Chicken Ham and the Cajun Club Sandwich at Chilli's

So, I'm celebrating the end of 14 days of living with the Diet Demon in the name of compensating for my indulgences over Chinese New Year...English New Year...erm, well every weekend spent at Alexis eating brunch since the start of 2009...

And for my off day, I decide I really want to scarf my face on fried carbs like Chilli's Fries (still the best fries around, aside from the hand-cut ones at places like Magnificent Fish and Chips), guzzle their Margaritas...

...and after dawdling over Triple Play vs Chicken Crispers, I decided I wanted something truly evil: like grilled chicken breast with two types of cheese, sandwiched between three slices of WHITE bread that had been slathered in garlic butter (maybe garlic margarine - clog my arteries baby) and mayo, then toasted. With some token lettuce to make us all feel better. The Cajun Chicken Club Sandwich for the uninitiated. (tsk).

Now, I've had this sandwich before at one of my infamous 'last supper' rituals (embarked upon usually before 14 interminable days of being waistline disciplined) and it was fab. I loved it. So imagine my hideous surprise when I chomp down on the sandwich and...

UGH. It was cold in the center. I looked at the sandwich. In the middle portion (it's a club sandwich = three layers), there was something pale and pink that looked suspiciously like...chicken ham.

Now, before I *confront* management, I like to make sure I'm right. The customer may be always right, but it's best to definitely be right. So I got my booth buddy to snag the menu as I mumbled about something not being right with my sandwich. And then I scrutnised the picture (looks like chicken) but more importantly, THE DESCRIPTION of the Cajun Club Sandwich.

Indeed, the words "grilled chicken breast" were in the description.

Waiter was summoned and proved no help. Manager was called over. Swiftly to his credit he appeared.

Now, his reasoning for the chicken ham was in my view quite incredulous although not entirely unbelievable. And for the record I'm not saying I don't believe him. I'm saying the reason it incredulous.

He told me chicken ham was substituted because customers complained that when the sandwich contained real chicken meat (as opposed to god knows what parts of the chicken that go into chicken ham), not every bite had chicken. Grilled chicken apparently has a habit of not aligning perfectly within the sandwich to ensure that every bite of the sandwich produces a mouthful of bread, shredded lettuce, chicken, cheese x 2 and mayo. By substituting chicken ham, this ensured that the customers who bitched about not having chicken in every mouthful, GOT their chicken in every mouthful.

Albeit said customers were obviously unaware that what they were getting was ANYTHING but chicken. (come on, chicken ham?).

Completely to the credit of the manager at Chilli's that night at BSC, he immediately made me another sandwich, with real grilled chicken breast, which he said was do-able on request of the customer. He did however to my shock say that the customers preferred the chicken ham version. (why do I get the feeling the next time I go, it will say chicken ham?). I hope it won't be chicken ham because that would just be mind-bogglingly daft to substitute processed meat just so that a few dimwits can convince themselves they are getting their money's worth. Btw, chicken ham costs LESS than real chicken breast so in case any of my readers happen to be in the 'incredulous' grouping who believe chicken ham and chicken breast is the same...

Note: Service at Chilli's BSC is always impeccable with MidValley running a close second. I officially condemn the outlet at Bandar Utama, having had one too many watery margaritas and horrible Crispy Chicken Salads more times than I can count.