Brought family out to have dinner here on a weekday. Bro decided on Family Set B (5 pax option), which comprised of two meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, one soup of the day and white rice.
Service was good and efficient. As usual, diners will be served with peanuts upon seating, with wet towels already placed on the tables. Peanuts goes for $2.00++, while towels are at $0.30++ each.
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| wet towel |
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| order chit |
The food came almost instantaneously once the order chit has been printed. Quite amazing.
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| soup of the day: szechuan pickled vege soup with pork ribs |
The soup was not too salty but lacked depth. Perhaps not enough time on the stove?
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| duck roasted with ten wonder herbs |
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| go for the skin! |
Duck meat with skin that has little fat pockets underneath it, was the best! There were some dry parts, and some tender. Sauce was nicely fragrant with herbs and not overly salty.
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| dong po pork |
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| wobbly fatty meat |
One can opt for Mongolian Pork Ribs or Dong Po Pork. My dad loves fatty meat, so Dong Po Pork it was. The fatty meat surprisingly, didn't leave an oily feeling in the mouth. The sauce was mildly sweet. But the lean part was not as tender as expected. So, that was a minor letdown.
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| dong po pork with fluffy rice |
Not to worry, the meal was well balanced with lots of non-meat dishes. Poached bamboo pith with asparagus was served next. The red wolfberries lent a bit more colour to this dish.
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| poached bamboo pith with asparagus |
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| bamboo pith close up, with gou chi zhi (wolfberries) |
Bamboo pith has a texture that is quite similar to fish maw, and usually used in soups. Its skirty lacy texture allows it to absorb liquid very well. A quick check with
wiki, states that bamboo pith is actually a type of bamboo fungus. This mushroom has antioxidant and antimicrobial (
a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms) properties.
The poached bamboo pith with asparagus dish looked healthy and tasted healthy as well. Asparagus was crunchy and firm, while bamboo pith was mildly sweet from the sauce and wolfberries.
Next up, golden fried tofu. Diamond shaped and deep fried till its outer skin was of a crisp golden brown colour and served with broccoli floret. Looked beautiful and appetising.
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| golden fried tofu |
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| tofu close up |
The insides of the tofu was actually slightly coarse, and tasted as if it might have been minced together with something else. Not sure. Savoury. Perhaps, this dish would be better if the tofu was indeed minced together with a higher proportion of fish/meat so that the taste is more pronounced, or have it simply as plain soft wobbly tofu with crispy skin.
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| stir fried bitter gourd and pumpkin |
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| spot the pumpkin and carrots |
The Stir Fried Bitter Gourd & Pumpkin dish actually consist of sliced bitter gourd (that definitely tasted bitter!), sliced pumpkin and carrots, dried shrimps, mushrooms and sliced huai shan (wild yam). There were also slices of unknown entity that has a texture similar to abalone mushroom/king mushroom but tougher and also similar to maybe whelk/conch. Mystery ingredient. Hahaa.
Our table also had 3 glasses of plum lime juice and a bottle of Minute Maid drink. Total bill came up to about $135.
Payment by OCBC credit card entitles you to a return voucher of $10 (if bill was above $100 or $5 voucher for bill above $50) that can only be used for ala-carte items with min. spend of $100. Expires in 3 months time from the date of issue.
Here's the link to first
visit.
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