747 Restaurant, YMCA Macalister Road

Yet another in the series of the old favourites revisited. 747 Restaurant has been in existence at the YMCA building on Macalister Road for as long as I've been alive, at least. The reason I can confidently say this is because Mama Chow firmly remembers our visits here when I was an infant and we lived across the road, in the massive, run-down bungalow on the lot where Island Hospital now stands.

The place was packed to the brim on a Sunday evening but we managed to secure a just vacated table.Cool mural on the wall. Reminds me of my age. Vintage!

They didn't offer menus here; the guy just stood at the table asking us what we wanted. Because it'd been a while, we had to go mostly with what he recommended.

Steamed chicken with special soy sauce. This came strongly recommended by the waiter as a house special. While the chicken was tender enough, it certainly didn't taste like the best they could whip up.

Assam Fish Curry. We've been having this just about everywhere we go but the olds insisted. I hate to slam this because I would love to believe that this place and other places who have stood the test of time did so because they served honest good food. But this was really NOT very good. It kinda fell short on all its notes - spice, sour, consistency.

Some stir fried greens. Looked about as appealing as hospital food.

Char Hor Fun. I insisted on not doing the rice and dishes thing because I really felt like something else. This was barely passable, almost like char hor fun under duress. What really ticked me off was the nerve for the RM12 price on the bill. This was SINGLE serve, mediocre hor fun, something that would cost no more than RM5 at other similar establishments.

In fact, the total bill was on the high side, for a restaurant with minimal frills, i.e. cool airplane murals and ratty tablecloth they threw over the tables. Oh and over-air conditioning the place, to make up for the bad ventilation from low ceilings. Although we probably didn't taste enough from the menu for this to be a well-rounded opinion, I'd have to pass on another visit.