Horrible Food, Bo Ho Jia, 不好吃,goût horrible

Monday, April 27, 2009

Hot plate hell

I am fortunate that for the last 1 year or more, I spend most of time either dinning at home or in the office canteen.... Of course, I do venture out of those place ever so often... but there hasn't been a single store that needs me to blog about how bad it is

Until today

I was at Bugis junction in the evening and it is getting a bit late to head home for dinner. I asked around for where the foodcourt has been relocated and was directed to the third floor.

Decided to be a bit adventurous and try out the Tepanyaki. Just after placing the order for a chicken and unagi combo, I regretted as there is a store right opposite that seems to serve noodle and much cheaper as well.

I was taken aback when I noticed how the chicken was prepared. While I was told by my wife that this seems to be the de riguer of barbeque food preparation. I was utterly disappointed when I see the one manning the hot plate, took out a half cooked piece of chicken and diced it into smaller pieces... this does not brood well. The only thing I was grateful was that the chicken was fully cooked and that it is not that pink..... Then came the best part. They serve the chicken and the unagi in the same gravy... Hello.... Unagi is supposed to have it own sauce....

the only reason that I even considered hot plat food is that, it should at least smelled the part.... the aroma of the grill should be there, the oil should sizzle the outer skin to a bit of crispness and that it should have some sort of taste to it. unfortunately, the pre cook treatment took out the aroma, too little time on the hot plat took out the crispness and that the coying sweet sauce masked out the last bit of tast from the chicken.... Nevermind.. there is still the unagi, no?

I like unagi...... in fact, every single time to a japanese restaurant will sure to see me order this delectable dish, nevermind the price. However, nothing prepared me for the eel this time as it has way too much big bones in it, there is no marinating whatsoever, and whatever done to it on the hotplate is only to get it cook so that it is edible without killing anyone... but the taste has left the building..... The only 2 1/2 things done right was the bean sprout, the rice and the egg was overdone on 1 side, I was glad that I asked for extra pepper because without it, I would have thought that I am having some hospital food.....

Bascially, what I feel is that, while the people who tend the store are decent and service is okay... what is lacking in the food is sincerity. It is edible, yes, but the taste and aroma, which is what makes the food worth eating is missing.... Which means that, everything is done autonomously, with just the perfunctory objective of making the food and serving it and hoping that the customer will not die of food poisoning... well, thanks for that......


But seriously, I will not be back in a hurry to visit that store....

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