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2018-11-05
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An old friend was in town and we wanted to bring him to a relaxing brunch. There's a decent variety of cheese and starters (our favourite was the salmon). The white pizza was also great, as per usual. Honestly, it was a fine meal up until the dessert.It was coming to the end of the brunch slot and we understand that not everything can be fresh out of the oven or fridge etc. by this time. Our creme brulee had a layer of sugar water instead of the crispy layer of brulee as the name suggests. My pa
It was coming to the end of the brunch slot and we understand that not everything can be fresh out of the oven or fridge etc. by this time. Our creme brulee had a layer of sugar water instead of the crispy layer of brulee as the name suggests. My party briefly comments on this just as we find a short piece of hair in the creme.
We had no intention of any form of complaint (maybe just a mention if a waiter/waitress dropped by to ask "How's everything?"), but the manager came over as he overheard our conversation. This manager has been around, but this was the first time we spoke for more than a minute. This was by far the most confrontational experience I've ever had in a restaurant. Surely, I would understand if this was a meal for less than HKD50 per head at a busy restaurant, but this was not what I'd expect within the Dining Concepts restaurant group.
Apparently a chef himself for 10+ years (as we find out during our unnecessarily heated debate), he walks up to us and said "SO, what is creme brulee then, huh?". Needless to say, we had no intention of keeping this conversation going at all.
We explained why we viewed the dessert as so and that we understood it's been sitting out for a while. He then attempted to justify that the dessert is still creme brulee even when the sugar layer is unsuccessful or no longer crispy, etc. By now, the conversation had already gone past everyone's comfort zone, apparently except for the manager.
He continued with his views and proceeded to defend his kitchen by giving us the question "How would you feel if I told you the cha siu rice at your restaurant was not cha siu rice?". (Just to state the obvious, my party looks Asian even though one was Hispanic.) It took my friend to say "Well, sorry, but this creme brulee was shxt" for him to finally get the hint to leave our table, with the plate of desserts.
Within the next 5 minutes, he came back to ask where we were from and when he learned that I was from HK, he made a pass at lightening up the mood, but he left shortly after and made no further amends.
It is truly unfortunate that my once favourite restaurant in TST will no longer have me as a customer. Thank you for all the otherwise great food and service all these years.
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