Chongqing Sichuan Steamboat
I organized a dinner to celebrate birthdays of 2 badminton kaki so I looked for venues nearby (we planned to go after a session). I saw this Groupon and thought, why not? I've not tried Sichuan cuisine before and I find steamboat to be a great method to bond while eating.
However it wasn't a fantastic experience and I don't think I will return. This will be a short post and (sad to say) my 1st negative food review. Here are the facts:
1) Target customers
I'm not sure if many people know this but there are many tourists in this Pudu area. The no of hotels and tourists buses in the area explained the possible origin of this restaurant - to cater to tourists from China who wanted food from the motherland. Hence the price was not that cheap. It was quite empty the night we went but I imagine it would be packed with Chinese tourists during their peak hours.
2) Service
To be honest, service was fine; the wait staff were friendly and attentive. They were quick to add soup and water (for the tea). However they do not speak English so luckily my friend helped to make reservation and conversed in Mandarin when needed. Also additional charges are applied if you took the sauces, which is ridiculous...I'm used to free flow of condiments c'mon this is Malaysia!
3) Quality
We ordered the spicy and non-spicy combo: I found the spicy soup too oily for my liking. The non-spicy was better but there was a strong, gamey taste to it. I guess I need to try real Sichuan food before I decide giving it the red light. The biggest disappointment was the raw food (meats and dumplings); we suspect it was stored in the freezer so it took a while to reach our table and it took a longer while to cook.
Conclusion: Unless you're a Chinese tourist, this is not the place to go for steamboat. It was quite pricey (RM200 for 9 pax and it wasn't enough) and despite the decent service, the poor preparation of food is a down-letter.
However it wasn't a fantastic experience and I don't think I will return. This will be a short post and (sad to say) my 1st negative food review. Here are the facts:
1) Target customers
I'm not sure if many people know this but there are many tourists in this Pudu area. The no of hotels and tourists buses in the area explained the possible origin of this restaurant - to cater to tourists from China who wanted food from the motherland. Hence the price was not that cheap. It was quite empty the night we went but I imagine it would be packed with Chinese tourists during their peak hours.
To be honest, service was fine; the wait staff were friendly and attentive. They were quick to add soup and water (for the tea). However they do not speak English so luckily my friend helped to make reservation and conversed in Mandarin when needed. Also additional charges are applied if you took the sauces, which is ridiculous...I'm used to free flow of condiments c'mon this is Malaysia!
We ordered the spicy and non-spicy combo: I found the spicy soup too oily for my liking. The non-spicy was better but there was a strong, gamey taste to it. I guess I need to try real Sichuan food before I decide giving it the red light. The biggest disappointment was the raw food (meats and dumplings); we suspect it was stored in the freezer so it took a while to reach our table and it took a longer while to cook.
Conclusion: Unless you're a Chinese tourist, this is not the place to go for steamboat. It was quite pricey (RM200 for 9 pax and it wasn't enough) and despite the decent service, the poor preparation of food is a down-letter.
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