When I mentioned to Third Sister that we enjoyed eating at Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant (the Sungei Wang outlet), her nose wrinkled slightly in disdain, and she pronounced that she, as well as Second Sister, would never patronise, let alone, like such a place. Not surprising really, because I too had the same initial reaction.
See, Kim Gary had a few characteristics that put me off:
1. Being located in a shopping mall. Not that that is bad in itself, but mall=high traffic=not so discerning customers, at least to my reasoning
2. Being part of a chain. Also not a very bad thing, but there are some bad eggs out there, like No*och, Chill*ies, De*lifrance, Se*cret Recipe and too many others to list. Bland food, not cheap either.
3. Crowded with teenagers - they want cheap, fast, plentiful, but are generally less fussy about taste
4. Menu dominated by lunch sets and "promotional offers".
5. Over-loud music, faux zen-oriental chic decor ( read cheap wood veneer on walls). I hate anything in the zen style.
But see, Kim Gary had Hongkong style Milk Tea on the menu, which was a siren call to HK Milk Tea Freak a.k.a my husband. And husband had been shopping with me for more than 4 hours already so it was not unreasonable for him to ask for a tea break. No, he does not eat mangoes. My five reasons for not going in was brushed aside and I was dragged cave-man style through the entrance. Actually we had to wait about 10 minutes, oh the irony! Finally we (husband, me and our many shopping bags) sat down and had a good look at our menu, which was conveniently printed on our paper place mats. The mats seem to be a HK touch, I know because in Singapore, Crystal Jade Kitchen also has paper place mat menus. Not that this has anything to do with the price of fish...
So, I started to relent a little when I saw that the a la carte menu is peppered with more HK style snacks. People around us were tucking into, and finishing up, their HK meat pies (toasted sandwiches actually), thick toasts, baked rice and iced jelly drinks. And the ambience was not as bad as I thought, in fact the wall booths reminded me of those tiny workmen cafes at Causeway Bay, the ones that serves really cheap, filling basic meals for bus drivers, courier boys and security guards (the assumption being that office workers, especially the female ones would prefer to eat at places with better surroundings, e.g. food courts conveniently located in shopping centres).
Back at our HK-like snack house, notice that I am not so dismissive of their decor by now, I observed that two of the booths were occupied by the staff eating their dinner. It was interesting to observe the interpersonal dynamics. One booth was occupied by the serving staff, mostly female, motherly sorts, occasionally snatching a quick bite of juicy gossip. The other booth was occupied by another clique, the kitchen staff, mostly lean, craggy, older men, I could tell they worked in the kitchen because they wore white paper caps and t-shirts instead of cotton uniforms. They hunched down over their heaping plates of rice, prawn paste chicken and stir-fried greens, not saying much while they ate. There were at least 6 people eating at the kitchen-staff table, and assuming there were more in the kitchen cooking the food that was being served out front, the restaurant seemed to employ many people in the kitchen. Which led to think that these many people were not there just to open cans and bottles, maybe they actually cook some foods from scratch or at least made their own sauces? Things were looking up.
Our food arrived within 15 minutes of ordering, not as fast as McD's, but not so slow you start bitching about the service. I had ordered waffles with crunchy peanut butter and condensed milk, because PB and milk combination seemed like such a perfect combination. And it was, the PB and condensed milk that is, but the waffle was soft rather than crisp. But we finished it, pretending that we were eating cake instead. I should have tried it with that 2 inch high thick toast instead. Husband declared his satisfaction with the quality and taste of the milk tea. I ordered a glass of iced tea which was slurped up within 2 minutes, prompting a repeat order. I was thirsty OK?
The guy at the next table was eating a funny-looking burger with great enjoyment. We flagged a waitress and she said it was a Macau Pork Burger Bun that he was eating, it sounded so intriguing I had to order one too. No regrets, this is the best meat sandwich I've eaten in Singapore or Malaysia. The pork chop was well marinated, very juicy and tender, but what made it Macanese I could not fathom. it was also so big it didn't really fit into the bun, which came well toasted, which was just as well, as it meant that the bread did not collapse so easily with all that mayonaise, meat juices and flabby tomatoes. All in, a very satisfying and tasty sandwich. It also made for very messy eating so we used up quite a few of their paper napkins.
So there it was, I ate at Kim Gary and I liked it. Third Sister still does not believe me, but Mummy was listening to my descriptions with rapt attention, so it may just be a matter of time before Third Sister also gets dragged into a Kim Gary one of these days.
