Sunday, April 21, 2013

Figs at Grand Avenues :O(

























Ate lunch at Figs today in Grand Avenues. Had high expectations. Tried one of Todd English's restaurants on a cruise liner and it was pretty good. But alas way too much hype over this one - something that's becoming annoyingly common in Kuwait.

Ordered the tenderloin on potato puree with truffle oil and spinach. Had a great debate with the waitress over the cooking of the steak. I requested rare but not bloody, she said that's medium. I said okay rare to medium hoping for a juicy steak good and pinky/red but not oozing blood like a blue steak. I didn't try the delicious looking bread and oil freebies as I was wanting to enjoy my steak. Steak came. It was dry and quite tasteless which surprised me as the menu said it had been marinated. The spinach had so much black pepper on it (I hadn't requested it and double checked the menu to see if it stated that the spinach was going to be au poivre, nope) it was barely edible had to pick off the big chunks. Couldn't taste any truffle oil on the potato puree.

Waitress asked if everything was ok, I told her my gripe. She asked if would I like to speak to the chef I said yes, seeing as the place was almost empty I assumed he wasn't too busy. Chef arrived assuming a pose normally held for confronting trouble. Arms tightly crossed, legs slightly apart and a grumpy face. He did introduce himself but his body language was already in a defensive/aggressive stance. I told him what I thought, he kinda nodded. I don't remember if there was an apology as I was too busy wondering if he was going to launch into a tirade.

He did send over a dessert with the waiter, on the house, but sadly it was quite bland. It was a caramel trifle thing with a toffee sauce and a little cookie on the side. The yoghurt and the beige custard did not bode well. Not very good, might have been better with a little sliced banana but wasn't about to tell him that.  Asked for a double espresso got something that tasted like a black Americano.


Paid full price for the meal - no deductions were made. Would be highly unlikely to ever go back.


2/10




4 comments:

  1. Wow, thanks for the warning. We looked at their lunch menu at 360 Mall, this past weekend, and because it was pricier than we were looking for, we ended up going elsewhere. I know it's a different location, however with that type of price range, the food should be close to perfect. If not, the chef should at least be approachable, responsive, and you should not have to pay full price for food which is clearly not up to snuff. There are way too many restaurants here in Q8 for that type of attitude to prevail where word spreads quickly among those who frequent this type of establishment. It definitely makes me think twice or 3X about going there, until I hear a rave review..

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    1. Yes, the tenderloin was not cheap so one would think that extra attention would be given to it. Sadly, it was the great reviews that got me in there however I have noticed that bloggers who get invited for freebies have differing opinions to mine. I suppose it's possible they ordered other items and had a different experience to mine. I have told some establishments, before now, that yes I'll come but a) anonymously b) with their knowledge that my criticism may not be welcome.

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  2. I differ from this comment, as I had been to this place couple of time and it is one of my favorite , due to their mind blowing dishes which comes out with good taste and presentation.
    Wait Staff had great knowledge of food and attentive too. Finally I would conclude, that by one visit it is difficult to judge that a restaurant good or bad as it is different for each people on their visits.

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  3. Hi Teddy, happy to hear you had a better experience. Personally, mine wasn't and I wouldn't go back.

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Always great to hear from you :O)