The Wok & Barrel - Afterthought

That's Shen (with hair until 28 Jul 2012). Shen recently shared with me a recent comment that she saw on hungrygowhere.com pertaining to her restaurant.

It was not good.

There was even allegation of food poisoning.

What I am curious to know is if this case of food poisoning was reported to the relevant authorities say, NEA and/or MOH? Did this appear elsewhere in the internet grapevine? How about mainstream media? Did the food poisoning victims approach the restaurant to address this issue and perhaps seek compensation?

I am guessing the answer to the above questions is No. Then, I am sorry but I feel that the allegation is baseless with a severe lack of credibility.

Moving on, out of the 21 comments (at time of writing this) left on the websites, only 1 comment is negative, I don't think the restaurant has too much to worry about.

With every comment, there is the option to choose if the author of his/her respective comment would recommend, not recommend or unsure about the restaurant. I counted 16 "Recommend"s, 5  "Unsure"s and 1 "Not Recommend". Not a bad score, if you ask me.

One thing about The Wok & Barrel is that I feel that it is unfair to compare Shen's nasi lemak or rendang or Shendol with the traditional incumbent dishes. It is akin to comparing apples to pineapples, simply because both have "apples" in them.

Seriously, if they are the same, then perhaps the same fare at the Maxwell Market down the road would give you a better value for money?

The way I see it, there are both different foods that just happen the share the same name with a few overlapping elements.

Still, I think the best way to find out is to do it yourself. Go give it a try and judge for yourself. I would advise patrons to leave their yardsticks at the door and try The Wok & Barrel with an open mind.

Anyway, all these got me thinking about my last visit to The Wok & Barrel and the name of the restaurant got me thinking about how the name came about.

I see (or rather I am guessing) The Wok & Barrel as the name spelt out clearly, is Wok (Asian cuisine, regardless whether a western twist was added to it) and Barrel (Beer! Dammit! Beer!).

Unlike, other restaurants, the offering of beer at The Wok & Barrel is not solely an option for generating revenue. Perhaps beer is a must to bring the palate to the final intended destination?

Perhaps it was a mistake on my part to drive (thus did not touch the beers) during my previous visit?

In any case, I am going to give it a try the next time I am back and goddamit, I am leaving the car behind. So beer me, Shen! Beer me!

p.s. The reason of wanting to try the food with the beer the next time is that I seek the "Third Taste" which I will explain more in tomorrow's entry. Stay tuned.

Image Credit: http://staticc04.insing.com

- Voxeros