Wee Nam Kee!

I have read about how good the chicken is and even the service nightmare stories all over the internet but for a certified steamed chicken addict, I knew I had to give it a try.  Wanted to kick myself, actually, for missing the opportunity to try it in Singapore.  But what can I do, I was starving then so I had to pig out in the first place I saw that served Hainanese Chicken…a nice restaurant which name I already forgot.

Anyhoo, we were at the Ayala Garden Triangle at 11:15am and there were 4 other customers already.  I quickly went over the menu…as if I still had to decide what to get…and then settled on two personal set meals of steamed and roasted chicken at Php168 each and an order of cereal prawns at Php 375.  The cereal prawns was a bit pricey (ours had 3 pieces only)  but I decided to get it because I somehow felt that I'm not going to visit that restaurant anytime soon so might as well taste what the people are raving about.  Yes, I immediately had that feeling.

We were done with the ordering in 2 minutes flat and then we were advised that our order would take 20 minutes.   Hmmm, super tagal naman, considering that there were steamed and roasted chickens already hanging on display but I patiently waited, expecting the most succulent steamed chicken.

The soup (which is part of the set meal, actually) was served first, I wanted to have it with my chicken and rice but I feared that if I waited, the soup would turn cold so I tried it and it…tasted… like…diluted chicken cubes!  My goodness!  I do not know if I was imagining things but that’s the message that my taste buds sent to my brain.  I had to forget about the not-so-nice-chicken soup-experience because I was prepping for my chicken.

And then the steamed and roasted chicken was served which I immediately attacked.  After the first bite, I had a thought bubble moment…“Is steamed chicken really served cold?”  I don’t know about others but I want all my dishes piping hot when served so it was a so-so dish for me.  The roasted chicken is nice but from that time on, my interest on the dishes already waned.

 

It also took them 35 minutes to serve the cereal prawns which we had to follow up twice and did not look appetizing at all when served. It had 3 pieces of prawns, if it looked more than that, it’s because you are also counting the prawn heads.  Yes, the prawn heads are huge.  I didn’t like the cereal prawns mainly because they fried them with shells on and they’re not that crispy.  So, fail!

Just as we’re about to leave the restaurant, we heard this lady berating the manager for the lousy service that they’ve been getting.  So, until now, the Wee Nam Kee crew has not gotten their act together and they better do something about it for another Steamed Chicken restaurant may surface again soon.

I’m craving tuloy for this Steamed Ginger Chicken which we had in Baguio.  Hay!