Hello everyone!
URGH! Has anyone ever felt like recommendations from blogs or word of mouth is merely crap and pure lies? It is as if someone had a bad experience and they pretend they like that place so the next batch of people can suffer the same agony.
This is my case for Bagan Hailam Seafood Restaurant.
So we were just lazing around when my uncle brought up the name Hailam Village in Klang. This restaurant specialises in seafood and also has a nice sea view for patrons to enjoy while eating. Those words of his sounded super promising that I immediately fired up Google to do research on that place. To my surprise, Hailam Village place is like super duper famous. Even Waze recognizes it so I didn't need to search up the name of of the road etc. The promising feeling was enhanced with a lot a lot of blogs promoting how great that place is. And so the glutton family decided to drive all the way to Klang.
So basically, Waze brought us to the middle of nowhere which I assume is supposed to be the entrance of Hailam Village. We decided to trust Waze, drove a little further in and saw sign boards leading us to the famous seafood restaurant. There are 2 seafood restaurants next to each other and the one we went for was called Number 1.
FIRST SURPRISE!
I actually have been here before many years ago. I should have taken that as a sign and got the hell outta there. I mean if the food was yummy then I would've registered it in my head right? So, since I didn't, it meant that place is either super pricey or super sucky. But they could have improved over the years. Why else would there be so many blogs raving about this place?
SECOND SURPRISE!!
It's a Chinese village so I really am not THAT surprised to find a gazillion wild dogs here. They're actually pretty harmless but I personally find them intimidating and I would really like to run away ASAP but I don't want them to think I'm playing with them.
Walking in the restaurant actually brings you a happy view. Because there was a small walkway made of planks and we can peep over and see the sea (I'm so punny!). It's like woah woah nothing says authentic seafood restaurant more than a walkway over the sea!
The moment I walked in the restaurant I was overwhelmed with joy because IT IS A FULL SEA VIEW. Of course, the view is slightly ruined by some boats and tall buildings. But considering that we're still kinda sorta near KL, that's not a bad bargain. It totally reminds me of Kim's seafood palace in Waterfront, Port Dickson where I went for a vacation. It was the best place I would go for seafood. Just for the ambiance OMG! Here's a preview and eventually.. My lazy bones will leave me and I'll blog about it (mini promise).
Seafood Palace okay! Higher level than normal seafood restaurants
Oh, I also took some pics of the sea view at Number 1 restaurant and yea.. That again hyped up my expectations.
Boats and buildings shoo. Blocking my sea view.
A school facing the sea? I wanna go there!
Fresh fish! Doesn't get any fresher than fishing them off the sea next to you
THIRD SURPISE!!!
It was over the Raya week so it was pretty jam packed. I was busy looking for a place to sit and guess what. This place is NOT first come first serve. You come here and you're free to wrestle with the others here for a spot. It is also 100% luck dependent on whether can you identify which table is gonna leave first. I found a place with a family with COMPLETELY empty plates and guess what! They are sitting there HOGGING! I stood there with my grandma like HELLO! Are you people blind or severely lacking consideration? *refraining from cursing here*.. While I was boiling my blood...
FOURTH SURPRISE!!!!
I saw the staff opening up a table for 2 foreigners who look kinda fancy. But guess what they came AFTER me. AFFFFFTERRRRRRRR! And they got a table there while I'm getting high blood pressure? Totally ticking me off. I called one of the waitress to see if they can do something about it. But they look so clueless and just told me to "wait la, we're full house now and there's nothing I can do."
I'll tell you what you CAN do! You can SERVE THE ONES WHO CAME FIRST!
I thought arranging seating is like the basic of basics. Even diner dash got that feature. And so we continued to wait for that same table and they FINALLY left!
FIFTH SURPRISE!!!!!
The waitresses are super duper cute. I'm not even kidding.
They cleaned our table halfway and went to clean another table and I had to call them back so they can resume cleaning.
