Iftar at Sri Ayuttahaya

It was work last night, but tonight iftar was with family. Destination, Sri Ayutthaya in Wangsa Maju, one of the more upmarket-looking Thai restaurant around where I live.

I couldn't pretend that I like the place, but for the family, it was about the go-to place as far as Thai food restaurant if we were planning a family do. Good ambiance, clean environment, not bad food, but with a good efficient service - if the place was not packed that was.

The upper floor was kept empty for the evening.So, for fear of the place being crowded and full car park, we set off early. We were there well before 7, and we later found out that the restaurant was only half full. Instead of having a buffet spread, the restaurant offered a Ramadhan set menu for Iftar, making selection easy and food preparation straight forward. We know exactly what to expect, and the food came in early as well as they were pre-prepared.

It was my brother-in-law's treat this time and he was the one doing the ordering. We had the usual selection of tomyam soup, soft-shell crabs, vegetables and fish as part of the set. Food quality was pretty OK, but for the amount you paid, you would really expect something special in the meal. In the scheme of things, it was just about fine.

The food came thick and fastWe ordered separately for the boys. They had some fried rice. As you can see, the tomyam just looked too menacing for them.The fish was definitely the best dish of the night. And it didn't take long to finish it off .....The boys had to cool down after the sweet dessert.Time to go .....You couldn't fault the ambiance and service though, but bear in mind that the place was only half full. A couple of years back, we came here for a usual dinner and the service was rather poor. It was better tonight, but the food remained the same. I would recommend the sister outlet in Damansara if food quality was the one you were looking for.

For dessert, we had the firm favourite, water chestnut. On the whole, we quite enjoyed the dinner tonight. We ordered separately for the boys as the food were too spicy for them to stomach. 

Sri Ayutthaya, Wangsa Maju

I felt a bit better today. I managed to head to Kelang in the morning, before returning to UMMC for a spot of the tutorial later in the afternoon. Since my brother-in-law, Razak was due to return to Turkmenistan tomorrow, the whole family was taken for dinner. He wanted a bit of Thai food, and we decided to give Sri Ayutthaya in Wangsa Maju a try. The place is not exactly that far from where we live, but it took us a while to reach there due to traffic. The restaurant was located right next to a local branch of Carrefour, but at least they have their own parking space.

Sri Ayutthaya is actually a chain of Thai restaurant and we were more used to its branch in Bangsar. I’ve never been to this branch before, but Puan Anita has. The branch in Bangsar was slightly smaller than this one, that was more of a converted shoplot compared to this which was a dedicated bungalow.  The decorations both interior and the outside work exquisitely Thai. It was filled with fresh flowers, nice lightings and the settee outside was very comfortable indeed, if one wanted to have some fresh air. Since we arrived the early, there hardly any crowd. They have selection of a la carte as well as set menu. Since we were not really sure what to go for we went for the set menu in the hope that the order would arrive early.

Unfortunately, since I did not bring my SLR, the pictures here does not do justice to how good the place look. One have a feeling that they were taken to another place when you step into the restaurant. But more about where I was taken to later. The set menu had starters, a five course meal as well as desert. You have to order separately for drinks. The starter we had was some fresh oysters - which I’m not that big a fan of. Razak enjoyed that. For the mains, we had buttered prawns, softshell crab, some fresh vegetables and of course Tom Yum soup. We also had an steamed siakap. As for dessert we had water chestnut.

As mentioned, the decor was very nice indeed. There were a plenty of elements from Thailand as well as fresh flowers scattered around the place. The lighting was very dimmed, perfect for a romantic dinner. The restroom was also very clean and modern. You can tell from the cutleries that the place strived for fine dining. Unfortunately I was rather disappointed with the food. I think the main problem was actually the rice, I did not think that it was steamed properly - it was too hard and raw. However, the Tom Yum soup was exquisite, that prawn was very nice and according to Razak, the oysters were fresh. They overdid it on the garlic and ginger on the steamed finish. The water chestnut was also …. average. The mango juice I had was freshly prepared, rather than a pre-packed drink.

Now let’s talk about where we were transferred to when you step into the place. One would hope that one were in Thailand. Unfortunately it was more Nepal or Bangladesh because that was where all the waiters were from. This created a problem when we were putting across our orders as they did not understand what we ask for exactly. The manager - an Chinese gentleman had to clarify them with us. They also make the mistake of bringing all the food at the same time causing us to have to wait for everything to be prepared before we start the meal. They could have at least offered us the Tom Yum first. By the time the food arrived, the boys were already restless. Idlan managed to finish three rounds of Plants vs Zombies on my iPhone by the time his nasi goreng was served. I remembered the branch in Bangsar was mainly served by friendly Thai ladies.

Was I impressed with the place? Well not exactly, but I was willing to give the place another chance since I really liked their Bangsar branch. Maybe I was there on a bad night. Would I recommend it to anyone else? I would, but I will ask them to go for the Bangsar branch instead. They also have a branch in USJ.

Sri Ayutthaya, 2, Jalan Wangsa Delima, Section 5 Wangsa Maju. Tel - 03 41436883.