Makan Makan — Restaurant in Hong Kong

This is at opposite end of the spectrum of authenticity. As a born and bred Malaysian, I ordered a nasi lemak in the restaurant as I had the crave for that dish. Alas, it was totally unexpected when it came to the table. Food presentation was average. Portion was stingy. Rice was wet and mushy and on the border of a rice pudding. Plus there's no fragrance and taste of any coconut milk. Did they put coconut water instead of coconut milk? Only they know but yes, as any Malaysian would attest, wet mushy nasi with zero taste of lemak is already a red flag.

Most outrageous of all was the fried chicken. One would expect the fried chicken to be more of a rempah styled or slightly more flavourful with spices. But no, it was just chicken slapped with a bland batter and fried! It was worst than what you get from the pasar malam (night market) stalls back home. Also, who in their right mind uses chicken wings???! Even my partner who is a foreigner was shocked because it's generally a drumstick/thigh quarter chicken that comes with nasi lemak in all other establishments across Malaysia and Hong Kong. Even cafe de coral serves a drumstick/thigh. Also, sambal was black in colour and it's sweet with no hint spiciness. Everything is wrong with the dish!

I know times are tough, but this is too much of cutting corners that it literally destroyed and brought shame and insult to my country's national dish. I hope people don't assumed this is what nasi lemak looks and taste like back in Malaysia. If they can get such a simple dish wrong, I cannot imagine how the other food will taste like. Please do yourself a favour and don't sacrifice your calorie intake here.

I wish them all the best for the future serving such quality food in such...

This evening, I went to a restaurant for dinner. The place was empty, with only a couple dining at an outdoor table, so I chose to sit outside. As soon as I settled in, the waiter asked for my phone number and name, but I declined to provide them.

The menu had quite a few options, and the prices seemed reasonable. I ordered three dishes, but despite the restaurant being nearly empty, it took a while for my beer to arrive. The first dish served was the laksa, which I found to have a surprisingly small portion. The cucumber strips on top didn’t seem to add any value, and the amount of rice noodles was very little. There were a few frozen, shelled large shrimp, along with some tofu and fish slices, with a bit of bean sprouts at the bottom. The broth had no shrimp flavor; the spiciness was merely in the color and a hint of heat, making it quite unfulfilling.

Next came the four skewers of chicken satay, each about 4 inches long and 0.4 inches wide, which looked decent on the plate but did not impress in taste. In the end, including the beer and service charge, my total came to over 300 Hong Kong dollars. The entire dining experience took less than 20 minutes, and I finished my meal and settled the bill quickly.

Overall, this dining experience left me quite unsatisfied. While the environment was nice, the quality and portion of the food did not meet expectations, leading me to consider other options...

Super Scam: Terrible Food, Tiny Portions, Poor Service

I rarely write reviews, but this was such a bad experience I have to share it to save others from falling into this trap.

First, the portions: Fried rice or noodles costing $130–$200 were ridiculously small—about half the size you’d get elsewhere for the same price. As for the taste, everything was overly salty and tasted almost identical. The Pad Thai was cooked like soggy char kway teow—drenched in sauce and reeking of soy sauce. The satay skewers clearly used very stale meat—sour and mushy. After eating, all of us had stomach discomfort.

Then, when paying: Even though OpenRice and the official event website stated vouchers were accepted, they suddenly claimed their "office decided not to honor them" and refused to take ours. This wasted an extra 20 minutes of our time.

Awful food, terrible value, lousy service—a super...