Maruhachi Donburi & Curry

Went to Bedok Public Library at Heartbeat@Bedok with the sis (the older one with kids) and her daughter (my niece). The Library is in a building which is an integrated space which also houses the Kampong Chair Chee Community Club, a polyclinic, and sports facilities such as a public pool, sports hall, tennis courts, and gymnasium.

After they've checked out the books they wanted, we went to Bedok Central for lunch. The sis wanted to try this Japanese stall at a kopitam (outdoor foodcourt/coffee shop) after coming across it on social media - Maruhachi Donburi Curry - and the niece and I were happy to go with.

I ordered the Signature Pork Katsu set with rice and miso soup ($11.80) and the niece ordered the Pork Katsu Curry Rice ($9.80). The sis had the Signature Pork Katsu Don ($9.80, not pictured). For a stall in a kopitam, the food is pretty high quality and would belong in any legit Japanese restaurant. My pork katsu was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The cabbage had a generous drizzling of sesame and peanut dressing and the miso was not diluted as some Japanese stalls in foodcourt tend to have. The niece gave high points for the Japanese curry.

I would have given this 4 Aunty Karens for the food, but I'm deducting 1.5 Aunty Karens for the horrendous service.

As we were eating, the cleaning lady was walking around randomly cleaning tables, including ours. WHILE WE WERE STILL EATING. I have a problem with that as her wiping was really sloppy and I was really worried that she was going to flick some random food bits from her cleaning cloth onto my plate. Then she came back a while later and tried to clear my niece's plate, WHILE WE WERE STILL EATING. Basically, my niece could not finish all the pork slices and my sis and I were going to help out. My niece accidentally put her tissue paper on the plate and the cleaner swooped in and wanted to take her plate away. We told her that we were still eating, but she appeared to not hear/register and continued to clear her plate. So we informed her again politely that we were not done with eating. She proceeded to give us an earful about being idiots and yelled at us that putting a piece of tissue on a plate is a signal that you are done eating (never heard of that, and even if true, you don't clear a plate with food on it without checking if its okay first). She (the cleaner) then proceeded to badmouth us to patrons at another table, loudly calling us idiots and all kinds of nasty names. That did not sit well with me.

I know she has a job to do, but since we have new laws for patrons to clear our own plates at hawker centres and foodcourts, I don't see the point of her to go around looking for plates to clear, especially when people are still eating. While I am not expecting super service since this is not that kind of place, I didn't expect to be harassed and berated by a cleaning auntie who is hellbent on snatching our plates of food away. So while the food is good, I will not return.