Monday, July 30, 2007

Crouching Lunch Hidden Dinner

Certainly was an unusual Sunday to say the least. After the unprecedented act of wailing into the mike during karaoke on a Saturday night, I spent the Sunday morning recovering from such hedonistic excesses. Not for long though since I got a call for lunch from Charming Calvin.

I swear this isn't going to turn into a food blog :)

Seems like one of his trusted Calvinettes, the one they call Solicitor Sally, planned to throw a farewell lunch for him. A carnivorous craving for lamb and mutton led the gang to a Chinese Muslim restaurant reminiscent of Silk Road fantasies. Think Moorish arches, beautifully tiled courtyards and delicate Muslim calligraphy. However we seemed to have stumbled onto a desert mirage as well since none of the waiters ( well they only had a sole waiter for some odd reason, perhaps there was an unseasonable strike ) seemed to take notice of us, fading in and out of the idyllic scene without noting our presence.

Though I'm sure Solicitor Sally fumed ( possibly drafting a scathing letter to the beleaguered manager as we speak ), I found the experience amusing to say the least. Dishes were flying all around us - leaving us hopelessly salivating - and yet none seemed to land on our table :)

Waiting Hunks
Has our lunch arrived yet...

Then of course to balance our unusual lunch experience, the Gods of Fine Dining saw fit to point us on the way to dimsum in the evening. Over here, most people would associate the trendy Starhill Gallery with overly priced frou frou foods.

I found them overly generous instead :)

Since both Calvin and I had missed our regular weekend dose of pork dim sum, we adjourned to Luk Yu Teahouse for dinner. Totally pork-free unfortunately but we stopped complaining once the dishes came. Not only was the food wonderful and the service excellent, the enthusiastic staff seemed to fall over their feet handing us dishes - that we didn't even order. :)

Paul : Umm.. Did I order this?
Calvin : No, I don't eat prawns.
Paul : Where did this come from?
Calvin : Who knows.
Paul : Hmm.. more for me then. Perhaps a bonus? Buy one free one?

And yet again, they sent us an extra canister of har gau. Followed by an extra helping of dessert. By then I was seriously astonished at our good fortune - and getting a little bit worried about the bill.

Did I sleep with the chef before or what?

But when it was time to pay the piper, none of the extra dishes were there. Seemed like the dim sum had all gone into hiding. To tell or not to tell, that was the question. :) I'll let you figure that out on your own ( though I certainly wasn't gonna argue with the bountiful blessings of the God of Fine Dining ) but you can be sure I'll pay a visit to the overly generous teahouse again. Talk about gaining an instant fan.

10 comments:

Jonzz said...

LOL, dim sum freebies?

Maybe some inconspicuous tea lady has seen it fit to send some your way?

William said...

Yessiree... Luk Yu has weird customer service.

Waiter A: "Yeah, you can sit upstairs."

Waiter B: "Sorry sir, the upstairs section is closed."

Waiter C: (Ignore your calls for service)

Janvier said...

Free food! Now, did the waiters clear the 'extra' dishes away from the table, or did they became Spider Dishes and swung away?

Ryan said...

You must have slept with the waiter! LOL... j/kidding!

Dim sum in the evening? Never did that before. I normally have dim sum in the morning with chinese tea.

Well, since they are so generous, perhaps I should give it a try having dim sum there.

Vengelyne said...

Halal dim sum is just blegh... I'm not a pork fan, but without pork it's like it's not dim sum anymore. For me, that is. But so far, I did manage to find a place that makes up for the lack of pork in their dim sum and Chinese dishes -- Maju Palace at Maju Junction. Good stuffs there.

mstpbound said...

WHAT! WHAT! you got FREE FOOOD!!!! i want free food! why am i not in asia... ;(

Jason said...

The waiter loves you, Doc :)

savante said...

I know, jonzz. I was amazed as well.

Oh yeah, why don't they allow customers to sit upstairs? Guess they are tired of walking up, I figure william.

The placed it really nicely, janvier :) No tossing.

Had more waitresses than waiters though, ryan.

Agreed. I love pork as well, vengelyne. Didn't have much choice then though.

Doubt it happens everyday, mstpbound :P

They probably do, jason!

Paul

doc said...

some people at the next table waited for food that didn't arrive & getting billed for it.

i was at domino's midvalley last year when they sent my pizza to the people, who came much later, at the next table.

i made a complaint & the manager extended his apology with a RM10 voucher for the next visit. needless to say, the next table walloped the extra pizza for free!!

Anonymous said...

should have joined you guys makan makan :)