Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa

Chance took us to Taman Melawati this morning, on the way we stopped at a nicely decorated outlet of Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa Kampung Baru. Excellent colour scheme of white, green and wooden elements. As I recall the food they serve - in the original place many years ago - was delicious. Its nice to see that they have moved up a notch in the ambiance department. It felt good sitting in the new place. I love how they presented their menu, toppings instead of accompanying dishes that you chose to go with your nasi lemak. Very Mc Donald like, modern take on an old Malaysian favourite. From then on the experience went downhill.

It was not crowded yet the service was slow. Orders were taken yet delivery was wrong. Four drinks for five person ? A mistake perhaps. The food took ages to arrive, something we could not understand. Its not as if they have to cook anything as all the items are already prepared and it just had to be ladled into plates and served. When it arrived the taste was disappointing. Its obvious that shortcuts were made in making the "sambal", supposedly the star of a nasi lemak meal. There's a slight burnt bitter taste which should not be there. We had sotong [squid], kerang [cockles] and spiced fried chicken. The sotong is not bad, the rest is just food, nothing special.

The worst bit came when its time to pay. The base nasi lemak is RM3, sotong additional RM5 making a plate RM8 ! In total a meal for 3 adults and 2 kids (sharing a plate) costs us RM51. Yes, we are paying for the ambiance but the food was not up to par and that makes it painful. I pity the investors whom I am sure have spent tons of money on the renovation. I wish they would go a bit more, get back the old recipe, get rid of the shortcuts and above all provide better faster service. I really wish for them to be as successful as all those imported food chains.

Note: These pictures were not taken at the outlet.