After cleaning, a young girl came and took our order. Honestly, most of them look like kids who are forced to help out while the adults handle the kitchen. Perhaps that's why they're so clueless and messed up. But her food recommendations skills are quite acceptable. Just that all their fishes are very very expensive. Their crab was selling for RM 55/kg. Not the best bargain but still acceptable I guess.
SIXTH SURPRISE!!!!!!
Observe picture below. Look at how bright it is.
Now look at this picture... All dark and scary.
Now guess what! The first picture was taken after ordering and the second picture was taken before the first dish was served. Never knew sun set so slowly. Almost a 40 minute wait. No peanuts either. Luckily I wasn't famished else I might eat the dirt from the flower pot while waiting.
Now for the main verdict. Everything up to this point is forgiveable, IF the food is good.
First up, fried meehon. All of us gave it a 9/10. Not like all dry but like super yummy. We rolled out eyes when we remembered we ordered LA-LA fried meehon. There's barely any lala and the ones served are SOOOOO TINY that I need a magnifying glass to find them. So much for 9/10; it doesn't even qualify as a 2/10. No picture though cause it looks exactly like normal meehon and I was too hungry then.
The Hailam noodle is so so I guess. Never had it before so nothing to compare with.
Taste kinda like Mee Jawa actually. And a glimpse of the fried meehon at the back!
The crab was quite yummy when it's served hot. It is actually the most decent dish of the day! But according to my dad the crab meat was all scattered because they left the crab out too long. It's also quite salty at the end. I think they marinated for BBQ purposes which we did not order since we wanted some dish with gravy.
To be fair, I salivated when uploading this picture. hehe
Pepper squid was COLD. COLD. COLD. They did not serve it immediately. Probably the sucky waitresses' fault. So disgusting. Cold spicy rubber.
We also ordered Kong Po Shrimp Paste and they did it in Kam Heong style. Not to mention how extremely salty it is. It was so bad that we did not finish it. The saltiness also made us super thirsty after.
SEVENTH SURPRISE!!!!!!!
There are also quite a few cats walking around, meowing non stop. They are also not afraid of humans so you can shoo them 20 times and they WILL FIGHT BACK! For people who dislikes cats and allergic to it, avoiding so many cats was quite a torture.
EIGHTH SURPRISE!!!!!!!!
My dad took all our utensils. Including plates and tea.
The first waitress placed the first dish and walked away. She's supposed to get us utensils but my dad gave up sitting for miracle to happen so he went and got for us. And luckily he did that because the girl DID NOT RETURN! I think she forgot. HOW CAN YOU EVEN FORGET TO SERVE YOUR CUSTOMERS UTENSILS?
NINTH SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!
Their crabs sold out at 7:30pm so yea.. If you're keen on trying then go ahead but GO EARLY. We were the last table to get crabs so imagine if we didn't even get the crabs, which were the most decent dish of the night. I really will have a worst impression than this! URGH!
So when's we're down, we left after paying. For RM 117, it's actually not bad. If they charge more expensively, I might have just stormed out.. After paying, of course. HAHA. No courage to just walk out..
TENTH SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!
I am also disgusted with how a worker casually poured tea and other unfinished food from the next table DIRECTLY TO THE OCEAN! It was so unethical! My GOOOOSHHH! If you want to operate on the sea at least keep it clean. So heartbroken to see such unethical vendor still exist and still ruining the beauty of mother nature. Saddening.
ELEVENTH SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!
We were on our way out and the road is full of small stones and quite dark. My dad was thinking how dangerous it is or my grandma to walk all the way out. So he asked us to wait for him. And guess what? Foreigners came by. Not like one or two but a WHOLE LOT OF EM. We ended up darting away and would much rather risk falling on pointy stones than getting surrounded by foreigners. Not that they were going to attack us, I mean, I'm sure most of them are nice, diligent people, but they still gave off an intimidating aura.
Complete darkness on our way back. I'm glad I'm not driving!
It all boils down to bad service and overly hyped up expectations. Perhaps they're having a bad day but they have most definitely lost me as a customer already. Maybe if I wanna suicide and want the fastest way to the sea. But for food.. Nah...
Thanks for reading as always. And I shall see you guys next week!
Bye bye!
