It was supposed to be a quiet evening at home, but I got called out by the parental units to have dinner with them and some friends. Since there's nothing fancy around my run-down hood, dad suggested we go to Le Palais (頤宮) since it's the closest nice restaurant we could think of.
It was a late casual dinner, so we each ordered something. I could detect that service was a little off today, as we were assigned to a very small table that wouldn't fit more than 3 dishes despite the restaurant being half-empty. We were also not given any complimentary appetizers other than the fruit vinegar. We did ask to switch to a bigger table and were much more comfortable afterwards.
Showing posts with label Bad Restaurants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bad Restaurants. Show all posts
October 18, 2011
Another horrible excuse of a restaurant
OK, I wasn't gonna blog about tonight's dinner. It was pretty bad, but at first I didn't feel the need to stomp and crush on a restaurant that obviously isn't doing good business. But... the more I thought about it, the more I felt the restaurant doesn't deserve to survive. If this is the kind of food you serve, you deserve to go out of business. Harsh? Sure. But that's the reality, isn't it?
I was meeting a couple of people for dinner, and my friend suggested to give Portofino a try. Apparently the place had been open for a few years just around the corner from the current location, and it used to be decent. Well, definitely wasn't the case tonight, and since we were one of only two tables this evening... I'm thinking that others feel the same way.
I was meeting a couple of people for dinner, and my friend suggested to give Portofino a try. Apparently the place had been open for a few years just around the corner from the current location, and it used to be decent. Well, definitely wasn't the case tonight, and since we were one of only two tables this evening... I'm thinking that others feel the same way.
August 24, 2011
Seafood disaster
I had long read about Osteria by Angie from a few local blogs - apparently it is one of the newer and popular restaurants in town. As I continue to eat my way across Taipei, in search of newer discoveries, it was inevitable that I would tick this off my list of places to try. So when my Very Very Very Single Friend (added a third "Very" at his request) asked me where I wanted to go, I didn't even hesitate before blurting out the name of this place.
I arrived on time despite having been warned by the Very Very Very Single Friend that he would be late, and for the rest of us to start first. I gave the bottle of wine to a waiter and asked for it to be opened. The cork was promptly pulled out, and the bottle marked with a sticker to indicate which table it belonged to. But it was left on a counter far, far away from me.
I saw a couple of decanters on the shelf, and proceeded to ask a waiter to have the bottle decanted. The junior flunky probably knows absolutely nothing about wine, and didn't really know what I was talking about. His fellow senior waiter got the message, and proceeded to give the flunky a decanter and told him to dump the wine in it. And dump he did... every last drop from the bottle... in about 10 seconds. Thankfully this was a Burg from a relatively weak vintage, and there wasn't any visible sediment. Sigh...
I arrived on time despite having been warned by the Very Very Very Single Friend that he would be late, and for the rest of us to start first. I gave the bottle of wine to a waiter and asked for it to be opened. The cork was promptly pulled out, and the bottle marked with a sticker to indicate which table it belonged to. But it was left on a counter far, far away from me.
I saw a couple of decanters on the shelf, and proceeded to ask a waiter to have the bottle decanted. The junior flunky probably knows absolutely nothing about wine, and didn't really know what I was talking about. His fellow senior waiter got the message, and proceeded to give the flunky a decanter and told him to dump the wine in it. And dump he did... every last drop from the bottle... in about 10 seconds. Thankfully this was a Burg from a relatively weak vintage, and there wasn't any visible sediment. Sigh...
June 28, 2011
The dinner that never was
I do think I'm a little cursed recently. I was on the receiving end of some sub-par service at one of my favorite restaurants for my birthday last week, and tonight I had the rudest service from a restaurant that I've ever had in my entire life. For only the second time in my life, I stormed out of a restaurant without having eaten a single bite, on account of rude and/or arrogant staff.
I was very much looking forward to getting together with my friends, as I haven't seen them in over a year. I definitely wanted to see Rickachu before I left town, and they had decided to book tonight's dinner at g.e. (it's supposed to stand for "gastronomy extraordinary", but believe me, the only thing extraordinary about this place has nothing to do with the food...) Anyway, I was a little curious and wanted to check this place out, as the chef is ex-Kee Club and had apparently spent time in the kitchen of El Bulli. I will just say that I went to Kee Club for dinner once a few years ago, and had some of that "molecular" cuisine, and never bothered to return.
