its a jinx

Go to a restaurant or eatery and almost always what i ordered wont be what i will get!!!!! Or somehow or rather the order will get screwed up or forgotten. This has happened all too often over the years. Sigh.

Took 3 of my staff out for lunch earlier at this new cafe on the ground floor of Landmark IT Mall. The previous outlet there, Coffee Company was hopeless. The new one has nice decor and strikingly red fabric chairs. Wish had taken some snaps, perhaps later.

Three of us ordered nasi briyani ayam just to check its quality. The fourth person took grilled fish with buttered rice. It was a set meal. Soup of the day and a choice of coffee or tea.

Table is set up. No problems there.

Then it starts! Coffee and tea was served ..LOL! Two coffes and two teas. The teas were almost to the rim of the cups. The coffee was only three quarter, it was strikingly odd!! Arghh dunno to laugh or scream now. WTF lah. Told the waiter and he was blur like the typical ah beng. Asked for the manager, there was none. Only 3 waiters and a cook in the kitchen, i think. The coffee was topped up, but then again it was so diluted and tasteless, so topping up was a waste of time. Strike 1!

Then the soup came in. Asked the waiter what was the soup of the day, and he said vegetable soup. Stirred it and i saw meat and crabmeat pieces! Asked him what meat, he wasnt sure. Tastd chicken. But the soup was bland... so very bland. Strike 2!!

So we had coffee/tea cups and soup bowls on the table for four. And they started serving the main dishes!!! Without clearing the soup! We were stunned, again! WTF! One hand takes the soup bowl, the other hand lays the main dish.

Guess what, every one got their dishes. 2 briyanis and a fish. I was served fish, even though i clearly asked for briyani. Dungu waiter! Any other familiar place, i would have graciously accepted the fish. But here, no. I was not happy to start with. This blunder now was plain annoying. No apology offered, there was a conference between the chef and three waiters and the i think the chef told them, no problem, he will get a briyani. Strike 3!!!

Food was hopeless. Rice was not briyani rice. It was more like nasi minyak with lots of colouring. Chicken was a drumstick piece that was deep fried and poured over with some "masak merah" gravy. Ejected from the stadium!!!!

I told my staff its the principle. If youre paying prices way above food court or hawker prices, then you deserve better service and food. If a mamak restaurant fella switches my order and makes that mistake, i would say no problem. Am not that particular about food.

Paid the bill and we walked out of the place knowing we wont be going there again.

And yes, sic. I ate everything except the chicken bones. Dont like to waste food, even if it doesnt taste great..LOL. Anyway, hungry lah.