One of the benefits of staying in a designated hotel is that we don’t have to go far for food – everything is delivered to the room. It is the same case here considering that we are not allowed to venture out for food and other shopping.
Unfortunately, there is no “room service” to clean up the room but considering we are not expected to stay long so I decided to put the empty containers aside in the room. I later found that I suppose to leave it outside the room for the cleaners.
Read the earlier posts:-
It was past lunchtime when we finally managed to settle down in our respective rooms so I did not have any high hopes to get late lunch delivered to our rooms. So it was a good thing that I have a packet of biscuits in the bag in case of emergencies. Besides, after a tense day at the airport, I was looking forward to a good nap than food.
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Dinner Day 1
Then just before 6 pm, someone rang the bell for the room – dinner was being served. The hotel staff who was delivering the food did not say anything as he was handing over the containers of food. Just before he left for the next room – he uttered “It is free” and then left.
Based on the dishes served, it was obvious that it is non-halal and is cooked by a Chinese chef. The pork was quite spicy but it went well with the white rice and the vegetables (tomato stew, stir-fried cabbage and sour seaweed).
Breakfast Day 2
Breakfast was delivered before 7 am the next day but this time the staff who brought the food did not mention that the food was free. Maybe someone ticked them off – there is no such thing as a “free lunch” (one way or another, we have actually paid for it).
Breakfast was simple with some barley cereal, scrimp balls, pork sausage, fruits, corn and half-boiled egg. It was satisfying enough to start the day although we are still locked up in our rooms and there was nothing much to do physically.
Lunch Day 2
Lunch was a bit heavy but spicy and with the main item is still non-halal pork.
There was a strong infusion of Schezwan based dishes with a spicy pork stew (with plenty of chillies), white rice, barley soup, fruits and 3 types of vegetable dishes. Despite the spicy dishes, there were no drinks served with the meal which was a bit strange but was not a big issue as there was always a bowl of soup to wash away the meal.
Dinner Day 2
Considering how heavy lunch was, one of my team members tried to cancel dinner from being delivered to the room but unfortunately, the hotel staff informed that it is too late as they have “pre-ordered” the meals.
Sweet and sour pork with 2 types of vegetables and spicy Chinese black fungus dish, fruits and a bowl of bland vegetable soup. I would rate the dish with the black fungus as one of the best I had so far.
Breakfast Day 3
Frankly speaking considering we have already received our COVID19 test results, we expected to check out in the morning. However, there was a knock on the door and the hotel had provided breakfast.
This kind of reminded me of home – fried char keow teow for breakfast and they even added beansprouts just like back home. It was less oiler than the one I often have at home. There was also fresh salad, sausage, half-boiled egg, fruits and rice porridge.
Final Thoughts
I have to admit, the quality of food and the portion was really good and are as expected of a 4-star hotel. And the fact that the meal came in bento-style was expected due to the state of the quarantine in place.
The funny part, however, the delivery was done by the hotel staffs who wear gloves but not facial mask or any other protective clothing. I had expected, considering that the results are not out yet, they would have taken extra precautions dealing with the hotel guests. Obviously, there was no such SOP in place.
To be continued in Part 5