Valentine…

We were heading to the town centre last Saturday in search of a nice place for lunch when we saw that some roads were blocked and there was a horrendous traffic jam so I took a detour and decided to drop by here but unfortunately, the guy selling the nice wat tan hor kway teow and all the fried stuff was closing for the day. Good grief! It was not even noon yet!!! Janggut was not around – I hear that usually, he would not be opened if he had some catering assignment to do – probably he had been enlisted to prepare all the pre-packed meals for the participants in that grand function at the town square across the stream – some big shot from the peninsula was in town.

In the end, we just decided to just drop by the hotel next door…

…and have a bite to eat at their Valentine Cafe…

…there. It is actually quite a big place – I was only taking a photograph of the paintings on the wall and the lanterns they had put up for Chinese New Year. Yes, there were some decorations…

…for the festive season all over the café and also the hotel lobby.

Normally, I would not go and eat at hotels unless it is the venue for a wedding banquet or some kind of party…but I was here over a year ago and I had their potato tuna salad (RM11.00)…

…and it was nice so I thought we could have that and see what else they had on their menu.

They had a set lunch promo at the moment for only RM13.00 (excluding GST) and the things on the menu looked quite good so we decided to go for that. My girl and I had their spaghetti, mamak-style…

…and hers was served first. It seemed that they cooked them separately, plate by plate and I had to wait for a while for mine to be served as my missus’ pineapple fried rice…

…was served next. It was very nice, a much better choice than the spaghetti, I would say…but the pasta was all right too, not anything to shout about but it was not bad.

My girl said that hers was kind of bland plus it was sour as she squeezed both the calamansi limes by the side…

I tried a bit but thought it was fine. Mine had a stronger wok hei fragrance but it was a bit too salty for my liking. It sure looked like they were not all that consistent…but for one thing, I certainly would give them top marks for their presentation…

They had other choices for their set lunch such as their kung pao fish or their black pepper chicken and there was also fried beef with ginger but we did not quite feel like having any of those.

You get a free drink (cordial) and an ice cream…

…as well and if we deduct RM3.00, the price for that little cup at a coffee shop close by, the set lunch actually costs RM10.00 only, inclusive of a drink…and that is rather cheap for a hotel. That is why I don’t usually fancy eating at hotels – the prices can be quite steep while the food may be good but not quite sensational…plus I had had my fill of hotel food on my never-ending working trips before I retired.

However, the one here, I must say, is very reasonably-priced and what we had was ok which made me think that this would be a good place to get together with friends and hang around all afternoon to chat and catch up with one another. Unless they have a function going on, there are not many people around and the waiting staff is very nice and friendly.