Malaysia losing its taste.

When was the last time you got really tired of fast food at your neighbourhood malls and thought that the foodcourt would be a good substitute for a lunch and had to learn the hard that the food serve there sucks. 

There were many times that I would blame the cooks for the low quality of taste in their food especially when they food receives a sudden fame from of endorsement from food blogs and TV shows but this time the best people to have my gun aimed at are the food court operator.

While Malaysians have been not known to spend alot of cash on food (not expensive, but alot), some sleazy opportunist have took this chance to cut down their cost from every possible way to increase their margin. With the recent fuel, sugar and electricity price hike, we have seen some food stalls maintaining their servings with about 5% to 10% increase of price on the food menu. Some would choose to downsize their portion to maintain the current food price. This, though hurting their loyal customer's wallet, is fair.

But the worst thing to do, from my point of view is to hire unskilled cheap labour, cut down on the portion and sell the food for a price that is not the worth the taste.

My recent visit to the neighbourhood mall was to serve one main purpose, an early lunch (or brunch) for a long trip ahead. SiChanteq who is 20 weeks pregnant had a sudden craving for rice with local dishes which of course could not be found at Subway, Kenny Roger Roosters, KFC or Old Town. With the only available option left, we head down to the food court and went straight to the Tom Yam Stall.

What stood behind the counter was 3 Nepalese men who seemed rather not eager bout the sight of a pair of hungry customers. There was lack of communication due to language barriers and so special request or alteration to the menu seemed impossible. We picked a food set for 2 that costed nearly RM22.00.

The result?

Like the fine print on the menu, the display image did not look at all like what was served.
The taste for all 3 dishes was flat.
Tomyam that did not taste like Tomyam.
Ayam Paprik was not cooked for 2.
And the Kangkung Belacan that was cooked with a reduced amount of Belacan.

1) Not being racist, but it would've been better if they have hired a female Thai or an Indonesian cook - local regional foreign cooks would know the taste and the appropriate portion size.
2) The price was such lousy quality food is ridiculous. If they were to say that it is due to the high rent and expensive ingredients, it would still be utter bullshit.
3) This is a fail representation of our local dish to tourists.
4) Day light robbery.

This, of course, is another pointless post.