This post will be going without pictures. Nobody took any.
Took advantage of the Standard Chartered Bank cardholder birthday promotion, 3 diners for the price of 2. Tried to get 6 people, but the second brother wasn't free. So, they had 5 on that day.
Apparently, the renovation works at Hotel Rendezvous just got completed. The whole place looks brighter and more spacious than before.
Got shown their table, near the window, sofa seats with cushion for some lumbar support. So far so good.
Decided to start off with sashimi, you had to go to the counter and make a request. However, was disappointed to see a whole tray of sliced salmon. Didn't seem well-chilled either. Would have preferred the chef to slice from a slab. In any case, got served up 4 slices of neatly arranged salmon sashimi. The only available sashimi were salmon and octopus. Got some plump looking oysters from the same counter too, freshly shucked.
Next, went for the snow crabs, prawns and snails. Always have a soft spot for crustaceans. The 2 young waitresses seemed a little blur, so he had to go without the clarified butter for the crab. The sweet crabs were good on their own anyway, Mom and Dad also enjoyed it. Prawns were large and crunchy, and the snails were tender. There were no food labels, but those snails had a hard beak for you to pull and get the meat out. Someone help to name them?
On another occasion, when the littlest brother asked for a stirrer for his tea, the waitress brought him a soup spoon. When asked for a dessert spoon for the shot-glass dessert, the spoon she brought was again too large to even reach the dessert. But they were enthusiastic, so it didn't matter too much. Dad eventually went to fetch the correct spoon.
The older bunch started to get tired of the cold food, and went for the pipping hot cooked food instead. The littlest brother and him went for more sashimi and oysters. Maybe the rotated chef was in a bad mood, and the oysters he shucked were all mangled. The same chef served up a messy bundle of salmon, sure gave them a good time unwrapping the slices. Totally no pride in his work. Or he intended but failed at a salmon rose, perhaps?
Everyone enjoyed the durian pengat, something like durian smoothie. Many years ago, you had to retrieve it from the tub. You could get as many ice-cold scoops as you wanted in your bowl. On this day, these were served in shot-glasses. Would have liked it cooler, and found the portion a little too small. Coming from another point of view, it's a healthy initiative. You'll have to eat lesser at one go, and you'll probably be more conscious of the intake of such sinful stuff.
To sum up, the ambience and food were good, but service could be improved. Had a hard time deciding between Kiseki and Straits Cafe, but walked away with some disappointment this time round.
No comments:
Post a Comment