Orchid Tropica branch.. fish head curry

Am not sure whether this is a branch of the best fish head curry at Flats Setia... Orkid Tropika Cafe at the flats off Jln Langgar, the one near the Petronas Station.

The name of this new place is Anglicized (Orchid Tropica).. the other one is Nationalized (Orkid Tropika). When I asked the waitress who served us whether they had closed the other one down, they said the old one was still opened. This restaurant is just beside Masjid Zahir. They had these posters hanging around town announcing their opening since last week. We went around searching and only found it 2 days ago. Apparently the signboard had just been put up as I actually looked at this building but there was no indication that it was that restaurant.

Over the weekend, we went round again and this time we saw it. It's this old bungalow next to Comfort Motel that has been renovated into a restaurant. The dining area is divided into 2 sections: air-conditioned and non. There is also a VIP room.

Place looked nice enough when we arrived. At this time of the year, it's nice to be able to sit in the air-condition. There were already a few tables filled up by the time we arrived and before our food came, more people were coming in.

Things looked good up till that point. Then the chaos began. I could see that the waitresses were inexperienced as they were making multiple trips just to bring out the rice for each table; which could have been done in just one trip.

Then the service... as it got warmer, some of those sitting outside started to move in. Confusion reigned after that as food also started to go sesat. I could see that the workers were getting flustered. Tables which had not yet been served the fish head curry suddenly found rice sitting on their tables. Tables with dishes being served had no rice on their tables. Then it got even more comical.... dishes of veg, fish head curry started to lose their way and ended up on the wrong tables.

Even we ended up with a fish which we did not order. But we were too hungry to kick up a fuss and just ate it. Verdict... the curry is very normal. Felt like there was a lot of ajinomoto in it. And it definitely did not taste like the original.

The taugeh with salted fish was very oily. When I scrapped those from the bottom of the plate, taugehs were dripping oil. The omelette had not much taste. Can't even smell the onion in it. So, if it's fish head curry cooked the Orkid Tropika Cafe style you want, it's still best to go back to the flats.

One of the rare times a fly would stay still long enough for me to focus and take a pic. Plus the place was cool enough to slow this one down, I supposed. Anyway, the power of 'brand name' was at work when we were there by the looks of the crowd but there can only be one cook which can cook fish head curry the Orkid Tropika way. And that cook is still at the flats.