Bora Asmara, Kampung Sungai Penchala, Kuala Lumpur

I don't think we have ever experienced a really bad food review before, well, unfortunately for us, this would be the first. Bora Asmara easily qualifies as the worst restaurant we've reviewed (and ever been to) so far, in terms of food and price (vs quality of food and service). This place would be a perfect candidate for the show "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares". We read about this place sometime back, in the newspaper, and thought it was worth checking out, what with the promise of a Balinese ambience, soft romantic lights and candles and al-fresco dining. So we took mom-in-law-to-be and the clan to try this place out last Sunday night.

Walking into the restaurant with the warm glowing lights, the water feature in the landscaping, the cosy gazebo/al fresco seating gave us a good first impression. Once we started ordering, that good first impression started to fade really quickly. When asked if we could have iced water, the waiter told us very frankly that "Management does not approve providing iced water. We used to provide iced water, but management has stopped that. Everyone must order a drink from the menu." That was a serious PR blunder as far as we were concerned, it made "management" appear to be very mercenary......"management" has some serious rethinking to do.

I ordered the "Mak Bonda's Special". On the menu it was described as "Tenggiri fish fried rice with fresh ulam kampung". What arrived on my plate in reality was plain pale fried rice (the rice itself had no substance and was quite tasteless; no prawns, no ikan bilis, nothing at all but a few pea/corn/carrot mix - the type you get from the frozen mixed veg bag in the supermarket) with sambal belacan on the side. The "tenggiri fish" turned out to be a single miserly piece of pandan-wrapped chicken (no fish in sight!). "Fresh ulam kampung" turned out to be a few slices of cucumber, tomatoes, julienned carrots and salad leaves (the type you get with chicken chop). This was a gross misrepresentation of what was stated on the menu, especially the missing tenggiri (which was arbitrarily substituted with chicken)! The plate of tasteless, nearly substanceless fried rice with a single piece of pandan-wrapped chicken (and NO tenggiri fish) cost RM10.90!

Uncle CT ordered the "Bangkok Fried Rice with Crispy Beef". As Uncle CT could not eat beef, he requested for the beef to be replaced with chicken (any type of chicken would do). The waiter had the audacity to tell Uncle CT that he would check if the kitchen staff would "agree to this". Apparently, the kitchen staff decided NOT to accede to Uncle CT's request, and omitted the crispy beef from his plate WITHOUT replacing it with any other type of meat, and without telling us about their arbitrary decision. What turned up on Uncle CT's plate was equally plain, substanceless fried rice, with a side of keropok and raw cucumbers, cabbage, long beans and onions. NO chicken to replace the missing beef. No main meat dish whatsoever. Imagine paying RM10.90 for this plain fried rice. We had been ripped off!

Mom-in-law-to-be ordered the "Nasi Lemak Nyonya" which was supposedly a house specialty, comprising of "chicken, prawn sambal, beef rendang and Nyonya acar". Ok, no ingredients missing from this platter, but the pandan-wrapped chicken she got was a backbone with barely any flesh. Normally, in making pandan-wrapped chicken, nobody would use the bony parts with barely any meat. The ikan bilis was hard as nails and not crispy, as if "sudah masuk angin". The portion of the sides were miserly. At RM15.90, we would have expected a dish of better substance and a heartier portion.

Hubby-to-be ordered the "Oriental Chicken Chop". We would have imagined "oriental" to mean grilled or pan-fried chicken chop with savoury gravy. What turned up was heavily-breaded chicken deep fried till the entire piece tasted like a hard, overcooked biscuit. The chicken meat itself was tasteless and dry. The sweet gravy came in a tiny saucer, with not enough for the portion of chicken. Hubby-to-be described eating the hard biscuit-like chicken without gravy akin to eating burnt toast without butter/jam. This culinary disaster took the cake at RM16.90.

Bro-in-law-to-be ordered "Indonesian Pecel Lele" which was 2 pieces of fried catfish with raw vegetables and sambal belacan (RM12.90), eaten with a side order of plain rice (RM1.50). His was the only dish which did not turn out as disastrous and disappointing (though it was by no means great either!).

The cendol was another rip off at RM7.90. The tall slim sundae glass that it was served in made it very difficult for us to mix the plain ice at the top with the syrup and cendol at the bottom. We had to finish the scoop of ice cream at the top carefully, or risk it toppling down. The cendol itself was neither creamy nor authentic in taste, very diluted with the mountain of ice.

Other drinks ordered were apple juice (served in a slim glass) at RM4.90, and mango tea served in a small teapot at RM5.90. We noticed that "management" was really stingy with portions and there was absolutely no quality control. Our total bill came up to RM96.45 (inclusive of a 10% service charge of RM8.77). The prices were over-inflated for food of such poor substance and minimal ingredients, not to mention such bad cooking! We have had cafeteria food which was better than this, in taste and in substance. Service was unprofessional and the PR skills of the waiter was unbelievably below-par.

We would not recommend this place to anyone if it were the last restaurant on earth (yes, that's how bad it was!). For the unsuspecting victims, expect to pay premium price for the ambience, the small band which goes from table to table, and have "management" compensate that by skimping on food ingredients/portions (to cut cost?) and be served with food that is severely compromised in quality. Having settled the exorbitant bill, we were left feeling very cheated and unsated. Bora Asmara was all style and no substance.

Bora Asmara

Lot 2933, Kampung Sungai Penchala,

Jalan Damansara, 60000 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel/Fax: 03-77260964

No directions will be provided, this restaurant is to be avoided at all costs!

Our rating system for overall satisfaction with what we eat and where we eat....

1-bam = don't even bother

2-bam = good enough to fill the tummy

3-bam = a very good restaurant in its category

4-bam = excellent cooking, worth a detour

5-bam = exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey

We would give this restaurant a 1-bam rating. On second thoughts, a negative-bam would be more apt.

negative-

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are entirely based on our personal experience and taste preference and may vary from others'.