I was very much looking forward to getting together with my friends, as I haven't seen them in over a year. I definitely wanted to see Rickachu before I left town, and they had decided to book tonight's dinner at g.e. (it's supposed to stand for "gastronomy extraordinary", but believe me, the only thing extraordinary about this place has nothing to do with the food...) Anyway, I was a little curious and wanted to check this place out, as the chef is ex-Kee Club and had apparently spent time in the kitchen of El Bulli. I will just say that I went to Kee Club for dinner once a few years ago, and had some of that "molecular" cuisine, and never bothered to return.
February 10, 2011
Slaughtering fat sheep
I finally had a chance to meet up with Tigger's family to wish them happy new year, on the 8th day of the year of the rabbit. I had expected a dinner at home, but as it turned out we went to Tenzen (天膳). This family keeps coming here for dinner, for reasons that are completely foreign to me. I have always found the food to be mediocre at best, and never found any reason to choose them over any of a dozen other places in town.
December 9, 2010
Conseillantes and Colgins
I was invited by the Specialist to join a wine tasting tonight. Hong Kong Wine Vault invited Jean-Michel Laporte, Director of Château La Conseillante, to host a vertical tasting. I had met Jean-Michel on the trip to Bordeaux last year, and I introduced myself and chatted with him for a little while.
The line-up tonight was:
2008 La Conseillante - initially nose of rubber, relatively closed with some smoke. Gradually opened up with some sweet fruit. I had tasted this wine at the château last year and liked it a lot better.
2006 La Conseillante - very fruity, ripe and upfront, quite enjoyable. Almost jammy with a little smoked meats.
2005 La Conseillante - so ripe and sweet, minty, tangerine, smoke, very concentrated but tannins are starting to soften. Some blackcurrant jam. Very lovely.
2001 La Conseillante - nose was a bit stewed, more smoky, and amazingly there was plenty of sweetness underneath the smoky cloak. Smoked game meats, too. Not bad at all.
1998 La Conseillante - a very pleasant wine. Nose of spices and herbs, green bell peppers, and a little smoky. Velvety and sweet on the palate.
1990 La Conseillante - a very lovely wine. Elegant, sweet, fruity with pine needle. Very complex and nicely woven together. On palate it is obvious that the wine has aged. Notes of black pepper and a hint of brett. Palate was definitely tired, and the wine died horribly at the end. It was like falling off a cliff...
I placed the two bottles on the table and took out my long-forgotten wine thermometer to check the temperature. The Specialist and her friend joked that the wines were feverish and I was playing doctor. Well, as Jeannie Cho Lee pointed out in an article in the South China Morning Post today - which I whole-heartedly agree with - red wines at room temperature in Asia is simply too warm. Sure enough, the thermometer read 26 degrees Celsius - a whole 10 degrees warmer than the suggested serving temperature!
The line-up tonight was:
2009 Duo de Conseillante - very ripe and sweet, a bit of sandalwood, alcoholic, tangerine, a bit of toffee and a little tropical.
2009 La Conseillante - a lot more blackcurrant, minty, coffee, sweet and tropical, almost coconut, a bit of smoke and stewed dates.
Dinner time rolled around and we adjourned to the Hong Kong Golf Club in nearby Deep Water Bay. The deal I struck with the Specialist was that I'd bring the wines and she'd buy dinner, and I had originally requested to have dinner at places like Caprice and Pierre. Oh well...
Speaking of wines... I was pretty shocked when the Specialist requested that I bring out some of my Colgins, given her general abhorrence for Californian wines. Apparently she had a chance to meet Ann Colgin and wanted to learn more about Ann's wines. So I obliged, knowing full-well how the evening would end up...
I poured the first wine into our glasses, and lifted mine to take a whiff. Whoa! Nothing but bleach in the nose, like I was smelling Chlorox! After smelling the other glasses I felt sure it wasn't the wine, but the detergent or whatever cleaning agent left in my glass. I was pretty bummed about wasting that first pour as they gave me a new glass.
