Many people have commented about some well known expensive dishes charged by a restaurant in Section 19, Petaling Jaya. Yet, our recent visit showed the place is still well patronised and diners have to book in advance to ensure specific number of seats available, especially if you are the host. It is a case of demand still exceeds supply, with the number of new or old customers exceeding the number of customers who decided 'not again' after having felt overcharged.
Despite being well prepared for the expensive dishes, our hosts still found it necessary to ask for details of the food prices, which I presumed to have been stated in a lump sum of say Rm800+ for food... for 6 persons! It wasn't nice of us as guests to ask for details but I overheard the most expensive dish was 'Sung har mein' which was over Rm400! I knew before hand how this dish can be expensive even at lesser restaurants, eg. minimum Rm54 which comes with 2 prawns and others were advised to order this dish only if you have 2 persons having the meal. So when the big dish came with big prawns and lobster on top of the noodles, I knew this is going to break any record I knew so far! It seems just the basic noodles and the big prawn (or prawns, not sure if there were two) costs Rm200 and add to it the lobster, and the price ballooned to over Rm400! then, there was a 'yee chi' or roasted piglet which costed some Rm200, and 2 big crabs which added another Rm200 or so.
It was only after dinner that I walked past the adjoining shoplot which displays the live sea creatures like crabs, lobsters and big prawns. What struck me most was the price for Australian lobster stated at Rm480 per kg.!
Honestly, I cannot afford to host such an expensive dinner, or even if I could, I would not. I would save it for when we are at places like Kuala Sepetang, Kuala Gula or even Tg. Tualang (fresh water prawns known in Malay as udang galah). For those living in Klang valley who crave for seafood, they might go to Klang or Port Klang or northwards to Tg. Karang or Sekinchan.
But for those where money is no problem, there are many ludicrous (at least to us ordinary mortals) instances of extravagance. I remember a film star who ordered caviar across the Atlantic; a HK billionaire who flew in his private jet to Penang to have selected specie of durians and took home some for his fellow billionaire friends; more recently, at a news portal, the headline asked if it is ok to be charged Rm48 for a roti canai, ordered through the hotel's room service; and so on.
There is a Chinese saying, 'Toong yan, ng toong maeng' or we are fellow humans (that's where the similarity ends) but have very different lifestyles.
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Despite being well prepared for the expensive dishes, our hosts still found it necessary to ask for details of the food prices, which I presumed to have been stated in a lump sum of say Rm800+ for food... for 6 persons! It wasn't nice of us as guests to ask for details but I overheard the most expensive dish was 'Sung har mein' which was over Rm400! I knew before hand how this dish can be expensive even at lesser restaurants, eg. minimum Rm54 which comes with 2 prawns and others were advised to order this dish only if you have 2 persons having the meal. So when the big dish came with big prawns and lobster on top of the noodles, I knew this is going to break any record I knew so far! It seems just the basic noodles and the big prawn (or prawns, not sure if there were two) costs Rm200 and add to it the lobster, and the price ballooned to over Rm400! then, there was a 'yee chi' or roasted piglet which costed some Rm200, and 2 big crabs which added another Rm200 or so.
It was only after dinner that I walked past the adjoining shoplot which displays the live sea creatures like crabs, lobsters and big prawns. What struck me most was the price for Australian lobster stated at Rm480 per kg.!
Honestly, I cannot afford to host such an expensive dinner, or even if I could, I would not. I would save it for when we are at places like Kuala Sepetang, Kuala Gula or even Tg. Tualang (fresh water prawns known in Malay as udang galah). For those living in Klang valley who crave for seafood, they might go to Klang or Port Klang or northwards to Tg. Karang or Sekinchan.
But for those where money is no problem, there are many ludicrous (at least to us ordinary mortals) instances of extravagance. I remember a film star who ordered caviar across the Atlantic; a HK billionaire who flew in his private jet to Penang to have selected specie of durians and took home some for his fellow billionaire friends; more recently, at a news portal, the headline asked if it is ok to be charged Rm48 for a roti canai, ordered through the hotel's room service; and so on.
There is a Chinese saying, 'Toong yan, ng toong maeng' or we are fellow humans (that's where the similarity ends) but have very different lifestyles.
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