other characters anywhere. Honestly, we have had that over and over and over again so much so that it is beginning to sound like a repeating groove in an old broken-down record…or a song that has been played to death, an overkill. Yet there is one place here that has chosen this same theme and yes, you will get to see Elsa and Olaf in their so-called wonderland…but one would have to pay RM5.00 just to go in and look around and take photographs, but thank you very much. I would much sooner go for a nice plate of kampua noodles and a glass of kopi-o-peng to wash it all that and still have change. Perhaps it is high time to “let it go” and move on to some other things instead, things that are more creative and not all that dated.

Anyway, getting back to that place, it has a very nice menu now…

…with all the glossy photographs…

…of what they have to offer. The last time we were here, they just had something printed on a piece of manila card or something and laminated. This sure looks a whole lot nicer and is very much more classier and impressive.

I ordered the Ceasar salad (RM13.90)…

…to share. Yes, that sure did not come cheap but it was very nice and the serving was huge, about the size of something one would serve at a buffet dinner party one is hosting at home, two or three times the amount one would get elsewhere, at least.

My missus had the nasi lemak (RM13.90)…

…that I had the last time we were here and enjoyed very much. She did not quite like the chicken and said that it was too soft or overly tender like what we had here – I did try a bit and yes, she was right to some extent but it was not as bad as at that other place. As for the rice, as far as the lemak-ness goes, the one here would win hands down.

Both my girl and I had their set lunch that came with a complimentary glass of iced lemon tea. She had the buttermilk chicken with fried rice (RM13.90)…

…which was very nice and I really wonder what went into the cooking for she absolutely loved the fried rice.

I opted for the one with the golden salted egg chicken (RM11.90)…

…and yes, I really would have to concede that their fried rice was better than mine (which would anytime be a lot nicer than any that we had had elsewhere)…and yes, the chicken…

…was very good too. Both of us were certainly very pleased with our picks that day.

True to the season, they were playing some jazzed-up instrumental versions of some Christmas songs but I was wishing the whole time that they would turn down the volume a little bit. When the music is so loud, one would have to speak up in order to be heard and when everybody is trying to carry out a decent conversation, it can get quite noisy and that would ruin the nice ambiance and make the place no better than some no-class-at-all coffee shop.

The members of the staff were prompt and efficient but I wish they would do something about their social skills or at least, smile and greet and say thank you. One would come to your table and give you the menu. Thank you, I said…*stone cold silence* Once we had made up our minds, I gestured to one of them and placed our orders…and I said thank you…*stone cold silence*  When the food was served, I said thank you again and again…*stone cold silence* When I was still teaching, I would insist on my students practising these simple manners, literally forcing them into it…but after a while, it all became habitual and to this day, whenever I meet them, I would be greeted by all those pleasantries, still. I guess the teachers these days are way too bogged down with all the work and all that stuff they would need to do online with their snail-slow connections and on those crappy official websites to have time for such things.

I tried to find out where the second outlet of this place would be…and the guy was rather evasive in his responses, insisting not very cordially that he did not know. The bill came up to RM53.10 and I paid RM100.00. Do you have 10 sen? the guy asked in Mandarin. Behold, he speaks!!! Aiyor!!!! I joked with him, 10 sen you also want!…handing over the coin that I managed to fish out of the pocket in my wallet…*stone cold silence* Bill settled, change returned…not a word of thank you, come again…not even a smile…just *stone cold silence* If you think I would want to leave a tip, think again!

We went next door after our lunch and the reception there was a completely different story altogether but that would be in my next post. Stick around!