THE Ship, much like the (now over-commercialised) Coliseum Cafe, is an establishment that has been around for decades and a name that is synonymous with Western food. I’ve been to its Kuala Lumpur outlet (review here) and enjoyed the food/service, so I was looking forward to it when my officemates and I went to The Ship @ PJ Centerstage, to have a farewell lunch for G.

It was… disappointing.

Unlike the KL outlet, which is pretty old and badly lit, the restaurant here is bright and cheerful. True to its theme, the space is made to look like a ship’s hull, with wooden accents, nautical decorations and waiters dressed in sailor uniforms. That’s about it though – pretty look. Some of the waiters, while polite, seemed inexperienced (probably the language barrier? They hire foreigners) and there was a waitress (local) who sounded downright rude when taking our orders. I doubt guests would like it very much if you ask them “You want to order now or not?” with a sour face and rude manner. The captain himself seemed less than enthusiastic.

We had the ‘Mother’s Day’ promotion set lunch, which was RM25.90++ with a soup/drink, main course (lamb, chicken or spaghetti) and dessert. They also gave us a bread roll and butter as appetisers.

The corn soup was super sweet and tasted artificial, like they added syrup/sugar into it instead of the natural sweetness of corn. Both myself and colleagues didn’t finish our bowls. 

My main course was ‘Hainanese chicken Chop’, according to the menu. When it was served, it was a burnt piece of breaded fried chicken chop with tomatoes, onions and sweet and sour sauce. Idk about you but aren’t Hainanese chicken chops supposed to have like.. gravy? Peas? It looked more like sweet and sour chicken.

The breaded part of the chicken was obviously burnt and tasted bitter, the wedges were cut unevenly – there were slices thinner than my pinkie, and then ones that were huge; the carrots tasted odd, like they had been soaked in detergent or something with a funny aftertaste, and overall it was just sadness on a plate. I tried to mask the sadness with some tomato sauce but guess what? I unscrewed the sauce cap and it opened with a ‘pop!’ like a champagne bottle, and something like gas starting seeping out… the waiter literally snatched the bottle from my hand to give me another one lol. Hasn’t been opened in awhile, eh?

More sadness – dessert of agar-agar jelly with a sad dollop of cream.

Overall it was a very very disappointing meal (I expected better from you, The Ship! Especially with your price point!).

If you DO want good Western food, go for the Ship in KL.

Service: 5/10.

Food: 2/10 wtf.

Ambience: 8/10. The air conditioning was way too cold though.

THE SHIP (PJ CENTERSTAGE) 

Unit G-01, Ground Floor, No.1, Jalan 13/1, Seksyen 13, 46100, PJ.

Tel: 0379310078

Open daily (11AM – 11PM)