But that's not the story here...
So we slept in... and went out for breakfast. Everywhere (well, our usual haunts for breakfast) was packed. We didn't feel like waiting in line for a cup of tea and something to eat, so as we drove around, saw a Malay restaurant and decided why not... It was not bad, had mee jawa
and soto ayam (my wife keeps on commenting... where is the chicken?, just noodles in a soup). 
It was not bad, the mee jawa was a bit too sweet for us and the soto, well... where's the chicken? But then again, that's not the story.LOL.
Its just this constant disappointment when we go to Malay restaurants in Kuching. Usually, service is slow. You wait to be served. In many cases I can see the waitresses jiggling each other as to who is to come and approach me to take my order. For me, I am used to being stared at, and people don't seem to understand even when I speak Malay to them. Many a time I have a conversation with the waitress who then tries to speak to me in English. Even when I speak to her in Malay, and they kind of switch off when I speak.
At many places, the food is also slow to be served. You can see that there is no system in place to take orders. There is no system in cooking. Everything is at a slow pace. Some places are obviously better than others, but that is a rarity. I usually note these place and these are the places I go back to, such as Taman Kereta (well, its Halal food, but you can see the Chinese bosses) and the night stalls at 7th Mile (the Jawa ladies and the satay guy... hmmmmmm satay... can you see me drooling).
Even when you want to pay. I showed my RM10 note to the boss and asked for the bill. He walks over, but doesn't take the money, instead ask another person to 'kira' (count) and walks to the front. The person assigned to the task then goes and gets the bill from 2 other tables, one of them directly in front of us .. who are still eating! The ladies at that table look bewildered when asked to pay. LOL. Later, she (the cashier) comes and takes the RM10 and gives me back a change of RM0.10.
This brings to my next point. Malay food in Kuching is expensive. Two bowls of extremely plain noodles (without chicken, mine at least had tofu and half an egg) and 2 cups of tea (kosong/plain) comes to RM9.90! Even the most expensive Kolok Mee at 10th Mile with 2 to 3 huge prawns, meat, fish ball, meat ball, vege, etc comes to RM5 a bowl (and I complain for that). Nevertheless, relatively this is cheap. Just a few days ago, I paid RM49.80 for 3 persons rice and drink at a different Malay food stall.
Which brings to the next point... am I being scammed? Or is this the usual thing.. ?
Ernest
5 comments:
I totally agree with u, sir...Malays food is expensive...one occussion, I went to a Malay Restaurant...4 of us costed me RM158++ gosh....
prof, maybe ur mat salleh look, makes them potong u...
Lau - they shouldn't potong.. but kinda used to it by now.. and get aggravated when other people tell me .. oh, they paid so much less than me... sad when this happens, and then i usually will avoid that place..
Prof, u go to the wrong place maybe.. in Petra Jaya, Malay food is not that expensive plus very nice indeed..
this reminded me back of my trip back to miri last august. because i have muslim family, we ate at malay restaurant. the woman took our orders with sour face and she took my payment with much unfriendly gesture! that was not one encountered, it was many time as if i was asking for some food bargain. i said this again, i found miri people are quite arrogant and i am embarrassing because i am a mirian myself! this is soso sad. but going to a chinese restaurant was a lot different, they have a very good business minded.
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