I still thought the wines were too warm, so I dunked the bottles into an ice bucket for a few minutes, and they drank a little better. The Specialist agreed that the wines got better on the palate, but felt that the nose became more "restrained" at the lower temperature. I respectfully disagreed but, hey, what do I know anyway... She's the one with the famous boss!
2001 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard - alcoholic, smoky, almost like burnt candle wick and wax. Pretty sweet on the palate, but burns as it goes down the back of the throat. Also coffee grinds and toffee notes. Drinking pretty nicely.
2003 Colgin IX Estate - really explosively sweet nose, full of strawberries. Very typical Cali nose, with minerals and caramel notes. Hot and burns the back of the throat. Would be lovely after a few more years of cellaring.
2003 Colgin IX Estate - really explosively sweet nose, full of strawberries. Very typical Cali nose, with minerals and caramel notes. Hot and burns the back of the throat. Would be lovely after a few more years of cellaring.
Now for someone who normally can drink me under the table just by lifting her pinky, what happened tonight was completely out of the ordinary. It's true that the Specialist drank a little more at the pre-dinner tasting than I did, but after about 2 sips of the Colgins she declared that she was getting drunk! She declared herself defeated by the alcoholic Californians - which weighed in at 15.4% and 15.6% alcohol... She found the Herb Lamb a little more palatable, so we finished about 60% of the bottle. The IX Estate didn't fare as well, as there was easily 2/3 of the bottle left... Guess I'll try to finish the wines tomorrow.
Spaghetti carbonara - this was kinda eggy and less creamy than I expected. The sauce wasn't too watery, which wasn't bad.
The Spanish pork chop was a complete disaster. I had thought about asking the kitchen to cook it a bit on the rare side, but bit my tongue. As it turns out I should have, since the pork chop was soooo overdone. My friends were amazed as the table shook violently each time I tried to cut the meat, and they ended up waiting for me to put down my knife before it became their turn to cut their steaks... There were still some juices inside, but the texture was really hard. They also gave me spinach instead of the broccoli I asked for, and the water from the spinach was all over the plate... I didn't want to waste the piece of meat so I ate it as is, instead of sending it back and getting a new piece.
I opined that the club's members are mostly old fogies and they prefer their meats a little more well-done. Pretty glad I'm not a member, as I'm not inclined to come back anytime soon...
I realized tonight that it didn't matter whether the Californian wine I brought cost $40 a bottle or $400 a bottle - the Specialist would end up drinking a few sips and I'd end up taking half the bottle home. Guess I'll be bringing $40 bottles for her in the future...
July 24, 2010
Muddy waters
I joined a group of chefs and foodies for dinner tonight at Ming Court (明閣), the Michelin 2-star restaurant. I had never been here due to its location, but figured I'd check it out after its promotion from 1 to 2 stars. The menu was preset ahead of time, including a few special requests.
Chilled bean curd sheet with shredded duck meat in chili sauce (井岡山腐皮火鴨絲) - definitely pretty yummy. The shredded duck was very tasty with just the right amount of spiciness, and a very nice bite. What a great way to start the meal.
Chilled drunken pigeon (太白醉香鴿) - the meat was pretty tender, and the taste of the Chinese wine was fairly prominent.
Stir-fried fresh shrimp with egg white (海生蝦炒蛋白) - very much like the Shanghainese imitation crab (賽螃蟹), prawns were de-shelled and stir-fried, then topped with a layer of soft egg white that wobbled. Vinegar added some additional flavors to the otherwise bland egg white, as one would do with the Shanghainese original. The deep-fried Indian mustard (雪菜) was good...
Braised shredded winter melon and mashed carrot accompanied with broccoli top with egg white (珊瑚素心燕) - this was actually very interesting, and pretty good. The yellow topping was not real crab roe, but made of carrots and egg white to achieve the same look. The winter melon was tasty.
We reached the turning point of the meal, where things went very wrong. We were on a schedule as some of us needed to leave by a certain hour, so we instructed the staff to pace the dishes at intervals of around 15 minutes each. For some reason the kitchen stopped sending dishes our way for about half an hour after the last dish, and we got pretty upset after a while when we were still staring at an empty tabletop after repeated reminders. The manager came to apologize, and said that the kitchen was extremely busy and overworked. That may be, but everyone else around us was getting dish after dish - except for us! This is certainly not the way a Michelin-starred restaurant should run its kitchen, and there were 4 chefs present at the table who know how kitchens are run at Michelin star restaurants... they've worked in them! Does he think we're stupid and blind?!
