Thursday, April 29, 2010

Worst Birthday Lunch in the history of humankind!


My sister GiGi and I decided to go to Sam's Boatshed (Syme Street, Williamstown) for for my Birthday lunch on the 20th April 2010 at noon when they just opened the doors. It was a lovely warm day so we sat outside. After perusing the very boring and out-dated menu we both decided to order the Chicken Parma with green beans and roasted chat potatoes. Yum! I couldn't wait to eat! I love green beans!

We ordered drinks when we ordered our meal with our dense waiter that was behaving like he was stoned - we did not catch his name as he neglected to wear a name badge - which he bought out very quickly. However, the meals were a completely different story. They took around 40 minutes to come out. We then sat with our meals in front of us for around 5 minutes before cutlery and napkins were brought out to us. No salt, pepper or any other condiment were offered.


In this time I noticed that there were no green beans but instead a rocket salad. I HATE ROCKET! My hatred for this vile green weed stems back to my childhood, but I don't want to get into this story today, I'll save that one for another day! Rocket is so overdone these days! Listen up Chefs of Melbourne: Melbournians are over rocket as side salads! I drew the waiters attention to the lack of green beans on my deep plate (The plate was more like a shallow bowl) and pointed out that I did not care to eat rocket. He just blankly stared at my plate, shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

We could now tuck into our now luke warm meals. The chicken was beautifully cooked - lovely and moist. The chat potatoes were not roasted, and in fact were deep fried. Being a keen cook on domestic and professional levels myself, I can tell the difference. It's not hard to tell the difference. Blind Freddy could tell the difference! I got through around a third of my parma and looked at the bottom of my plate. There was what I estimate to be around 40 to 50mL of oil sitting on the bottom! My food was so greasy I had to use my napkin to dab the oil from my food before masticating it.

We finished our meals and were patiently waiting for the waiter to clear our plates and offer us a dessert menu. We sat for around 10 minutes after which I began to lose my temper. My sister promptly got up and went inside to pay.

We left very disappointed and dissatisfied after giving the place a second chance after the last time I ate there. My starter of GRILLED Saganaki was forgotten by the kitchen, and then came out DEEP FRIED swimming in oil, served in a bowl, sitting on a paper napkin with my main meal.


I vow this - I will NEVER return to Sam's Boatshed again. You have taken enough of my time and money!