Thai salad and clam soup

There is a new fusion restaurant at the basement in Gurney Plaza. My kids were attracted to the pasta and pizza. Well, service is disappointing and food is so-so. Hence, nothing much to shout about. It is called Pastasia or something. See? I can’t even remember the name!

It costs us RM75 for one pizza, one pasta, some standard drink, a soup and salad. Worst thing is they do not accept credit card and I was left with a few dollars in my wallet for my shopping trip. (I had to buy more at Parkson in order for me to zap my credit card as I can’t afford to pull out RM20 here, RM30 here after that.)

Ahem, I am cutting down my food intake and hence did not order any main meal. Usually, I had to finish off my children leftover foods so I skipped ordering.

The above Thai seafood salad looks yummy enough. Taste however is too strong thus overpower the flavour of the fresh seafoods, i.e. sourish and sweetish but not hot enough. It comes with one mussle, two prawns and some squids. RM12.50

Besides the salad, I also ordered one Thai spicy clams soup. It is rather unique with fresh clams in a very garlicky soup flavoured with sweet basil. I am quite satisfied with this as I had not eaten something like this before. RM10.50.

My son ordered one Fettucine Carbonara which picky kid complaint of not enough cream. It looks rather dry and tasted so-so. Nothing compared to my home-cooked version. RM13.50

Another son ordered a pizza which has very thin, crispy crust. The crust is nice but then, somehow, the pizza lacks the ‘smell’ of pizza. I believe the quality of the cheese and herbs they used are pretty standard stuff. Moreover, they use some cheap turkey ham only. RM19.50

The verdict? Kids said – Next time, don’t come anymore. Too bad. Never under-estimate the power of the customers who are kids. Places like Mr. Ho’s Fine Foods had my kids asking for more because their waiters and waitresses treated them like mini-adults, asking for their order, serving them with a smile and etc. Places like these did not even offer us enough menu cards to pass around.

Restaurant owners should remember one important thing – Provide enough menus especially to the older kids. They will sit there thumbing through the pages while waiting for their foods. Then, they may be asking the parents for more foods when their eyes catch hold of nicely done photos of desserts, cakes, ice-creams and funny coloured cocktails. (blue, green and purple being their favourites). This trick sells! I should know because I hate it when my kids had to fight over the few menus provided. Most times, I paid more for their desserts and drinks than the main meal.