"La France" in Batu Pahat

Last Friday, I was back to Batu Pahat. When we were having dinner at home, Seng suggested that we would try out a newly opened French restaurant in town the following day. It was a surprise to me because I had never known him as someone who would go for Western food.

A French restaurant in Batu Pahat, what was it like? Authentic French food? French-styled decoration? French service? Menu in French? French-speaking waiters?

As I did not have high expectation, I did not even bother to dress up formally. The only thing which gave me the look of a client at a French restaurant in Batu Pahat was the printed Eiffel Tower on my pink T-shirt.

"La France", opened two months ago, was well located at a commercial area.

When we reached there, it was around 7pm. The light was dim to create a classy atmosphere. Only one table was occupied by two diners. We were given a table facing the bar where bottles of wine were displayed and glasses were hanging upside down. Waiters were wearing caps as if they were working at a fastfood restaurant!

As soon as I was seated, I spotted a bottle of ketchup and another bottle of chili sauce on the table. It was truly Malaysian! When I began to read the menu, I realized that this restaurant was ready to receive clients who went there only for their Singapore mee hoon, Young Chew fried rice and tomyam fish!

Since we planned to have Western food, we decided not to order any food that sounded Asian. Seng chose fresh ox tail soup with garlic bread. I took their recommanded rosemary chicken while Mum picked roasted salmon. Seng also ordered famous snails to share together.

I had never eaten rosemary chicken. At first I imagined it was roasted chicken sprinkled with tarrogon. It was actually chicken cooked in a dark sauce seasoned with rosemary. I used to queue up behind other students to be served meat, boiled vegetables and French fries in a white plate like this at Resto U (University Restaurant) in Besançon.

I was hoping "La France" to automatically provide us with a basket of free bread and a jug of plain water like French restaurants in France, but there was no sign of them when all the dishes were placed on the table.

The snails reminded me of my farewell lunch in Neuves-Granges last year. Those I had tasted in France were gutted, cooked with garlic butter and then poured back into the shells together with the butter and sauce for serving. At "La France", they were cooked in a creamy and cheesy sauce and put on a plate with six holes.

The food was nice but at that moment my mind was rather with my French friends who would be generous enough to share with me their bread, wine and fun.