The next dish that showed up was the stir-fried sliced garoupa with assorted mushrooms and dried shrimp roe (蝦籽鮮菌麒麟斑). My first couple of bites were wonderful - the mushrooms were very tasty, as was the Chinese cabbage. The garoupa, however, was a total disaster. The taste was very muddy, as least to me and a few others. I debated about whether or not to swallow what I had put into my mouth, and eventually regretted not spitting it out. I'm pretty sensitive to muddy fish and I found it mildly nauseating, and I was surprised that a Michelin 2-star restaurant would be serving poor quality fish like this. We complained to the manager and ask him to taste the fish. The restaurant subsequently decided not to charge us for the fish.
Stir-fried pigeon eggs with crab meat, scallop, egg white and yellow oily crab roe (芺蓉蟹粉白鴿蛋) - this was much better, and actually pretty delicious. Definitely liked the very young pea shoots, and of course the combination of crab meat, scallop, egg white and crab roe was right up my alley. I've never had pigeon eggs before, and the translucent egg white was pretty interesting.
Crispy fried chicken (朗豪炸子雞) - special request was made to "age" this live chicken for 3 days after killing it. The result was very tender and juicy meat, and I had a large piece of the breast! Very well done.
Stir-fried giant garoupa stuffed with shrimp paste in soya sauce (龍皇披金甲) - a pretty interesting creation, where garoupa fillet was inset into a layer of shrimp paste. It would have been nice, except that once again, there was a hint of muddiness in the garoupa. By this time I've pretty much had it with this place.
Osmanthus jelly and mango pudding (桂花糕/芒果布甸) - this was comped by the restaurant for the poor service, and arrived with the dry ice presentation. Taste-wise the jelly was a little too tough and chewy, and probably the worst version I've had in a while. We had two gweilos at our table sitting on both sides of me - including our Resident Froggie who was completely ignored by the chauvinistic manager as he insisted on only talking to the big guy with the beard... Then he told us that they sent us this dessert because gweilos all like mango pudding... So, stereotyping AND chauvinistic AND condescending...
Steamed custard buns with egg yolk (明閣流沙包) - the signature dessert certainly did not disappoint. The salty egg yolk filling was very runny, and incredibly delicious. At least the dinner ended on a very good note.
I was very, very stuffed, and still a little uneasy thanks to the muddy taste of the fish, so I decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood to digest my meal... While the meal turned out to be fairly cheap - thanks to the fish being comped and some additional discount privilege we were able to use - I think it will be some time before I would have the desire to go out of my way for a revisit...
We reached the turning point of the meal, where things went very wrong. We were on a schedule as some of us needed to leave by a certain hour, so we instructed the staff to pace the dishes at intervals of around 15 minutes each. For some reason the kitchen stopped sending dishes our way for about half an hour after the last dish, and we got pretty upset after a while when we were still staring at an empty tabletop after repeated reminders. The manager came to apologize, and said that the kitchen was extremely busy and overworked. That may be, but everyone else around us was getting dish after dish - except for us! This is certainly not the way a Michelin-starred restaurant should run its kitchen, and there were 4 chefs present at the table who know how kitchens are run at Michelin star restaurants... they've worked in them! Does he think we're stupid and blind?!
I was very, very stuffed, and still a little uneasy thanks to the muddy taste of the fish, so I decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood to digest my meal... While the meal turned out to be fairly cheap - thanks to the fish being comped and some additional discount privilege we were able to use - I think it will be some time before I would have the desire to go out of my way for a revisit...
July 19, 2010
How to woo your lover with wine
We got together for another MNSC tasting tonight. The format was "open", meaning each of us brought a bottle to fit a theme and the evening wasn't scored. Our current convener paired us up, and asked each of us to bring a bottle to "woo" the other person.
We held the tasting at Summer Palace (夏宮) for the first time, and will most certainly be our last. Honestly, the only time I've dined here in the last 8 years or so was the Araujo dinner - and I came for the wine, not the food. I never understood why people liked the food here, and laughed my head off when the Michelin people gave this place 2 stars.
