Fong Lye Restaurant @ The Gardens Midvalley

Now, I am not trying to outdo Joeboy in any way mind you, but I just had to say something about this place as it was extremely distressing an experience for my friend and I.

This is how the story went.

On a nice day for a lunch outing, doesn't matter if it was sunny as we were stuck in buildings all the time during work anyways, we took a drive down to Gardens. It was my friend who suggested this place as she has been there once before and I was keen to give it a try. The restaurant serves Taiwanese food and had a menu displayed up front that I have passed by before.

So in we went, we ordered a pot of tea and Spring Rolls for appetizer. I then had Braised Beef Glass Noodles for mains while she had Fresh Tomato Fried Egg With Fish and Rice. I'm sorry to say I did not manage to take any shots of the food as I didn't think I'll be writing about the dining experience.

Before I get to the main point, let me just say that the food isn't bad although I do prefer the Glass Noodles at Taiwan House (I think that's the name) in Ampang.

On to the main point, all in all, the above four items off the menu cost us RM59.90 before tax and service charge. That gives each dish an average price of twenty or so Ringgits. So we walked up to the cashier, thinking, you know what, we're gonna pay by Card. At least my friend thought so as she didn't have much cash on her and I was going to pay her my share in cash.

As luck had it, I had just used up all my cash and had very little left in my wallet (enough for my own meal) although I normally have at least about 3 to 5 hundred on hand. And guess WhaT? "I'm sorry, we don't accept credit cards." was the reply from the cashier.

What made the experience worse was the fact that the nearest ATM only dispenses RM50 notes and none of us had that much in our Maybank account and our HSBC cards do not work on these machines (I personally think this is good for me as I won't go around withdrawing money whenever I need more to shop).

It took me a trek down to the lower ground floor to extract the remaining RM30 on my Maybank account but we got it paid in the end... IN CASH.

What exactly possessed the owner of the place to come up with a no credit card policy? It wasn't as if their stuff were cheap, our meal for two cost RM35 each! Imagine if it was a larger group of people? What's more, the cashier kindly pointed out a TINY PINK sign near the entrance that says Cash Only.

Now according to my friend, who waited near the shop while I trekked all over the mall in search for ATMs... there were another two or three tables who left after us who got the same shocking discovery (there was another in front of us too). So it is obvious that the TINY PINK sign doesn't work right? It is also obvious that many thought they could pay for a lunch this pricey on credit... *rolls eyes*

While most had the cash to pay, there was another couple who appeared flustered and didn't know what to do... In a schadenfreude way, we had a good laugh at their antics just as how there must be some who schadenfreude-d on us.

All in all, I would go back again for the cutesy cutleries and food presentation, perhaps try other food items which have received good reviews before, but I am more inclined to try the food at the other outlets in Desa Sri Hartamas and Jln Imbi as I have heard that they are served differently.

And besides, I don't think I'd want to revisit the scene of a nightmare quite so soon after it occured. Of course, if I do go, I'll remember to bring loads of cash just in case...