My Bizzare Brainwork Says

Vintage Bulgaria @ Hillside Part 2

Back in October, I gave this new restaurant a try and had a nice experience there.

Last night, I’ve decided to bring 2 friends to try something new apart from the local western food we have here.

Just few months down the road, I couldn’t believe that the services has deteriorated so much. Firstly, the table are decorated with empty goblets. What would you expect from it? The goblet being filled up water while waiting for your order to arrive, yes? Not here. You want water, yes, but you have to pay RM3.50 for a bottle of Spritzer. I can get that at a much cheaper price from 7-11 next door yeah…?

Anyway, the drinks we ordered are not worth the money we are paying. TOTALLY. A small glass of orange juice @ RM6 and it’s cordial juice. I would expect a fresh juice. That’s total crap. same goes with any other juices you order.

I noticed they had changed their menu. They no longer serve the Tripe Soup that everyone was crazy about. Instead we were recommended to have the “traditional” chicken soup by the waiter who is also a blogger but I am sorry i forgot his name. Nothing much to shout about. It’s just chicken soup @ RM9.90

The appetizer we had called Banitsa is also just a normal cheese pastry that would cost as much as RM8.90. I would rather have the Crepe Rilla again as it’s something special. Its pretty plain for me. Not interesting.

Adrian had the Grilled Cobia Fish @ RM22.00. As you can see, the portion had definitely shrunk. They changed their mash from using sweet potatoes that i love the first time to regular potatoes.

The Plovdiv Ribs @ RM28 that Pomchak. It’s the same as last time. I had better ribs from other places.

Then comes the Platter Bulgarian for Two @ RM42.90 that me and MrSmallFace shared. It has a long sausage, 2 shorter sausage and 2 pieces of steaks. Its seriously not bad and kinda worth the money. However, it’s abit too dry to our liking, so ultimately, we asked for some sauce or gravy…

Now here comes the worst part of our dining experience. We asked for some gravy and we’re informed that we need to pay for them. That’s fine by me. But when it comes, the serving is so “generous” we can finish it with 1 dip. Come on, if you are going to charge customer for gravy, at least be generous with it.

The gravy pot is not even half-full!  And you charge your customer for it. AND on top of everything, you charge service charge. Mind you, the service charge that night alone is already RM13. Adrian ask for some TARTARE sauce to go with his fish and he got charged as well. Isn’t that suppose to be free?  Even Chilis charge 50cent for their dippings.

Only ketchup and chillis sauce are FOC. However, I pity the workers there because they’ll need to walk back and forth keep refilling it for us due to the “generosity” again.

No doubt the food is good but not amazing. If this is the service you are providing the customer, I don’t expect much returning customers. Most of the customer who can afford food with these kinda prices will know what to expect. We can afford for the food doesn’t mean we are willing to pay for all the additional charges blindly.  The fact that we are paying for the environment that I am very well aware of isn’t even good enough to compensate for the experience i had this time.

I am definitely disappointed this time around and wont be returning anytime soon or recommending anyone there anymore.

Tags: bulgarian, hillside

Vintage Bulgaria @ Hillside

Finally I tried the new Bulgarian food in Penang!!

I first saw it on the day before it’s even open for public. Then finally last saturday, I went there with ynnek. ambiance was great. Just like in a stone cottage, and cleverly made into 2 level. Upper level complete with a bar and i reckon smoking area. The lower groud where dine was made just like a grotto. I like!!

The entree, Crepe Rilla or something. I wanted to order the Tripe Soup but itz already sold out. Disappointed . Will try next trip. The crepe is served cold, wrapped with chicken meat inside. Creamy and cheesy, balance well with the crepe (like roti prata).

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Tags: bulgarian, hillside