This was our first meal out in 2018. Makes me wonder how many different restaurants we’ll go to this year – in 2017, it was 87 (excluding chains). It wasn’t a bad start to this year.
Pretty much as always, most tables were occupied by Chinese folk. Not a guarantee of quality, of course, but at least an indication. Knowing the generous portion size, only one of us wanted a starter. That was fillet steak rolls – thin steak, encasing bean sprouts and other veg – a sort of meaty spring roll if you will. There’s a little sauce to moisten everything.
For mains, there were stir fried mixed vegetables – broccoli, onion, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, bean sprouts. Everything cooked but still crisp. A little indeterminate sauce held it together. On the other plate, chicken in satay sauce. Not peanutty Indonesian style satay but simply a savoury one, nicely hot with chilli. Peppers and onions, still crisp as the other plate, counted to the five a day.
I do have a couple of moans. First up was the addition of a 10% service charge to the bill. Now, I’ve no problem with service charges nor have I problem with leaving a traditional cash tip of 10%. But here, the menu says the charge will only be added to tables of 8 or more. It looked to me that they had sneaked this on in the hope of it not being spotted and so getting a cash tip a well. Be warned to check your bill properly. And the second moan is the state of the carpet. It’s filthy and in urgent need of either a good clean or replacement. It really does make you wonder about other hygiene matters (in spite of the 3 on the “scores on the doors” environmental health website).
