Questa è Enida

This is not intended as a free publicity for Amy Search’s restaurant – negative or otherwise. As personal as this blog is, this post is my way of documenting my own view. And since my comment on Facebook: “Enida is disappointed with Cheng Ho Restaurant”  triggered quite a few curious responses, I thought I should write the whole story. The whole true story. My truth. Nothing but the truth – Enida’s version.

Wednesday July 8th, I called the restaurant at 03-4149 6094 to make a reservation for five people for lunch on Friday July 10th at 1230hrs. Not only that I had to repeat myself four times with the date, the day and time we were coming, I had to state the date, the day and the time and the number of people the reservation was for. There! I even repeated myself here! That’s how annoyed I still am with the whole experience. But behold! They do NOT take reservation for less than 8 pax. Thank you very much!

Yes, you heard me right. If you are heading to the restaurant, located at the commercial area right behind Wangsamaju Carrefour, you either walk in or gather 7 other people who coincidentally feel like eating Islamic Seafood at the same time as you do. Otherwise, try to guess when they are not busy. Also, yes… you can walk in without any drop of sweat under you arms if you can find parking around the area. The best is to just park at Carrefour and walk down – if it is not raining.

But again, behold! I am not writing this just because I had an annoying conversation with the doorknob Amy Search hired to take calls at his restaurant. I don’t give up that easily. So I gathered two sisters, two kids, a husband and a maid to Cheng Ho Restaurant on Friday July 10th at 1215hrs even though we were short of one person to make the quorum. And guess what? The restaurant was CLOSED! Imagine if I had gathered 8 people and the reservation was made.

What Mr. Doorknob did not tell me on the phone – after repeatingly asking me the day, the date and the time I was coming – was that Cheng Ho Restaurant only opens between 1700-2300hrs on Fridays! (That is 5pm-11pm ladies and gentlemen! Where got lunch?) But why oh why did Mr. Doorknob say nothing when I said I would have liked to come for lunch on a Friday? Hello? Anybody there?

I can rationalize that he might have forgotten that they don’t open for lunch on Fridays. Yeah right! It is, after all, a Chinese Islamic Seafood restaurant. The Seafood might want to do their last Friday prayers in China before being grilled and end up on my plate. Completely understandable! Or maybe, just maybe, Mr. Doorknob just got hired by Amy Search on the very day I happened to be calling. He hadn’t worked long enough to know Friday lunch is non-existent. And I can give this Mr. Doorknob, Mr. Amy Search and the restaurant all the benefit of the doubt I want, to soften the impact of my own disappointment. Yes, I can. But hey, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression you know.

So there I was, standing in front of Cheng Ho Chinese Islamic Seafood Restaurant at 1215hrs on Friday having gathered two sisters, two kids, a husband and a maid… praying that maybe, just maybe someday I would gather enough interest in Cheng Ho Restaurant again. Or maybe, just maybe… I should do that before I leave for Moscow this Wednesday – just to prove to myself that Cheng Ho is after all… ’em ho’.