[Travel Tasmania] Dinner at Canton Restaurant 廣州飯店 @ Launceston

We were in the mood for some old school Cantonese food, so I think we Googled and Canton came up in the search with rating of 4 and above, so off we went to try since we were nearby. Established in 1961, Canton Restaurant is a family-run business now in its third-generation.

It was a Saturday evening and we went at 530pm. Reason being, we weren't too sure about the weekend crowd.

restaurant entrance

The restaurant was fairly empty at that time since dinner service only began at 5pm. 

interior

menu

Similar to Lingnan, Canton's menu was also in a red leather cover with that old skool vibes. 

let's try some traditional flavours

As usual, we ordered up a feast for the 5 of us with each selecting their choice from the menu. Ivan and Tracy started with soup. Tasted a spoonful of Tracy's hot and sour soup, and it was nice. Not really spicy spicy but good balance of vinegary sourness.

Hot & Sour Soup 酸辣湯 @AUD11 (individual portion)

Egg Flower & Tofu Soup 豆腐蛋花汤 @AUD10 (individual portion)

Staff was nice and tried her best to answer to all our queries regarding the menu. And she made like 2 trips to the kitchen to clarify with the Chef on the availability of the fish for the day. Thanks!

Beef in Satay Sauce 沙爹牛肉 @AUD30.50

tender beef slices

I was always amused when Tracy tries to introduce the satay-sauce Cantonese dishes just to compare how it taste like as we varied it from one place to another. I think my Malaysian mind can't wrap around the Hong Kong styled-satay sauce.

The vegetables available on that day was rather limited in choice, so we ended up with crunchy long beans stir fried with garlic. Tasty!

Stir Fried Long Beans @AUD23

Then, there was a house special dish that's probably suited for the lone diner who would want to sample more things in smaller quantity. This special consist of cashew nuts chicken, fried rice and sweet and sour pork.

House Special 三合一 @AUD31.50

sweet and sour pork 咕嚕肉

The cashew chicken looked very pale in colour but actually tasted pretty good. But my favourite was the sweet and sour pork. Won't mind ordering the full portion of this! Fried rice was so-so.

Salted Fish Tofu @AUD29

The tofu with salted fish dish here was milder than expected. Flavourful and easy to eat, even without rice.

Steamed Snapper (~800gms) 清蒸整鱼 @AUD33.50

The healthier choice to go with steamed fish. The soy sauce flavour was on-point but unfortunately the fish was over-steamed.

The best well balanced meat dish for the night, was the steamed duck with mushrooms. Lovely herbal flavours and duck meat was tender. Skin was good. Hehe.

Steamed Duck (half) & Chinese Mushrooms 陳皮冬菇扒鴨 @AUD39

thank you lovely staff for helping to debone

For dessert, Hence ordered the 'fried ice-cream'. Have you ever tried one before? It was really popular in Chinese restaurants back in the 80s-90s, I believe.

Fried Ice Cream @AUD10

They also have Singapore Rice Noodles 星州炒米 but I can't bring myself to order a plate for that price... Haha, maybe some other day.

Overall, this place seemed to be popular amongst locals. I loved it when the restaurant welcomes even solo-diner and the left-over food can be prepared for take-aways as well.

Special thanks to the staff who took care of our table that night, lovely girl.

Canton Restaurant

Address: 203 Charles St, Launceston TAS 7250, Australia

Website: http://www.cantonrestaurant.com.au/

Contact: +61363319448

Business Hours:

Closed on Mon.

Tue - Thu: [refer to restaurant's website for updates]

Fri: 12–2 pm, 5–10 pm

Sat: Saturday, 5–10 pm

Sun: Saturday, 5–9 pm

Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面 @ Joo Chiat

Was doing a staycation nearby, so suggested to the Easties to try Yi Zun for lunch. It's about 12 to 15 minutes walk from the hotel. With weather soaring, it was nice to have a meal in an airconditioned place. The interior of the restaurant was lovely. It wasn't busy yet on a Saturday afternoon as people seemed to be congregating more towards cafes and the newly opened Banh Mi places.

interior

we were seated at the round table

nice decoration

Staff was super casual and friendly. He informed us that we could order via the QR code on the table or just call him over when we are ready.

First things first, we ordered a jug of the sour prune juice (酸梅汤) to quench our thirst.

Sour Prune Juice @$5++

refreshing!

We ordered appetisers, a bowl of signature beef noodles and some skewers to try. Staff informed that the skewers need longer time to prepare hence, it is better to order it early.

Pickled Cucumber 酱黄瓜 @$4.80++

Chilled Shredded Beancurd Skin 凉拌干张丝 @$3.80++

Chilled Pickled Black Fungus 凉拌木耳 @$3.80++

Spicy Beef Tripe 香辣凉拌牛肚 @$7.80++

My favourite appetisers would be the pickled cucumber and the spicy beef tripe. Both are so yums! Black fungus was good too but the cucumber was best.

Signature Beef Noodles 伊尊牛肉面 @$10.80++

thin lean beef slices

scissors to cut the noodles

We chose the thick noodles as the wide noodles either sold out or not available. It was a good choice. The beef broth was clear and flavourful. Mild and not overly seasoned. The noodles were QQ and lovely to eat. If you're used to fattier cuts of meat, then the slices here will be overly lean. However, it provides a good mild taste to the overall dish. 

Can add some chili oil provided on the table, to elevate the flavours up a notch.

chili oil

I was impressed when the skewers were served to the table. Such big skewers! We ordered a variety of skewers; chicken, beef, mutton and lamb chop.

assorted skewers

The best skewer was the mutton skewer. Well grilled, juicy meat and adequate seasoning on the meat. Very good! Must order. 

