Wong Chi Kei @ Largo De Senado, Macau

This place has been written up by so many travellers, that I couldn't resist going in when happened to pass by during a recent trip to Macau. Located at the touristry Senado Square, this place looked pretty small and there was a small queue outside the restaurant on a Thursday night. Get a queue number and wait for someone to call. We were just slightly slower in responding (the lady called twice in a successive manner) and in return, we got "ngiam-ed" (probably can be translated to something like nagged at in a slightly sarcastic manner?) at.

outside of the restaurant, at about 8pm

Once inside, the place is separated into upper level, lower level and ground level. We were told to go to the lower level where there are probably about 5 tables. It was not fully occupied, so we got the entire table for 5 pax to ourselves.

table setting

hot Chinese tea, on the house

chili oil

Tried the 云吞虾仔捞面 (wanton shrimp eggs dry noodles). Think it was the priciest noodles at MOP42 (~ SGD7). There's another version of this without the wanton and it's called "虾仔捞面". There are other side dishes available, but we were not that hungry so did not order any.

the red bits are shrimp eggs

closer view of wanton and shrimp eggs

after mixing

whole prawns in wanton

The noodles were a tad too dry and too 'al-dente' for me. Would have preferred it to have more sauce. Saw a lady putting red vinegar (found on every table, along with pepper and chili oil) onto her noodles and I tried that too. Slightly better but only if you like sourish-sweet taste. Think the noodles needed another few seconds of cooking time.

There was not much taste from the shrimp eggs too. But it gave some contrasting texture. Imagine crunchy tiny bits of roe with the smooth wantons. Wantons were nice with whole prawns in it. Fresh but slightly salty. But overall, it is not something that I would crave for. So much so for novelty! Noticed that in Macau, the noodles are seldom served with vegetables. Maybe only a chopful of spring onions at most.

They serve chinese tea to all diners, on the house. Service is functional.

Sushi Tei @ Vivocity Part II

What do you think of, in summer? Breezy sunny day, with splashes of bright colours? I think of ayu fish because apparently Sushi Tei's summer menu features it. So off we went to Sushi Tei, in search of this fish that I've been wanting to try since Japan Hour days.

As usual, one need to wait to be seated during lunch hour at Sushi Tei Vivocity. The big menu displayed at its entrance listed out aji, unagi, sakura ebi and ayu fish as their featured items for the summer. Can't wait. Or so I thought.

We were seated at the corner of the restaurant where one can see the waters. Not bad. A seat with a view.

summer promotion menu

view from our seats

After a few minutes of deliberation, we were ready to order. Ordered the grilled ayu shioyaki and imagine the surprise when the waitress just shot back, "Not available." I must've worn quite a crestfallen look on my face and my colleague was quite symphatetique. "Next time better call the outlet before coming..." There was no where on its online menu, nor the printed menu nor the entrance menu that stated the inavailability of this item. Appalling, indeed.

With half the mood gone, I ordered the sakura ebi kakiage (@$6.80++), yaizu sushi set and my colleague ordered a garlic fried rice and salmon temaki.

sakura ebi kakiage with salt

tiny black dots for the eyes

a little too much flour?

The sakura ebi kakiage were pretty to look at. A bit tiny. And the waitress said, "Eat it with the salt." Ok. So I did. Tasted a little too floury, hence the ebi taste was quite muted. The salt did little to bring out the flavours. Maybe, they should use sea-salt or flavoured salt like matcha or ume.

salmon handroll

garlic fried rice

The garlic fried rice was tasty, served piping hot and it came with small chicken pieces. Nice, but my colleague preferred a more garlicky version.

yaizu set (@$16++)

My sushi set was colourful and it has uni sushi in it. Yay! First time I had it, they ran out of uni sushi, so it was replaced by chutoro. Nice. But it was always apprehensive to try uni because the first time I had it (elsewhere), it has a certain 'pong' taste to it.

uni sushi

The uni sushi here looked 'dryer' than the ones I had elsewhere. Maybe that's a good sign? Not plump nor juicy, but just smooth. No weird taste. In fact, it doesn't have much taste. Hmmmm.

The rest of the stuff were pretty run of the mill. But the ebi sushi that day tasted not as fresh. Maybe I should've eaten that first rather than uni.

ebi

negitoro

This meal for two pax costs about $40+ in total, without using their wet towels (chargeable).

Before leaving the restaurant, I asked the waitress when will the ayu fish be available and was told, it would be available in August. I think it will be prudent to find out prior to visiting the restaurant, to avoid any surprises. Dear readers, feel free to tell me, if you ever get to taste the ever elusive ayu (at least for my case) whether it is nice.

Crystal Jade @ Toa Payoh

Was there for lunch. The place was bustling and we had to wait about 10 minutes to get a seat. This place has live seafood. Cool!

live seafood tank

After a while, we got our seats. Expect to sit near other patrons during lunch hour.

dim sum menu

We ordered flowy custard bun (my must order item in all places that serves it), mixed part porridge, roasted duck (my colleague insisted on having this!) and cheong fun with spicy shrimp paste. You will need to exercise a certain amount of patience while eating here. The service staff looked quite harrassed, and patrons were waiting for their dishes to arrive.

porridge

The porridge was smooth and can't see a single grain of rice in it. It has intestine, liver, meatballs and stomach and ironically, each ingredients came in pairs so, just nice for sharing amongst two pax? Hahaa.

roasted duck

crispy skin roasted duck

The roasted duck came with bones. I found that to be quite a hassle. It has nice crispy skin but I found the seasoning a tad too salty. Good to eat with the porridge though.

I was surprised to see a cheong fun that doesn't look like the usual cheong fun. I thought it was carrot cake instead.

cheong fun in disguise?

But the cheong fun was quite tasty. Nice and mildly spicy.

flowy custard bun

yummeh

The flowy custard bun here was nice orange coloured balls of goodness. But the fillings were too watery. Tasted good though.

This meal costs about $36 for two pax.