Sunday last, we drove down the ECR for lunch at New Town. In case you're wondering where this is, it's just after VGP. This was the second time we were going there. There is adequate space for parking and the restaurant itself is set back from the road, so one doesn't hear the sound of traffic.
The food at New Town is Fusion and Malaysian. The restaurant is clean and neat. There is a large display counter with 3 desserts in it. Wish there were more choices!
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| 3 desserts |
The wait staff was very attentive, menus were produced as soon as we were seated.
Love the clean and shiny cutlery, ice cold water and plenty of napkins provided without having to ask for them.
Usually, we skip starters, preferring to order the main course directly, but then since it was a lazy Sunday afternoon, decided to order a plate of French fries.
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| French fries |
Lovely, golden, crisp fries. Not oily at all, but what was tacky was that it came with tomato sauce in sachets.
We ordered our main courses. It was Malaysian food that we had come for so I ordered curry mee, the son wanted nasi goreng (fried rice) and the husband, mee goreng (fried noodles).
My curry mee was served within 10 minutes of ordering. Looks yummy, doesn't it?
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| Curry mee |
But nothing Malaysian about it. There was no lemongrass or galangal in the curry- two of the most basic ingredients in a Malaysian curry. And it had been garnished with an omelette and curry leaves! It tasted like an Indian curry. The noodles were good, obviously freshly made.
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| Nasi goreng |
Ten minutes later, the nasi goreng made an appearance. The rice was ok, topped with a fried egg with a piece of chicken and cucumbers on the side.
There was no sign of the mee goreng.
After 25 minutes, it finally arrived. There had been a mix up in the kitchen and the wrong dish had been prepared.
Three people, 3 different dishes and 45 minutes to serve them in instalments
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| Mee goreng |
We were terribly disappointed with the mee goreng. It tasted like noodles cooked in a lot of chilli powder.
Two weeks earlier, we had ordered the same dish, it had tasted fantastic then. How could there be such a change in taste in just a matter of 14 days?
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| Cold coffee |
Not in a mood for dessert, we ordered cold coffee. New Town is known for some fancy coffee machine but the one the served us that day was terrible. It was as if they had run out of coffee and had made the beverage with a lot of water.
We were asked what we had thought of the food, when we told them that we were very disappointed, our waiter told us that the next time we visited, he would ensure that we wouldn't be disappointed.
My question is-why can't restaurants in Chennai maintain standards? Why are we told that things will be better next time? Shouldn't care be taken every single time?
New Town's pricing is reasonable but they should ensure that food and service is improved vastly if they want to be known as a quality restaurant that serves Malaysian food.
*Update
This restaurant is now shut down.
I completely agree with you. From reading the title of the post, I was actually dreading that maybe you guys had a good experience there, but of course, a while later, my fears were unfounded.
ReplyDeleteWe had a similar experience, and basically, we didn't like the food, I feel even the prices are not worth it, there were frequent power cuts (imagine sitting there in the sultry afternoon), no crowd, bad service, food (including the french fries were late and we demanded that they be fried a second time!), etc. till we also got sick of dining, and decided to leave asap.
Worst thing is: When you go there for the first time, you think maybe this new place will actually be refreshingly different, but then you end up disappointed. Sorry for 'ranting' a bit :)