Mutton Skewer 红柳羊肉串 @$3.50++ (per skewer)

If you prefer something fattier, then go for the lamb chop.

Lamb Chop 羊排串 @$6++

Overall, the signature noodle was a comforting flavourful bowl if you prefer something soupy. The chilled appetisers were good too, especially the pickled stuffs. For skewers, my must eat would be the mutton skewer. So good.

Price is rather reasonable too. 

Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面

Address: 60 Joo Chiat Rd, #01-08/09, Singapore 427726

Website: https://www.yizunnoodle.com/menu/joo-chiat

Contact: 6909 9287

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11 am–9:30 pm

Wawa Lala Bee Hoon @ Fortune Centre

The ladies wanted to try this lala beehoon, so I tagged along. Located at Fortune Centre and seemed popular. Was able to spot the signage from across the road before reaching the building.

Was there at about 12pm on a Public Holiday and the place was starting to get busy. The system here is that diners should order and pay first before getting a table. Collect foods from either counter when they are ready. No buzzer, so just watch out for yours or sometimes, when diners were too engrossed in chatting, the friendly staff will call out to the table.

lunch for 4 pax

We ordered their Signature Power Drunken Lala Soup with either tang hoon or bee hoon options. Staff will ask if you would like it to be less spicy, and I actually will suggest to say yes to that. Reason was, we found out that the default 2 chilies strength, was spicier than expected. In my opinion, it was a level 3 out of 5 kind of spicy! Most likely the ginger used on that day contributed to that spiciness as well as the cut chilies in the soup.

Signature Power Drunken Lala Soup with glass noodles @$8.90

The glass noodle option worked better for the dish as it provided a greater contrast in texture. Otherwise, the rice vermicelli (bee hoon) option actually soaks up more of the soup, so it was tasty too!

plump fresh clams

Clams were nice and retained its sweetness. The wine strength in the soup was pretty mild. Quite a strong taste of ginger. The noodles was decorated by quite a bit of coriander, hence do inform the staff not to put any, if you don't like it.

For drinks, we had the homemade lime juice. Nice to quench thirst as well as to put out some of the spiciness!

Homemade Lime Juice @$2

Of course, we also ordered the strongly recommended seehum (fresh cockles). Wah... it had been so long since I had legit sized ones as these. Cravings satisfied. Plump and non-funky. Slurpilicious!

Fresh Cockles Marinated with Special Sauce @$12.90

big ones

For snacks, we also ordered the new Buffalo Wings. This reminded me of the toaster oven wings that I used to make, way back during my uni days. In comparison with the other dishes, I think buffalo wings was a tad pricey.

Buffalo Wings (6 pieces) @$8.90

buffalo wings

I liked the chawanmushi. Sweet dashi, and lovely custard texture. But, it'll be better if the clams were deshelled first...

Fresh Lala chawanmushi @$4.50

Overall conclusion, the signature dishes are tasty, value for money and staff are friendly. If you're not spice lord, then you may want to request for non-spicy version or a less spicy version of the lala soup. 

live clams in a tank

Wawa Lala Bee Hoon

Address: 190 Middle Rd, #01-11/12, Singapore 188979

Website: https://take.app/a/wawa

Business Hours:

Closed on Mondays.

Tue - Sun: 11:30 AM–9:30 PM

Fat Bird 胖胖鸡 @ Liang Seah Street

It was time to have a meal together and this place was suggested by Darren/Jeff. Chinese food with chicken hotpot as the mains. Seems like they have a buffet option as well with the same/similar food from ala-carte menu.

We went for ala-carte to test test first, so to speak. It was like everyone's first time having a meal at this shop.

simple dinner

Think we got the Spicy & Fragrant Chicken, medium pot. It was decent but not the tastiest chicken pot that I ever had. We were in a group of 5, so there wasn't a whole lot of chicken meat in there but adequate as a side. Sauce was just a hint of spicy, so it was nice to pour over the rice. Staff would come by to refill the soup for the chicken pot.

Spicy & Fragrant Chicken 香辣鸡公煲 ($32.80 Medium)

Spicy Chicken Cubes 辣子鸡 ($19.80)

The Spicy Chicken Cubes here also paled in comparison to others that I had tried before. The chicken here was somewhat dry and a tad hard after deep fried. Spice level was manageable. Loved the nuts that they put in there.

I didn't manage to take a picture of Wok Fried Fragrant Yam 香炒芋头 but it was good. Order this one as a snack. Yums.

String Beans with Minced Pork & Dried Chilli 干煸四季豆 ($10.80)

I enjoyed the String Beans with Minced Pork & Dried Chilli dish. Flavourful and goes well with the rice.

Mouth Watering Chicken 口水鸡 ($9.80)

We only ordered pork belly skewers towards the end of the meal to have a try. Wow, actually we should have ordered more skewers! Pork belly was sooooo goood! Fatty, yes. But soooooo goood! Now give me a Tsingtao.

Pork Belly 秘制五花肉 ($2 per stick)

Let's do a buffet next time, and try more of the chicken pots and skewers! And, let's order some beer too!

Lovely times with Gilbert, Ziqing, Darren and Jeff.
 

Fat Bird 胖胖鸡

Address: 1 Liang Seah St, #01-15/16, Singapore 189022

Website: https://fatbird.com.sg/

Contact: +65 6337 0612

Business Hours:

Sun-Wed: 11 AM–1 AM

Thu-Sat: 11 AM–2 AM