A Stupid No Photography Policy At Taste Enclave In Avenue K

Posted by : foongpc | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | Published in

ADVERTISEMENT


About 2 weeks before Chinese New Year, I visited Taste Enclave at Avenue K in Jalan Ampang, KL.

I have heard so much about this new food court and was eager to try out the food there!

 photo P1240559_zpsd5c8ea39.jpg

It was a Sunday afternoon and there were some people dining there, although not a lot.

I heard that Taste Enclave was opened by a Singaporean who had set up many chains of food court and fine dining restaurants in Singapore and China. Indeed, this food court offers a variety of dishes that represent street food from Singapore and the Klang Valley in Malaysia.

Since I was alone, I had to be selective with the choice of food as my stomach could only take in so much. I started with the Vietnamese Spring Roll from Y-Thu Wendy Authentic Vietnamese stall.

 photo P1240561_zpsc5631336.jpg

The spring rolls were delicious especially when dipped into the spicy sour sauce. It was good, but not as good as the Vietnamese Spring Roll I had at Koto Restaurant in Hanoi. Still, I was pretty satisfied.

 photo P1240562_zpsb199a365.jpg

Hailing from Vietnam, Wendy has already established 5 outlets in food courts across Singapore.

 photo P1240557_zpsf9aa6c9e.jpg


Next, I went for the famous Crispy Roasted Pork With Wanton Noodles from Tong's Roast. Oh yes, I forgot to mention Taste Enclave is a non-halal food court.

 photo P1240568_zps88f600de.jpg

The roasted pork was delicious! And the wanton noodles were pretty satisfying too!

 photo P1240566_zps88aea924.jpg

Tong's Roast is a family business that spanned more than 30 years starting as a roast meat wholesaler at Pudu Market in KL. I guess this must be their first stall in a food court inside a shopping mall.

 photo P1240569_zps06c14bcc.jpg


I was already quite full by then, but I had to try one more. I decided to go for steamed chicken rice at Singapore's Mandarin Chicken Rice stall.

 photo P1240573_zps949c365f.jpg

I was not impressed by this chicken rice. It was not bad, but it was not good either. I have eaten better chicken rice elsewhere. However, my enjoyment of the food there was marred when upon taking a photo of their stall after finishing my chicken rice, they appeared to be alarmed.

 photo P1240577_zps869f5014.jpg

Then, someone (probably the person in charge of the food court) came up to me and said "Photography is not allowed". What the …..?!!

I was really quite annoyed, but I remained calm and said OK, and walked out of the food court. Now can anyone please tell me why photography is not allowed there? What's wrong with taking photos of the food and the stalls? Don't they know I am giving them free publicity when I share those photos? What nonsense!

Besides, they organized a blogger event last year and all those bloggers were snapping away and putting up pictures on their blogs. So what's wrong with me taking a few photos now? Utter rubbish!

Anyway, I sat outside and waited it out before going right back into the food court and snapped a few more photos. Sue me! Next time you want to stop me or anyone taking photos, please put up a HUGE sign at the entrance with the words in red "NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED". Then at least, I know it's not just verbal and that you mean it. And of course, I can then decide whether I want to enter or not!

Here are a few more photos of the stalls at Taste Enclave.

Golden Hot Pot from China. Not sure what they sell though. Did not check them out.

 photo P1240576_zps39ce8388.jpg

There's a stall called Big Tap serving beer too! Choose from Guinness, Kilkenny and Heineken!

 photo P1240574_zpsb0d0a392.jpg

I had wanted to try this famous Jalan Kayu Prata from Singapore after eating that chicken rice. I wanted to know how good Singapore's roti prata is compared to Malaysia's roti canai. But after I was told not to take photos, I decided to skip this. No more mood to eat. Too bad!

Oh well, I will just go Singapore next time and try the original one there!

 photo P1240579_zps59859baf.jpg

Overall, I found Taste Enclave to be clean and comfortable. The prices were pretty reasonable too. I wish I could have tried more stalls there - so many more, like Soong Kee's beef noodles and Heun Kee's clay pot chicken rice to name just two - but I am doubtful I will ever step inside there again.

 photo P1240578_zps8b4897b2.jpg

No thanks to their silly 'No Photography' policy!