Bon Ton @ Lot 10

Today is an odd day for me.

This is the first time I'm doing a restaurant review without any pictures. Why you ask? Simple, the lighting wasn't good, resulting in all pictures being blurry AND the food was completely uninspiring.

My aunt wanted to try Bon Ton for their Middle Eastern fare for my uncle's birthday which turned out into a mistake,to put it extremely mildly. The appetisers were late to come, and something simple like the mushroom soup took forever. The following are things we ordered and what I felt about it.

Moussaka: The eggplant in tomato based sauce and minced beef was nice and tart. This was something I loved most of the dinner tonight but it tasted a little to bolognese sauce-ish that it's easily forgettable.

Mixed Grill: This was a combination of lamb kebab, lamb cutlets and chicken cutlets. One word: dry. The lamb cutlets were charred bits. There wasn't any taste to the meat at all. We actually had to pour Moussaka onto the meat to get through it. This was disappointing to say the least. When we complained, we were told that that's how the Middle Easterners eat their meat. I cannot say that I know many Middle Easterners but I do know they have more taste than to want to eat cardboard boxes all the time. Needless to say, the restaurant manager there didn't score ANY points with us by constantly making excuse and defending the poorly executed dishes.

Roast lamb: This fared the same comment as the Mixed Grill.

Sirloin Steak: This was ordered twice because the manager finally decided to offer us a change of meals to compensate for the badly cooked lamb. The first plate was cooked as medium to well done when ordered as medium. Other than that, it wasn't too bad but the black pepper sauce overwhelmed the meat. The second plate was ordered as rare and came as medium rare. Once we got rid of ALL the black pepper sauce, I have to admit that this was some good beef. This is the case of the director forgetting who exactly is the star of the show.

The manager wanted to 'compensate' us for the bad dinner by offering a complimentary of red wine to my uncle which in the course of 30 seconds of talking was downgraded to one glass. The alternative of offering on jug of beer quickly turned into one glass. I was extremely disappointed at the insincerity shown by the manager. Of course, the manager generously placed one glass of (very rough) red wine and one glass of beer on our table.

She also refuses to take our constructive criticism on their forgettable tiramisu graciously. The once famous Bon Ton tiramisu is just a poor facsimile of the one at Alexis. Once again, she had to give us a drawn out explanation of the history of the pastry chef (who was incidentally from Alexis). My aunt summed up the tiramisu in one sentence: It tasted like gula melaka.

Needless to say, Bon Ton wouldn't be a place I would consider having a meal there again. The staff are too rigid and unwilling to improve.

Bon Ton

Lot 10