Baked stuffed crab shell (焗釀鮮蟹蓋) - once again this was very, very yummy. I refrained from using any sauces at the beginning, since the taste of crab meat was good enough by itself. I could also taste the butter... slurp...
Sautéed prawns and scallops in crispy nest (雀巢海中寳) - honestly very ho-hum. I had one scallop and one prawn, with lots of celery along with part of the deep-fried dough that made up the nest.
Double-boiled sea whelk soup with US ginseng (花旗參燉螺頭湯) - the smell and taste of ginseng was overpowering. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but our evening was about wine and this would be distracting. Then there was the whelk... We asked for a menu that would work well with red wines, and we get whelk?! I accidentally took a sip of wine after chewing on a piece of the shellfish, and my mouth was filled instantly with that "fishy" taste. What a disaster!
Pan-fried fillet of tiger garoupa in gravy (燒汁煎老虎斑扒) - WTF?! Tiger garoupa isn't exactly a cheap fish, and they choose to fillet it and then pan-fried it with batter on the outside?! Why can't they just steam the damn thing?! And that sauce... so much sugar I thought it was syrup... I had joked earlier about my last dinner here being very "gweilo", and here's a perfectly gweilo dish! I guess this is why the Michelin people like the place...
Braised black mushrooms with seasonal vegetables (北菇扒時蔬) - this was OK. Mushrooms were nice.
Deep-fried crispy chicken (脆皮炸子雞) - didn't find this memorable, but that might have been thanks to the amount of alcohol I've had by this time...
Braised flat noodles with shredded barbecued pork and ginger (薑蔥叉燒撈粗麵) - we finally blew up, and called the waiter over. While the scallion and ginger-flavored sauce was tasty, there was no trace of char siu in any of our bowls... The waiter subsequently brought us a plate of fatty char siu (半肥瘦叉燒), and the quality of the meat made things even worse... This pretty much put Summer Palace off our approved list of restaurants.
Forget the food. The wines this evening were pretty interesting. We started with a bottle of 2000 Penfolds Yattarna - something I realized I liked a few months ago. Lots of toasty popcorn, nutty, honey, a little oxidized and some minerals. The color was kinda deep, and while it wasn't as fresh as some would like it to be, I thought it wasn't bad.
First pair: Pineapple and Dr. Poon
2003 Harlan - Wow! This was so powerful on the nose. Lots of minerals, iron/rust, coffee, walnut... Sweet but not overpowering, and a little alcoholic on the nose. The edges are starting to round out, but it was still tannic on the finish. Also some exotic spices and tea leaves. 94 points.
Pineapple brought this to woo Dr. Poon, since we all know Dr. Poon to be a (former) enthusiast of top Californian wines. We think he was trying to send a message for the return of the prodigal son (浪子回頭)...
1982 Le Gay - smoky, definitely more mature than the other wine. Still kinda alcoholic on the nose with herbs. Round and delicious on the palate. 93 points.
There was a screwup by Anthony, the so-called "sommelier" of the restaurant. This wine was brought by Lord Rayas to woo Juliano, and was supposed to be part of the second flight. When I dropped off my bottle during the day, I suspected that Anthony didn't seem to have a good grip on what we were trying to do here... and sure enough, there was a mix-up. The gang was pretty livid. The evening's funniest comment came from Dr. Poon, who remarked that this was likely a message from God, since the Le Gay (a wine we always associated we Pineapple in the past) found its way to him in the end...
Second pair: Juliano and Lord Rayas
1976 Petrus - notes of plum, spices, sweet with a little soy sauce. Soft and silky on the palate, and a little floral at the end. 93 points.
This was the wine Dr. Poon wanted to woo Pineapple with, as it's from his birth year and the only "drinkable" wine from that vintage after trying a few candidates. Definitely a commendable effort!
1991 Guigal La Landonne - a little "stinky", a little ginseng and medicinal... nose was kinda muted and not really showing much fruit. Later on there was a little sweetness and toffee. 91 points. Once again Pineapple and I had completely opposite reactions to a wine. His wine of the evening was my least favorite...
