Iftar At Teluk Tempoyak

Last Sunday was the first time this month that we had our Iftar outside. As every weekend was spent breaking fast at our parents, we felt like we wanted to have quality time with just the three of us. So last minute we decided to have Iftar at Pen Maha Saikoon Mutiara. I've heard about their kari kepala ikan and drooled just thinking about it.

But as expected due to last minute plan, Pen Mutiara was fully booked once we arrived at 6pm. Then without delay we headed straight away to Telok Tempoyak for a feast of seafood. That was the worst decision we made for the day, EVER!

Once arrived, parking was full but we managed to squeeze in between some cars. There were still many unoccupied tables so we thought surely they could still cater to their mostly Muslim customers who went for Iftar. Mind you, the last time I went there with hub for Iftar was way back when we were courting, and he brought me with my twin bros along for a seafood feast. We had a tab``le full of food that amounted to mroe or less rm200, btu it was money worth spent. Food was excellent, and the service pun tip top.

Sadly after 4-5 years, that's not the case anymore. They've expanded, getting more customers and they started to show their taring. Service was VERY VERY BAD! I sat there for so long trying to catch the waiters and waitresses eyes but none of them will look my way. Then I called them for FOUR FREAKING TIMES to take order, and none entertained me. Until I got mad and went to the counter to ask "Saya nak order kat sini boleh?" and only then the nice makcik asked her people to take my order, but still I had to wait for more than 15 minutes before a waitress came handed me the menu. And she did it with a very kelat face. In fact you could rarely see any smiling faces among the workers, all were infected with some virus that made all their faces went sour.

And then the long wait began. We arrived there at 6:30 pm and so expected to have our food later than 7:30. But not so late that came 8:30pm, we were still waiting to have our Iftar! I didn't had my sahur the nite before and therefore were pretty much hungry. I break fast with only kurma, some desserts I shared with Irfan and a jug of pale-orangish water they claimed to be FRESH ORANGE! Now that got me fuming mad. Dahla bad service, beverage also not at par with their reputation.


Irfan were restless having to sit still for almost 2 hours, and I can't even begin to describe the havoc he created during those hours. Desserts were spilled all over the tablecloth, plates thrown to the floor. He used the cutlery to play sword and bang them on the plates, and those stares I got from people just hiked up my anger to the toppest notch. Hubby was trying to curb his anger, hence the sour face. ;-)

At around 8:oopm, we were served with our ikan bakar and udang goreng tepung, but by 8:30pm we were still waiting for the rest of our orders including the most important dish to eat them with, WHITE RICE! So being in the dark on when we shall get to eat, we decided to cancel and head back home with what we had. And believe it or not, once we called the waitress and canceled the order, a stupid-waiter-trying-to-make-kungfu-fierce-Jackie-Chan-face came and asked us, why do we want to cancel? The order is here. FINALLY! But of course we stick with the decision to cancel them. They left us waiting for 2 hours without even a glance in our direction, apatah lagi polite gestures from them. We didn't asked for much, yes I know we arrived late and had to wait for turn. But the least they could do would be to offer some polite gestures or simple smile and throw in some friendly nod, it's called good PR if they haven't know! Even that, seemed to be too much to ask for.

So we paid for what we had, the jug of air longkang, desserts, ikan bakar, and udang goreng tepung which cost hubby almost RM60! And then we headed home with empty stomach and fiery mood. Luckily I tapau-ed some food from mum's earlier for sahur. Some ayam ros and beef and chicken stew which recipe she got from the cooking and travel channel. Yummy!

The ikan bakar we tapau back was nice but udang tepung so and so

Ayam Ros my mum's - being a mother who's against her daughter's blogging activities, she seemed awfully excited but tried to hide it when I told her I wanted to blog about her cooking.

And the beef stew

Back to the iftar story, I'm not mentioning names here but the restaurant I'm talking about is the only restaurant in Teluk Tempoyak opened during Ramadhan. They should take in customers they could only cater. Don't let people wait for two hours like that without even a polite gesture from them to ease the anxiety we had for such long wait. If they think they cannot cater, then stop customers from coming in, or ask them to come back AFTER Iftar. One of the waitress told us we should've come earlier if we want to have iftar here, fine I know it's our fault. But I wonder how early we should be there as the couple next to our table kept on telling the waitress that they ordered since 3pm, and they got their orders only AFTER 8pm! Maybe we should be there after Subuh to get to have Iftar on time.

In this sense, my praise goes to Pen Mutiara for such professional approach. Once we arrived at the parking, a man (the restaurant worker) approached us and told us that if we come for Iftar, and didn't book in advance the place is packed to the brim and we might went back empty-stomached. So at least we knew what to expect. I know of one cafe in Tanjong Tokong that started small and extended after a few years. But the last time we went there on weekend night, the place was deserted. Service was very very bad and food has degraded sinceour previous visit. So no matter how good a restaurant is, once you start treating your customer badly, your place will definitely goes down.

So my advice to them is, buckle up your service, dan berpijak lah di bumi yang nyata. Jangan sombong-sombong kay.