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2012-01-21
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https://thechosenglutton.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/em-by-the-river-by-day-and-by-noon/A restaurant that serves all-day breakfast (till 3pm) by the river setting – wooden planks as tiles, comfortable, larger-than-your-body sofa, one would expect to have a relaxed and laid-back time here at the restaurant outlet of The Gallery Hotel. Or at least, I was anticipating a great time here. Great breakfast, great setting, great mood and ambience. The setting, the ambience, the mood, yes, but it was all mo
A restaurant that serves all-day breakfast (till 3pm) by the river setting – wooden planks as tiles, comfortable, larger-than-your-body sofa, one would expect to have a relaxed and laid-back time here at the restaurant outlet of The Gallery Hotel. Or at least, I was anticipating a great time here. Great breakfast, great setting, great mood and ambience. The setting, the ambience, the mood, yes, but it was all more or less ruined when the supposed highlight (aka. breakfast) arrived. We dug in immediately after waiting for quite some time and were all hungry and ready to devour on anything.
The menu was relatively wide. There were quite a number of the Hollandaise Sauce series – Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine, and Eggs Royale. And then there was the traditional American and Continental Breakfast, some pancakes, some pastries and sandwiches. Being the hungry bunch that morning, we each ordered an individual set, and then top it off with another course for sharing.
Eggs Royale ($14.00 nett) :: The only consolation was probably its presentation, which wasn’t too off / bad from the norm. Basically, the eggs had way too much of the vinegar taste, bread and salmon was bland and tasteless, it was too much of a disappointment after all that hype within myself every time I walk past eM by the River to other breakfast places. Same goes for the Eggs Benedict ($13.00 nett), eggs were really bad.
American Breakfast ($18.00 nett) :: The breakfast set came a juice and coffee / tea. Value was pretty alright, if the breakfast itself was actually acceptable to begin with. But it really wasn’t. The bacon was too hard, crispy and salty, not what I was looking for. The bread and sausages were simply forgettable. The only redeemable portion was its sauteed mushroom. I thought it was the only thing that morning that was up to standard. Just by the look of it, you know effort wasn’t put into the presentation. I am clueless to if they just simply didn’t bother about serving Asians / locals as well as the Caucasians that frequent the restaurant or it was just their attitude. But I feel it’s the former, because we came before this Caucasian, but was served later than him. We felt neglected and attitude of the staff was cold. I thought it was pretty unprofessional, but sometimes it’s just how we go, having worked in the hotel before, people here are more eager to impress Caucasians than anyone else. So.
Homemade Pancakes ($10.00 nett) :: We had this as our ‘sharing’ course. Once again, it looks better than it tastes. The pancakes, unfortunately, not only did not satisfy our taste buds, it did not even tickle our sense of smell like most pancakes would. The pancakes were tough (I’ve never had a tougher pancake) and again, undistinctive and dull. I regret to say that we didn’t even bother finishing the course.On top of everything, the cup of sugar cubes they had on the table was full of small ants. Literally. We realized after dropping a cube into the tea, and told the waitperson about it. We were cool about it, but I was quite shocked though, to not sense any remorse or receive any apology from the staff. Nevertheless, we kept our cool throughout and quickly left the place after settling the bill, even though unwillingly. If anyone were to be in that area, Epicurious or even Kith Cafe would be so much of a better choice for breakfast, in my opinion.
It was nothing but disappointment, the whole trip.
—> Note #1: All prices stated are already inclusive of GST. Nett prices.
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