Video
Read full review
2012-01-18
17 views
After not working in Central for so long, a trip to Bettys Kitschen reminded me of how expensive Central could be for mediocrity. The restaurant was pleasant enough: huge windows that made the best of daylight and harbour view, tables were nicely spaced out... but oh, what's that on the table cloth Jam from breakfast... So I moved to the next table, hmm, this one has orange stuff on it... onto the third table. Come on, this is a fairly fancy restaurant charging fairly fancy prices, please mak
The restaurant was pleasant enough: huge windows that made the best of daylight and harbour view, tables were nicely spaced out... but oh, what's that on the table cloth Jam from breakfast... So I moved to the next table, hmm, this one has orange stuff on it... onto the third table. Come on, this is a fairly fancy restaurant charging fairly fancy prices, please make some effort beyond the decor. After sitting down for at least 10 minutes, still no one came to offer at least some water, most unusual service.
As I said, I was a little unaccustomed to prices in Central nowadays but $238 for a full breakfast (without drinks), $288 for a meat pie The set lunch at $258 for 2 courses (w/o tea or coffee) suddenly looked remarkably good value for money by comparison. All 3 of us opted for the set lunch with beetroot salad with goat cheese as starter and paella as main course.
The beetroot salad was decent. Nice chunks of beetroot (both red and yellow) and two pieces of good-size goat brie on toast with drizzle of honey. It would have been much better if they were less stingy with the frisée and the honey; the former was scant and the latter was literally just a hint. As for the toast, could they at least remove the crust from the sides That would improve the presentation immensely...As expected, the paella was a tiny portion but looked good. After the salad, I knew not to expect a lot of seafood in my paella. There were 1 mussel, 3 small clams, one of which full of sand, and a few pieces of baby octopus. It tasted fine but nothing to shout about.
Though still hungry, I really could not bring myself to ordering dessert. My cousin ordered the panna cotta with berries. As you can see from the picture, it was fresh from the fridge! I know, I know, obviously the panna cotta would be from the fridge, but seeing it with condensation dripping just killed appetite.
The one redeeming feature of the lunch was the espresso, rich and hot, and at $18 a shot, it was the only thing worth its price.
There is a big group of captive audience in IFC but still, they are not without alternatives. Bettys Kitschen needs to pull its socks up if it intends to stay in business for a while.
Post