We all expected Juliano to bring a bottle of Rayas to woo Lord Rayas, but I guess he didn't want to be so predictable...
Last pair: Alexandre and I
1983 Guigal La Mouline - lots of violet, initially a little dusty and dirty. Nose was a little oxidized and mature, with some ripe fruits. Really smooth on the palate. To be honest, this wine performed below my expectations... I thought I'd be blown away by one of my all-time favorite vintages of my favorite wine, but it was not to be... 94 points.
I brought the wine for Alexandre because it was part of the Syrah vs. Shiraz tasting which we did back in 2001. That dinner saw us pitting the '83 La Mouline against the '83 Grange, and once the La Mouline opened up it completely kicked the behind of the Grange. That dinner was essentially the start of what would become MNSC... Even though it's not a Beaucastel, it's still "definitely my shit" as Alexandre said...
1998 Sine Qua Non E-raised - typical of an SQN Syrah, this had tons of iron, minerals and smelled "bloody" on the nose. Still really alcoholic, with some coffee notes. Totally up my alley. Decanted for 8 hours (!) and still going strong... 95 points.
Alexandre brought this for me since the group knows how much I like Californian wines, and Sine Qua Non especially. He actually bought the bottle from me a few years ago, after our all-Sine Qua Non dinner.
This was definitely a good evening as far as wines go, and the group thought that the open format was actually a lot of fun. I actually always felt this format was more fun than our usual "totally blind" tastings... We'll be doing our next tasting next month, and I am really looking forward to it!
We held the tasting at Summer Palace (夏宮) for the first time, and will most certainly be our last. Honestly, the only time I've dined here in the last 8 years or so was the Araujo dinner - and I came for the wine, not the food. I never understood why people liked the food here, and laughed my head off when the Michelin people gave this place 2 stars.
Double-boiled sea whelk soup with US ginseng (花旗參燉螺頭湯) - the smell and taste of ginseng was overpowering. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but our evening was about wine and this would be distracting. Then there was the whelk... We asked for a menu that would work well with red wines, and we get whelk?! I accidentally took a sip of wine after chewing on a piece of the shellfish, and my mouth was filled instantly with that "fishy" taste. What a disaster!
Deep-fried crispy chicken (脆皮炸子雞) - didn't find this memorable, but that might have been thanks to the amount of alcohol I've had by this time...
First pair: Pineapple and Dr. Poon
Pineapple brought this to woo Dr. Poon, since we all know Dr. Poon to be a (former) enthusiast of top Californian wines. We think he was trying to send a message for the return of the prodigal son (浪子回頭)...
There was a screwup by Anthony, the so-called "sommelier" of the restaurant. This wine was brought by Lord Rayas to woo Juliano, and was supposed to be part of the second flight. When I dropped off my bottle during the day, I suspected that Anthony didn't seem to have a good grip on what we were trying to do here... and sure enough, there was a mix-up. The gang was pretty livid. The evening's funniest comment came from Dr. Poon, who remarked that this was likely a message from God, since the Le Gay (a wine we always associated we Pineapple in the past) found its way to him in the end...
Second pair: Juliano and Lord Rayas
This was the wine Dr. Poon wanted to woo Pineapple with, as it's from his birth year and the only "drinkable" wine from that vintage after trying a few candidates. Definitely a commendable effort!
We all expected Juliano to bring a bottle of Rayas to woo Lord Rayas, but I guess he didn't want to be so predictable...
Last pair: Alexandre and I
I brought the wine for Alexandre because it was part of the Syrah vs. Shiraz tasting which we did back in 2001. That dinner saw us pitting the '83 La Mouline against the '83 Grange, and once the La Mouline opened up it completely kicked the behind of the Grange. That dinner was essentially the start of what would become MNSC... Even though it's not a Beaucastel, it's still "definitely my shit" as Alexandre said...
Alexandre brought this for me since the group knows how much I like Californian wines, and Sine Qua Non especially. He actually bought the bottle from me a few years ago, after our all-Sine Qua Non dinner.
This was definitely a good evening as far as wines go, and the group thought that the open format was actually a lot of fun. I actually always felt this format was more fun than our usual "totally blind" tastings... We'll be doing our next tasting next month, and I am really looking forward to it!
