It was a great disappointment dining at the new Cedele outlet located in Great World City two weeks ago. Having long been a fan of Cedele and its philosophy of healthy and wholesome but yet delicious food, no-frills dining experience and reasonable pricing, I was very much looking forward to a newer and revamped Cedele after the recent renovation.

However, a dinner I had there made me change my mind. My partner and I ordered a Hearty Beef Stew, Chicken Portobello sandwich and an Irish Cream Vanilla Milkshake. When I went to the bread bar to take the bread, I noticed only a small loaf of bread left in the bread bar, and a rockhard leftover piece of sesame bagel on the cutting board. Immediately, I got the attention of a waiter and asked if that was all the bread there was left. He looked very unsure, and told me that due to the heavy lunch crowd, there was not a lot of bread left. And since I did not have a plate to take the bread, I returned to my table.

Our Milkshake and Beef Stew soon arrived. One sip of the milkshake told me that this was not a creamy and milky concoction I was looking forward to, but just a normal frappe, like a milky ice-blended drink. And there was no Irish cream taste to it at all. As a vanilla frappe, it would have been a perfectly acceptable drink, so why call it Irish Cream Milkshake in the first place and set the expectations high, only to disappoint?

The Beef stew resembles a curry more than a stew, with a thick covering of oil and chunks of potatoes. But the beef was nowhere to be found. Taste wise, it was only passable and too sour for my liking. I went to the bread bar and asked the same waiter for more bread, pointing out that usually there would have been more than one variety of bread available, and certainly not only one small loaf. I then went back to my seat while he went to check with the manager. Thereafter, I saw him taking more bread out from the drawer beneath the bread bar but yet he did not bother to come over to inform me about it.

By this time, I was feeling distinctly miffed and regretting my choice of dinner venue. The saving grace was really the Chicken Portobello Sandwich which was very tasty. It came in white country bread which complemented it very well. However, I wasn't asked for my choice of bread to serve the sandwich in though usually that is the case. After dinner, we decided not to order desserts to prevent further disappointment.

All in all, it was an extremely disheartening experience I had at Cedele yesterday, which was all the more exacerbated because I was looking so much to a good meal. What was worst was the extra 10% service charge and 7% GST while in the past there was none. And I also did not see the added service that would justify the extra cost. I would much rather stick with the other deli outlets in future.