What? Isn't your birthday over? Celebrating like a sultan?? heh..heh..heh... There are three phases to my birthday celebration - solo, with my partner and with my brother. How's that for an excuse to eat?
Before end of September, my brother and I had dinner. Our other agenda (besides the big sis' birthday) was to redeem our Molten Chocolate Cafe voucher.
But first, a proper dinner. We reminded ourselves not to order too much food so as to reserve stomach space for desserts.
At 6:00pm we stepped into Superthai (CLOSED). The server appeared flustered (perhaps we were too early) and I reckon she recognized us as the people who sent back their perfectly fine Thai Coffee, alleging that it tasted funny.
Our first dish, the Kailan Stir Fried with Tom Yum paste. I'm afraid this failed to impress. I could not taste any tom yum and the kai lan was bitter.
The Flame Grilled Pork Neck was excellent. Moist and tender, delicious eaten with the green sauce. But that evening the sauce was not as punchy and garlicky.
Our final dish, the Dancing Fish Sweet and Sour Gravy, was the best of the lot. The meat was already filleted and deep fried (though you still have to watch out for bones).
The sweet and sour gravy had strong hints of Thai Chili sauce and this portion of fish was more than ample for the two of us.
We also ordered a Tom Yum soup to share.
Once we were done, off we went to our next destination. When we presented our voucher (30% off), we were informed that the deal is only good between 12:00pm and 6:00pm. Drat! I failed to notice the fine print.
However, the server informed us that we could still redeem the free Waffle Stick even though the same conditions apply.
This Sizzling Brownie was good but not as great as the first time I had it. Though the surrounding chocolate sauce was boiling away, the brownie was cool to the touch. And there was a burnt smell. Yes, they burnt the chocolate.
Churros, my brother's favorite. When it was served, the Churros were no longer warm. But thankfully, they were still crispy.
Besides the melted milk chocolate, the churros came with a cream cheese sauce which we mistook for white chocolate.
The complimentary Waffle Stick was quite nice. The waffle was airy and crunchy and I thought it had a mild taste of cheese.
We were very stuffed by then. I guess we over did it. I was quite disappointed with the brownie and churros. It appears to me that standards have dropped. We will give this place a miss for a few months before we come back again.
And with this post, my birthday eating frenzy comes to an end.
I will go for the waffle stick, hehe...
ReplyDeleteIt's just nice for one person...
DeleteWow! I like that Sizzling Brownie, with the boiling heavenly chocolate sauce!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lucky gal with 3 day celebrations! You are well loved by everyone who knows you. If you invited me, it would be the 4th birthday celebrations too. Bloggers like SK, Small Kucing and Lina gave me a surprise birthday too. I was too stunned, too happy and shed tears!
I am not as well loved as you lah...
DeleteHahahaha we wrote about the same eatery today. How nice that you have all those vouchers to redeem. So it was cream cheese sauce. I wasn't sure because I couldn't taste the cheese.
ReplyDeletehee..hee... I was pleasantly surprised! Too bad only one voucher could be redeemed and I had to forgo the 30% discount :(
DeleteI have a theory that food eaten on repeated visits will never taste as nice as the initial times that the food tastes superb. That's whyI am not going back for more until I have forgotten about how good it was so that I can evaluate the taste as if I have never eaten it before.
ReplyDeleteThere was a significant difference because what was supposed to be warm was served cold. And they even managed to burn the chocolate. I think whoever was in charge in the kitchen previously is no longer there.
DeleteDo celebrate like a Sultan, PH.. in fact, everyday is a birthday when good food is served! To my knowledge, if kailan is bitter, that means they have too much pesticide? Last night the broccoli in the pot was bitter but the ones they served as an individual dish was not.. I wonder why...
ReplyDeleteAiyo...that means they didn't wash the kailan ah? I have eaten bitter broccoli too. So scary.
DeleteIf I may, I'd like to share something on the bitterness of kai lan. It's the same with other vegetables like broccoli and bitter gourd. I was told you need to blanch (parboil) it first to get rid of the bitterness. And then shock it in ice water to retain its bright green colour. Another way is to submerge it briefly in hot oil (something like pau yau, they call it) which I've seen done by some stalls (maybe that's why the greens taste so good from restaurants). I've not cooked them in these ways at home, so I can't vouch if it's 100% true.
DeleteThe thing is, sometimes the broccoli or kai lan is OK, no bitter taste (even though I do not blanch them) and at other times they are bitter. So, I don't know what is the actual cause. My mum reckons that we should all blanch broccoli to get rid of the pesticides because some of these chemicals are oil based and cannot be washed off just by rinsing in tap water.
DeleteI've always believed that it's easy to open a restaurant and serve good food...but to maintain consistency is the difficult part. With most restaurants long opening hours and staff rest days, they may have to run on two sets of chef, so it's a question of how well trained or precise both sets of chef are in executing the same dish. The only reasons I could think of for your not-so-great experience this time are...maybe pressure of the crowd, higher expectations from your last visit and you were too stuffed (hehe!).
ReplyDeleteAs for your Superthai meal, I see you had similar dishes to what I had and I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the kai lan with tom yum sauce that I recommended. I couldn't help but referred back to my photos and realised...where the heck is your tom yum sauce which my kai lan was swimming in (and the red cili api)! >_< Even the green sauce looks different to the one I had. As for the Dancing Fish, the fish chunks don't seem that well coated in sauce. And what the heck are those raw vegetables of carrot and thickly cut cabbage?...how do they expect people to eat that? We got a thinly shredded white and purple cabbage slaw. You're probably right...you were too early and they were not ready...or it's just inconsistent cooking...what a shame! :(
I agree. Consistency is a major issue in most of the restaurants I visited. In fact I have stopped going to my favorite because the last few times I was there, it wasn't good. It really saddened me.
DeleteI reckon the kitchen did not expect early customers on a weekday and hence they were not prepared. They must have rushed the orders and therefore not properly executed.
Wah, really like royalty lah!
ReplyDeleteCelebration for 7 days 7 nights! LOL
hah..hah...only 3 days :)
DeleteYou are celebrating like a Sultana, Phong Hong. You are on a roll!😉
ReplyDeleteWhoo hoo!! Wait for my 50th birthday! hee..hee..
DeleteYou were there with mun or she went on her own?
ReplyDeleteOh no, she went with her friends :)
DeleteWhat a wonderful birthday celebration you had. You are very blessed! All the dishes look so good and the desserts so mouth-watering.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is wonderful to celebrate something at least once a year!
DeleteI just came over from Mun's blog and she had desserts in this place. Now I am drooling at your dessert. Haha.
ReplyDeleteLucky you. Never ending celebration and treats.
Well, it's a good reason to go out and eat whatever I wish hee...hee..
DeleteHi Phong Hong, well all birthday boys and gals deserve celebrations and treats ! I like the brownie though ... churros seemed delish!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen! Yes, once a year must have a birthday celebration!
DeleteDoesn't the waffle stick looks beautiful, what a nice presentation!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with what contact.ewew said, it is hard to maintain consistency in F and B line, when I had my seafood spaghetti with cream sauce, on certain days the cream sauce was thick, creamy and delicious, but on certain days (with different chef), the sauce was diluted and watery
Yes, the waffle stick was well presented and it was good. This one is just nice for 1 person since it is light.
DeleteYes, consistency is something the restaurants should make an effort to achieve.
After a proper meal, 2 of you still manage to finish 3 desserts, salute! I always end up too full after a meal & didn't manage to have any dessert >_<
ReplyDeleteWe are big eaters hah..hah...
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