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• Be warned - 1 v unhappy cow!

I ate dinner with a friend at Sri Melaka in April 2013 while visiting Perth. Approx. 10 hours later I suffered the only food poisoning I've experienced in the last 15yrs since turning vegetarian and then vegan. Although I ate nothing more before 48hrs of indescribable hell - another 24 before I could keep gastrolyte down or begin to rehydrate - I cannot be absolutely certain it was caused by Sri Melaka. If I were not overdue to leave Perth , I'd have obtained pathology & asked the health authority to investigate. Unfortunately, I'd already had to extend my stay by 2 (expensive) days thanks to the poisoning. Not nearly so bad as my illness was the extremely disappointing service and food. My friend ordered a vegetable stirfry with which she was happy - it looked fine.. I ordered honey (mock) prawns via the smiling manager who elected to remember our orders rather than write them down. I was brought honey (mock) chicken by a young waitress. When I tasted it, I asked if it was prawn or chicken (knowing it was chicken). She said 'chicken' as if that was what she believed I had ordered. I decided the mistake was not serious and I'd overlook it rather than cause inconvenience. The food tasted ordinary but I blamed my choice. I was keen to improve the experience with a nice redbean dessert I'd seen on the menu. Again, the smiling manager took my order. She strongly encouraged me to choose the tapioca dessert instead. I insisted I preferred the redbean one (I make my own tapioca desserts). I was very careful to communicate and confirm my order, given what had happened with my last order. The waitress brought me a dish of tapioca. I immediately told her I had ordered the redbean dessert. She went to the kitchen then returned to tell me the redbean dessert was not available. She looked embarrassed and seemed to avoid the manager's stare. Knowing this was no coincidence, but pitying the waitress, I decided to eat the tapioca. It contained hard lumps of starch that tasted like candle wax. I was anxious to leave. So when I paid the Manager in cash I did not count the change until I got outside. I was $1 short - surprise, surprise. There was another table of diners seated near the manager so rather than argue in front of them with so evidently dishonest and disrespectful a manager, I just walked away. This sounds like a prank review but sadly it is not. It took over a week for me to fully recover and it ruined my Perth holiday.