her name is ming!!!

Whose name is Ming? That is precisely the question I had in mind when my patient mentioned this!!!! One evening one of my patients casually asked me, 'Hey Doc, you're a foodie right? Have you tried 'her name is Ming?'

'Whose name is Ming?' I asked

'Oh Doc, have you been to Hotel President recently?' he asked

'You must be kidding'

He laughed. 'Doc' he said, 'I know what you're thinking. For me this hotel was a place that even men could get raped in'

'That is not what I was thinking sir, but, Hotel President? For food?'

'Doc, do try this place out. It is fab'

And that's how I was intrigued to enter Hotel President for the first time in my life. The lobby was exquisite. There was loud music from the pub which is as soon as you enter the lobby. The lobby cafe had a buffer dinner for Rs 875 nett, but I was here to see ming. Of the two of us, I was the curious one!

'Ming is that side sir' chuckled a waiter and I was starting to get nervous.

We found Ming behind the lobby cafe and spotted only about 8-9 tables. Two tables had diners and the rest were empty. By the time we ordere the main course, the place was full!!!! The service was superb to start with. Each of the tables seemed to have a single waitress assigned and we were taken care, initially, rather well. We weren't too hungry so we ordered a wonton soup to share, a dan dan noodles, a grilled beef and a dessert.

Most East Asian cuisine restaurants have the wonton soup and all of them have this huge wonton in it that makes you look funny when you try to get it into your mouth. Here the soup was as good as it is in most good places, but with smaller wontons inside, which made life easier. We asked for the starter (the beef) to be served with the noodles and it was done that way. The dan dan noodles, which is a hand pulled noodle was very unique. This is the first time I am getting a portion of noodles with more chicken in it than the noodle. This was a noodle that was spicy and bland at the same time. Being hand pulled, the noodle did not take the spice very well, but took the other flavours well. I loved it. The beef starter had 8 medallions of beef, cooked to perfection with a little gravy on top. Brilliant!!!!

And then the service started getting slow. We had to wait at least 10 minutes to get the attention of the waitress and she came running, apologised profusely for the delay and suggested the pandan creme brûlée for dessert. The top layer was not evenly glassy, but the center part was, but the way it tasted, I could not care less. I am a sucker for Kaya, a jam made of the Pandan Leaves - you get it everywhere in Malaysia and this was a dessert made with that. Personally I loved it and if you love Kaya, you will love this. If you don't like Kaya, you will still like it if you like the pumkin type of pudding. Hell, if you don't like food, you might like this, so do try it if you get here.

The damages were Rs 1815 for the above. There was a service tax and a VAT, but no service charge - a principle that I adore when it comes to restaurants.

4 dishes and a one time try is not enough to rate a restaurant, but if what I had was any indication, I would rate this place a 4/5. Would want to go back and try more dishes!

The menu is rather seductive with a description of what Ming is supposed to do to you at every course. The last page ends with 'we hope she left you satisfied'

Hotel President is a very old hotel located on RK Salai, a few buildings after Citi Center. Apparently there has been a senior manager from Park who has taken over as VP of the hotel and has instrumented a change. The change seems to be working!