Lunch Stories 1

Since I have started working, I have agonize every Monday to Friday at 12 pm about where and what am I going to eat for lunch.

In the beginning, when my office was right in the heart of the Golden Triangle, my lunch was the usual mixed rice from the cafeteria name Cintamanis and occasionally the Mak Cik bawah pokok. And even if KLCC, Avenue K, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng was within walking distance but the choices of food were limited simply due to the quality of the food (which always leaned towards bad) and the price. Paying RM 15 is not my idea of spending lunch money.

At the lobby of Wisma Selangor Dredging there is this nice café managed by Hotel Maya. This nice café with a fountain as their backdrop is simply known as Just Mee.

In my opinion I find Just Mee a total rip off.

Here is an office building with a lot of young executives (cheap labour) and students from the British Council whom do not have a lot of money. And Just Mee is there, charging RM 12 for something that looks like Chicken Rice. Just Mee has HIGH hopes that managers, MD’s, Directors and people earning at least RM 7000 eat at their shop. But with food so bad, and the big bosses driving nice sedans (sedans have 4 doors and can’t squeeze into medium to small parking lots, you get the hint) why would they bother to eat at Just Mee. I see plenty of them driving off to Chulan Square to eat at Rakuzen or Gu Rue Thin or Cilantro or Jalan Ipoh.

I forgot to mention about the their service. Just because the executives are ordering the cheapest meal on the menu together with ice water, it takes them FOREVER to bring cut chili, extra pair of chopsticks, refill the water and the bill. They seem to be more stuck up that the Managers and MD’s.

So back to the miserly executive (yes miserly due to small salaries), we are stuck with Cintamanis and Just Mee praying for a pay rise in hopes to drive a sedan and eat at better places.

Why can’t I get good food in Bangsar?

IF there is one thing I hate about living in Bangsar it’s the food.

BANGSAR is leafy streets, swanky condominiums, and expensive wheels. But really, the quality of food in this trendy outpost of Kuala Lumpur is surprisingly not that good. Don’t get me wrong. There is some decent grub, but considering the huge number of restaurants in Bangsar, good restaurants and good food are few and far between.

Vincenzo’s in One Bangsar is one of the few restaurants that actually serve some good food. If you can afford it. There’s a good wine selection and the quality and freshness of the meats and the pasta is consistent. Service, too, is excellent. But very few people, Bangsar residents included, can afford to dine there too often.

But for every Vincenzo, I can name you quite a few restaurants which have survived for way too long on reputation alone. Alexis is one place which, quite frankly, sucks. It prides itself on serving a mean Sarawak Laksa. NOT. The version it tries to pass off as Sarawak Laksa is nothing like anything I have eaten in Kuching. For a decent and authentic bowl of Sarawak Laksa, you are better off trying the stall at the corner coffee shop next to Ipoh Old Town restaurant in Lucky Gardens.

Basically what I am getting at is that I am so sick of going to restaurants and paying more for ambience then for actual good food. And Bangsar is so full of such restaurants, for the posers and the Datins alike. Come on, can someone tell me why people queue to go into Delicious restaurant in Bangsar Village? The food is so-so but some restaurants really have all the luck don’t they? Oh, while we are on the subject of ambience, can someone please tell me why people continue to pay an arm and a leg for the downright average fare La Bodega and its sister outlets like TSB dishes out straight from the central kitchen behind the New Straits Times office?

Yes, I am being harsh about these outlets. That is because I think people deserve better food than what is being served in Bangsar. In my next posting, I will tell you guys about the delightful restaurants I have found in other parts of KL. But for now, the subject at hand is Bangsar. And Bangsar is basically all style and very little substance when it comes to food.
Maybe it’s like what they say about governments. You know the one about how the people get the governments they deserve. So maybe the people of Bangsar also get the food they deserve.
Is Bangsar therefore a neighbourhood of pretentious posers who search for the next trend but have very little good taste? Would such a group of people include me then?

Well, the answer is yes. We the people of Bangsar created such monsters as Alexis. We created “Cheap Charlies,” that veritable Bangsar landmark that has been serving for eons what it passes off as Chinese food to the expatriates of KL. So, my fellow Bangsar residents, let us all finally stand up for our rights. We have to drive the average, the obscure, the taste-challenged, the insipid, the overpriced and the downright bad restaurants out of our neighbourhood. We have to stop patronizing these outlets. For God’s sake, stop encouraging them. Stop believing all those wonderful reviews you read in The Star or the NST, which are brought to you courtesy of a free meal for the reporter.