Not having been to Haiku in three years, and attending a concert close by in the Old Town House two weeks ago, I booked a table at what was once my favourite restaurant. While its prices have settled, service remains a problem, unforgivable after being in business for seven years already.  Food presentation was most disappointing, and the food quality has declined.

It is seven years ago that Haiku opened to hype and fanfare.  It was the bees knees of restaurants, becoming cult almost immediately, helped along by the difficulty in getting a table.   It won Eat Out Best New Restaurant six months after opening, a category never awarded since.  Those days are long past, the arrogant waitrons losing business for the restaurant, with patrons going elsewhere to get their Asian food fix.  It was easy to book the table for a Saturday night, yet when I returned from the concert the restaurant was almost full.  The loud disco-style music does not match the Asian theme of the restaurant nor makes it easy for one to communicate at the table and with the waitrons, and one wonders why they need to put up the volume.  I remember this as a past irritation, introduced more recently.  I was interested to know how the opening of the V&A Waterfront branch a few months ago had affected business in the original branch, and perhaps predictably the waitress said it had not at all.   The manager told me later that their best chefs and waitrons had been transferred to the Waterfront, so it would be worth trying this branch too. The standard of the staff was evidenced by two incidents of clanging glasses, falling on the floor and breaking, for all to hear!

I was shown my table by the hostess, booked as a table for one, only to be asked in a most irritating manner by the waiter if I was on my own.  He then wanted to clear the table of superfluous dishes, rather than bring the menu.  He is one Continue reading →