Couple of weeks ago, I received a handsome bonus at work and so I took a friend with me to one of the most-talked about restaurant in town- Fuchsia Kitchen. Having heard so much about this place, I was eagerly awaiting to be blown away by the “perfect” food, the “mindblowing tastes” and the “scrumptious” meals that others have raved about.
Fuchsia Kitchen has billed itself as a fine-dining establishment and that was pretty much evident from the slew of BMWs and Mercedes parked outside the restaurant.
I had every intention to be blown away by Fuchsia Kitchen. I had fallen for the raving reviews on their Facebook page. I was convinced by the recent event held at this place where the food was “great!”
I will give full marks to Fuchsia Kitchen for creating a wonderful ambiance. I actually enjoyed being in this environment– peaceful, calm and serene. There was no hustle bustle that one encounters at other places, and we could actually have a decent conversation without having to raise our voices.
The waiters did a great job too– and we actually commended the waiters in the comment card. They went out of their way to assist us in ordering the food, in explaining what certain dishes contained and in being attentive and interested in serving us. (I won’t get into the manner they were serving though- rather sloppily, even spilling parts of the soup on to our table and on our phones!)
Having said that, what it all comes down to at the end of the day is the food itself, which makes or breaks your meal. In our case, the food was a huge letdown, which totally negated our positive experiences up to the food being eaten.
I have come to the conclusion about why so many restaurants fail to live up to the expectation:
- People who eat the food at “launches” and “event” get food that is specially prepared for the event, which amplifies their dining experience– if these very people go to the same restaurant independently, I wonder if the dining experience would be the same.
- Each diner has a different judgment level. There will be some who have dining experiences from all over the world, and there will be some who have not ventured outside of Lahore. So, for both of them, the criteria of whether they enjoyed their meal or not will be rather different. So what may be “totally mind-blowing” experience for one may not be the same for another person.
- Most newly opened restaurant start off with a bang- with the requisite PR and Marketing, the who’s who of Lahore come and enjoy. They get a great positive word of mouth reviews, and everyone ends up here. Give it a few months, you find the standard has been compromised. This is a huge problem with a lot of eateries in Lahore– the inconsistency of quality of food.
At the end of it all, as it was my treat, I had to dish out Rs. 6,500/- for our dinner tonight. That’s like Rs. 3250/- per person. I could have easily gone down to Fujiyama for a great sushi meal instead. Lesson learned (apparently not– lool!)
Fuchsia Kitchen, with its great environment and posh setup, let us down tonight with its mediocre food, which totally doesn’t justify the high-end prices!
Mansour Ahsan 