Bubba Gump Shrimp , The Curve

Obama's victory this week made me hanker for something American, even though my narrow and uneducated interpretation of American cuisine isn't always entirely favourable. Still, I wouldn't let the industrious spirit of offshore American commerce dampen my anticipation of Bubba Gump Shrimp, not this significant week anyway!

We arrived early, barely 11.30AM, ravenous from having gone without breakfast.

There's been plenty said about the gimmicky service system - show the "Run Forrest Run" sign if you want to be left alone and the "Stop Forrest Stop" if you want service. I don't know how well this works as we waited a good 5 minutes before anyone noticed our Stop sign, and the place was close to empty.

The condiment bucket was a welcome change though - no need to bug wait staff to dig into their precious rationed reserves as each table is well stocked with a huge bottle of Heinz ketchup, Tabasco sauce, vinegar, paper towels and Lingham's (!) chilli sauce.

Each table is also provided with Jacob's crackers to kill the munchies while waiting for the food. We enjoyed ours with a Mango sparkler - it tasted like watered-down Orangina, but it sure was pretty to look at!

The Disney-fied woody interior of Bubba Gump Shrimp, plastered with all sorts of faux-vintage paraphernalia... cute, if one is into that sort of thing.

Our first order was the Shrimp Po' boy - basically a sandwich with battered 8 (yes I counted!) mid-sized shrimps. It came with a heaping of fries, coleslaw, a slice of pickle and standard garnishing. It wasn't bad, but as always, I struggled with eating messily constructed open-faced sandwiches in a restaurant - they're too big to eat with both your hands, and using cutlery just seems plain moronic. Bubba Gump also serves this on newsprint-type paper on a light steel plate, which doesn't have a grip on the table and squirms and moves when you attempt to slice the hard bread with your knife. So you end up sawing through the bread on the moving surface for about 5 minutes for every mouthful of sandwich. OK if you're into working for your food... like steamboat, and fondue.

Like all good American joints, this one comes with redeeming features. And today, it was the Bourbon Street Barramundi - generous fillets of barramundi lightly pan fried, drowned in a heady, rich, buttery sauce with shrimps on a mash base.

It really was very good - each mouthful of tender flakes of fish, mash and sauce went down easily and quickly. But don't go thinking this is light by any standards just because it's white fish - I could barely heave myself out of the booth at the end of the meal.

Total damage was RM74.40 for two, without alcohol or dessert. Eating out sure is getting more and more painful these days!