Royal China royal bill

That's the ceiling lights hanging at the restaurant located along Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur opposite Citibank headoffice. Impressive-leh!

Went in confidently with RM100 voucher in pocket which Tummythoz & partner (Phitoy), expecting to enjoy a good free dinner. So wrong-nya (a Malaysian expression to emphasize disappointment).

The waiters/watresses there spoke mainly, if not exclusively, Mandarin. Had a bit of problem as both of us are typical 'bananas' [a nickname for Chinese-language-illiterate Chinese ie. yellow coloured skin (representing Chinese people's skin) but white (as in Caucasion) inside]. Like any Chinese restaurant, appetiser was served without delay. Instead of plain, roasted or salted peanuts, it was a small plate of tasty mixture of anchovies, peanuts and long beans. Started off ordering steamed cod fish and a newly introduced green organic vegetables stir fried in garlic, to go with steamed white rice. The vege was recommended by the hostess and was not listed in the menu. She cannot name it in English. However, just as the hostess started to walk away, we decided to fry the vege with ha-kau (shelled prawns) just in case the vege turns out to be bitter or too plain.

Sorry about the pictures being a bit blur. Was using phone's camera. Also, did not manage to take picture of cod fish due to the speed Phitoy attacked it.

We shared a small bowl of kuai-leng-kou (a black jelly-like blob made from tortoise shell powder) with honey for dessert.

Personal opinion, naturally: Steamed Cod fish - we had better. Vege with ha-kau - other than the vege's taste had traces of Chinese chives and spring onion, it was nothing exceptional. The prawns put me off though. They were not de-veined! Dessert tasted norm though the honey was not watered down like some dessert shops.

The royal bill came to (drum rolls..) RM129.00 or so!! (Sorry, only estimate available as chucked the bill). Why so high? Because they charged separately for the prawns! The prawns that were stir fried in the vege!! Those un-deveined beings alone costed RM30.00!! Ok, ok. They were quite big but I keep thinking that maybe we should had ordered the prawns as a different dish. At least some extra work would be thrown in to justify the price. Or am I being most unreasonable? Is that how supposedly upper class restaurants charge nowadays? Please enlighten.

Something else irked me. The service we received. It was overwhelming. We were there before 7pm on a Friday. We were the first! Later we found this is not good as we had the full attention of all the staff there. FULL ATTENTION, I say. They kept 'cruising' around our table & checking on the piece of order chit which was slipped into a plastic container on our table. How many staff/waiters/hostesses and number of times do you need to make sure the food ordered arrived? At least 5 of the former and every 7 minutes of the latter! 'Alo, we only ordered 2 main dishes. That tough to remember???

Nope. Did not visit its toilet. Too conscious to make any sudden movement ..

Address : Lot 26, 174-176A Jalan Ampang 50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03 2161 9188
Capacity :1000 pax
Business Hour :Mon - Sat11.30am - 2.30pm6.00pm - 10.30pm
Sun & Public Holidays: 9.00am - 2.30pm6.00pm - 10.30pm