Lawrence's plus Lady Brigg and Lord Charlesworth returned to KL yesterday after a few days at the bracing East Coast, Dungan to be precise. They say that the weather is variable at this time of year and they are right. We travelled east in a mixture of storms and sunshine and then spent the first morning enjoying a continuation of the previous night's tempest.
The resort that we stayed at, Ulek Beach Resort, was sandwiched between two large areas of nowhere and had the sea in front of it. We stayed in a wooden chalet arrangement that had one double bed and very soon after had three mattresses added to it. Consequently there was not a great deal of room in the place - always a challenge after a long drive and a busy term.
We did manage two sessions of swimming / paddling in the choppy sea, a trip into the next biggest town, Kuala Terengganu, which had a rather splendid beach and park as well as a completely fruitless mission to try to buy some beer. It would seem that although the weather can be pretty wet the whole area, being very Muslim Malaysian, is dry, booze speaking. Our spirits were not daunted though as we enjoyed going pink on the beach, mainly because of the wind not the heat of the sun.
We decided to return to KL a day earlier so that Rupert could go to a party today and this also gave us the opportunity to experience the a very particular form of restaurant chaos on the drive back. It is a long way to drive so when I spied Hailin Kopitiam and its claim to be selling coffee roasted in just the right way I thought that we had to stop there to see if the reality matched to hype. In the restaurant's favour the food and the coffee was very good. The only slight drawback was the chaotic way in which the place was run. I am used to there being loads of people working in shops and restaurants usually getting in the way of each other. Hailin Kopitiam took this to a new level. The ordering system involved us filling in an order pad with the numbers that corresponded to what we wanted. Seemingly we then had to give our piece of paper to any passing waiter, resplendent in black and orange. Having done this we all sat back and waited. Things were clearly not going to go well when the manager arrived and set about trying to clarify what we had ordered and then, smiling, filled in the form again. He dashed off and we started our wait.
Fifteen minutes later three sets of knives and forks arrived, for our party of seven, plus a till print out of our order. After twenty minutes of waiting David's tuna sandwich arrived, the waiter crossed off the item from the print out, and David set about eating and finishing in five minutes. After thirty minutes our drinks began to arrive. Clearly relishing the challenge the drinks makers made the most complicated of our drinks first and an iced lemon tea arrived, plus Lexi's pink grapefruit smoothie. A further five minutes passed and the children's chicken nuggets were delivered and suitably crossed off the list. Just as they finished them their accompanying chips were delivered, while we still waited, those of us who had ordered coffee, to see if they really did roast coffee in the way that we wanted it. Finally, five minutes after everybody else had finished their food Lexi's chicken curry and my nasi lamak were delivered.
While waiting for our food to arrive in a random order I looked round the restaurant. Fellow diners all wore quizzical and confused looks and took to examining the fare that was delivered to them clearly considering whether, against all likelihood that what they had received was in fact what they had ordered.
Yes the food and the drinks were great, but the organisation of the place was shocking. As we waited we saw countless staff picking up brightly coloured and doubtless delicious drinks and meals from the preparation counter, taking one step forward and then stopping and thinking to themselves, "Where do I take this?"
Full but frustrated we left nearly an hour and a half after popping in. I made a point of praising the owner for the top quality coffee that, when it did arrive, and after I had sent it back to be made just how I really did want it, did taste great, but the whole experience was so haphazard that I suppose I should consider ourselves lucky that we actually did get what we ordered. My parting words "Great food, great coffee, terrible service." I hope they can cure the problems there before customers start walking out or Gordon Ramsey arrives.