Adventures at Green Brew.....

We brought Jennifer and Lester to Green Brew, a "swanky" little restaurant at Normanton Park today to celebrate their birthday. And what an "interesting" lunch we all had! What was supposed to be a happy and joyous occasion was turned into a trying and frustrating time for members of the Bagus team. It was quite an "adventure".

We were quite impressed with the peranakan decor upon arrival at the restaurant. VT has his eyes on the partition at the entrance of the kitchen; Jennifer loved the peranakan cloth that was being used as an ornament of sort on the walls. And I found that piece of ethnic fabric framed and hung on the wall particularly "interesting".

The ambience at the restaurant was warm and cosy. It looked set that we would have a nice time. However, a storm of epic proportion was brewing and we weren't quite prepared for the surprises that awaited us. You can say that while the cooks were cooking our dishes, we the Bagus team were cooking up a storm:

1. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was only 1/4 full. One hour later with the room 3/4 filled, we were still waiting for our food. How strange, too, that others who had arrived after us were seen munching away their food. VT rationalised that maybe they have called up to reserve the table and pre-order their food. I don't think so. How many people do you know do that? Personally I don't pre-order food even if I make reservation. But you must understand VT. He is a man not given to confrontation; very positive, law-abiding, God-fearing and peace-loving. But that day, he was about to lose his cool........

2. When the food finally arrived, the egg omelette and the chicken we ordered came in the wrong size.

3. While waiting for the dishes to be exchanged, the plain rice on our table turned cold. So were the dishes that arrived on our table subsequently. And we wondered had the food been cooked earlier, and instead of serving to use immediately, was left in the kitchen to be "cooled" down??

4. The egg omelette was just too salty; and the kangkong that we ordered could do with more "belacan". But we slurped them up anyway. :))

5. We have to ask for the bill TWICE.

VT was so irked (I told you so) that he actually walked to the kitchen to talk to the manager while the rest of us waited impatiently for our food. I'm not sure if that helped. But we began to wonder why the egg omelette was so salty... Anyway, while most of us were unhappy at the turn of event, VT was particularly vexed that day and I think I know why. See, usually when we have our lunch at the many ubiquitous coffee shops along my workplace, even if the food was served late, VT could just reached into his pocket for his "cancer sticks" while waiting for the food. Over at Green Brew which is air-con, he couldn't. And that makes him quite mad, I guess. Deny a smoker food for one day, and he'll survive. Deny him his cigarettes for a day or two, and he goes cold-turkey.

Before we moved to leave at about 1.40 pm, the waiter asked politely (what nerves) if we would like to order some drinks, to which Victor quipped, "We don't have all day". I like it when Victor is "rude" at the right time and at the right place. Unfortunately, he did that to the wrong person this time.

Granted, the service staff at the restaurant was NOT rude. In fact, to be very honest, they did serve us with a SMILE (what was lacking were the Greetings and Thank-you unfortunately). It was just that the service was pretty slow - the cooks took ages to cook up the dishes, the refilling of iced water, and even the bill. I suppose Green Brew can do with more waiters (and cooks and stoves and utensils, etc). We saw only about 3 waiters on that day in question. The food is also not very tasty. Even Victor, a critic on most things but food, commented negatively about the dishes. That would be the first and last time we ever visited the restaurant.

Before we took our leave, we were greeted with one more surprise. When the bill came, it was only $57! It transpired that there was no service charge. No wonder the service left much too be desired!

World-class service standard by Sep 2006? Mr Raymond Lim can dream on .....