After much initial indecisiveness on where to bring my Father In Law for dinner to celebrate Father’s Day, we finally settled on Changi Village Tekong Seafood Restaurant.
Was a fantastic day. We arrived at quarter past 6, lovely sea breeze and I had a really funny girly chat with my mother in law and a little stroll just by the beach. Sea views were just breathtaking at that particular time of the day. At about half 7, my brother and sister in law arrived..We went straight to the restaurant which is conveniently located near the beach and park.
We got a table inside the restaurant, which incidentally wasn’t air conditioned. Most of us were starving by then, and we quickly picked up the menu and browsed.
We ordered a thai style fish, garlic kangkong, fried squid, Deer Meat, Cereal Prawns, Dried Chilli Diced Chicken…and a pot of chrysantenum tea to start with.
The Mainland foreign waitress served the fried squid first. it wasn’t the worst thing, but it certainly was not up to standard. It was soggy and sour, the texture tasted like the squids have been preserved and kept for some time.
The garlic kangkong came, it was a huge dish, but there wasn’t any garlic taste to it. Very watery and certainly unlike the typical garlic kangkong.
The deer meat on hot plate has to be the best dish on the table. Lovely soft texture and full flavour lean meat. Nice. The cereals prawns wasn’t disappointing too, the dried Chilli diced chicken was average.
A pot of chrysantenum tea was served and the chinese waitress kept refilling the cups and then asked if we wanted another pot. When asked if it’s free flow like most restaurants, the waitress said no. A beverage was needed and my father in law ordered another pot. We were charged at 3 sing dollars a pot and it wasn’t pure chrysantenum tea, the pot had less than a handful florets of chrysantenum, and the tea was made primarily from powder form.
finally, the long awaited thai fish was served. My mother in law, after trying it looked satisfied. She tried it again and made a brief comment that the fish was ‘powdery’. I clamped a piece with my chopsticks and knew my mother in law was right immediately when i tasted it.
We asked for a replacement and to our disappointment, after about 30mins of waiting, it hasn’t arrived. We went to the boss and demanded an explanation, but we were told that the fish would be served promptly. After another 10 mins, we approached the till counter and requested for a refund, stating the reasons that we’ve finished our dinner and we’ve waited 40mins for our replacement dish. We were given a refund after some very unpleasant verbal exchanges with the lady boss at the counter. Just then, the waitress walked out with the fish. My mother in law started eating the fish and eventually we had to make do with the replacement fish. Unfortunately, the replacement was almost equally bad, the fish was different this time, but it had a soily-oily taste to it.
I think it’s only basic courtesy to give a discount or write off the charges for the replacement. AFter all, it’s their fault for serving a fish that’s not fresh and worse, for keeping us waiting and with such a poor service attitude.
I have been to many restaurants of smaller and bigger scale and have never encountered a seafood restaurant with poorer service. There’s no basic courtesy.
Nonetheless, my father in law seems happy enough and that’s good enough I guess.
Tekong REstaurant – NO MORE.
Men you fancy always mysteriously leave the country for good.