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2010-12-06
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After the announcement of the HK Macau Michelin Guide, I was surprised that there was a restaurant in my neighbourhood that serves Sichuan food (my favourite), so my parents and I decided to try it out. It was a perfect combo - dim sum for my parents, Sichuan for me.We made a reservation for 1:30pm, but arrived at 1:50 due to traffic. The lady at the counter was a bit rude and made us wait when the table was actually available, just that they were setting it. When asked if we could sit down firs
We made a reservation for 1:30pm, but arrived at 1:50 due to traffic. The lady at the counter was a bit rude and made us wait when the table was actually available, just that they were setting it. When asked if we could sit down first as we didn't mind them laying everything out there and then, she grumbled and said it was all in good faith that she didn't want us to be "hurt" by the waiters. What, like poking chopsticks in my eye? Also we felt the place was too noisy even though it was almost 2pm, not exactly the kind of "hotel" restaurant that we had imagined.
We ordered a chicken and sea snail soup which at $348 was reasonable if you dig Chinese soup that are meant to have a myriad of health benefits, but if not, it still tasted very sweet and nourishing, albeit a tad oily. The prawn dumplings and the other dumpling (maybe it was scallops, couldn't really tell from the look and didn't bother asking mum what she got), was disappointing, as the skin was gooey and stuck to our chopsticks and the dumplings fell apart when we picked them up. Either poor quality dumpling skin, or re-steamed again and again. The char siu bao was slightly better, with tender chunks of char siu inside and didn't taste too sweet or salty. The prawn cheung fun was decent too except the "fun" was a bit thick. The soy sauce stir fried cheung fun came in a small casserole pot and I found it a bit too oily. The kale was crunchy and still verdant in the broth. My dad liked the mildly spicy steamed fish head, a timeless favourite of his. The chicken and salted fish stir fried rice had a dry texture and well seasoned, with just enough salted fish to give it a kick without overpowering the rest of the dish.
I concentrated on my Sichuan choices: spicy cucumber, saliva chicken, dan dan mian and sour and spicy cold noodles. I was generally very happy with all the dishes except the sour and spicy cold noodles were too salty, and the paste was thick and gooey. The cucumber was crunchy and properly smacked (拍) to let the spice seek in. The sauce that came with the saliva chicken was heaven, with a touch of numbness and a good level of spiciness. I practically finished the whole bowl of sauce by putting it on everything else. The dan dan noodles had a good al dente texture and the soup was flavourful without being overwhelmingly spicy. Unfortunately it was overshadowed by a short piece of hair I found in the noodles, and the manager promptly cancelled the order.
We liked that all the sauces came separately so that each customer would choose how much to add, or not at all. A bit of prompting was needed to change our plates and refill the water, but it was generally done without much fuss. And they have discounts with AE (10% off at lunch), BEA (12% off a la carte dinner), and of course there's the openrice coupon for weekdays until the end of the year.
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