May 27, 2010
Definitely not a happy meal
It's iPad day, and I went to pick up my new toy from friends who were staying at the W. As they just came back from a grueling few days at the Shanghai Expo, we decided to find somewhere close to the hotel for dinner. For one reason or another we ended up at Xĭ Yàn Flavours (囍宴 滋·選). What a mistake it turned out to be!
Cold tofu with shrimp and crab relish (蝦兵蟹將凍豆腐) - I took one bite and knew instantly it was gonna be a disaster. I was thinking to myself that the dried shrimps (蝦米) were some of the toughest I've ever chewed on, when my friend blurted out the exact same thought.
Greenhouse tomatoes in wasabi sesame sauce (芥末胡麻醬拌日本溫室蕃茄) - one of two dishes that tasted OK.
Sichuan spicy chicken (招牌口水雞) - the only other dish that tasted OK to me. Nice chunks of cold chicken marinated with spicy vinegar, served with mung bean pappardelle, century eggs and some peanuts.
Crispy stuffed duck with glutinous rice (香酥糯米鴨) - this was so bad but somehow I ended up having two pieces, and I had to ask myself why I bothered with the second piece. These were really hard as bricks... the duck was tough, made into blocks with glutinous and deep-fried. My friends were smarter...they refused to eat a second piece.
Radish patty in XO sauce (囍宴XO醬炒蘿蔔糕) - another dish when it took one bite to know we're heading into disaster territory. The cubes of radish cake - stuffed with mushrooms and sausage - were hard. I ended up eating everything else but the radish cake.
Fried spring rolls with radish and dried oysters (原隻蠔豉蘿蔔絲春卷) - the only dish I ordered, and wasn't great either. While I liked the flavor of the dried oysters, the thing was just too salty.
This really was a disaster. I remember a time when a meal at Xĭ Yàn was something to look forward to. Has the franchise over-expanded to the point where quality control simply went out the window? After this meal, I can't imagine any of us wanting to come back. Ever.
Cold tofu with shrimp and crab relish (蝦兵蟹將凍豆腐) - I took one bite and knew instantly it was gonna be a disaster. I was thinking to myself that the dried shrimps (蝦米) were some of the toughest I've ever chewed on, when my friend blurted out the exact same thought.
Greenhouse tomatoes in wasabi sesame sauce (芥末胡麻醬拌日本溫室蕃茄) - one of two dishes that tasted OK.
Sichuan spicy chicken (招牌口水雞) - the only other dish that tasted OK to me. Nice chunks of cold chicken marinated with spicy vinegar, served with mung bean pappardelle, century eggs and some peanuts.
Crispy stuffed duck with glutinous rice (香酥糯米鴨) - this was so bad but somehow I ended up having two pieces, and I had to ask myself why I bothered with the second piece. These were really hard as bricks... the duck was tough, made into blocks with glutinous and deep-fried. My friends were smarter...they refused to eat a second piece.
Radish patty in XO sauce (囍宴XO醬炒蘿蔔糕) - another dish when it took one bite to know we're heading into disaster territory. The cubes of radish cake - stuffed with mushrooms and sausage - were hard. I ended up eating everything else but the radish cake.
Fried spring rolls with radish and dried oysters (原隻蠔豉蘿蔔絲春卷) - the only dish I ordered, and wasn't great either. While I liked the flavor of the dried oysters, the thing was just too salty.
This really was a disaster. I remember a time when a meal at Xĭ Yàn was something to look forward to. Has the franchise over-expanded to the point where quality control simply went out the window? After this meal, I can't imagine any of us wanting to come back. Ever.
March 31, 2010
Clueless and incompetent
I met up with two friends for dinner on short notice. Although both of them are good friends whom I've known for years, dinner with the two of them together can be quite an affair. SOP calls for Korean, and ordering way too much food so that we leave the restaurant totally stuffed.
We went to ChumChumMi, which was supposed to be Korean with a fusion bent. The menu was extensive, and while there were many traditional-looking dishes, there were also a few which raised an eyebrow or two. There were also a selection of "Korean Royal Cuisine" but honestly I didn't see anything special about the dishes.
This sorry excuse for a restaurant failed so badly right from the start, and the hole just kept getting deeper. The whole restaurant was empty - we were the only table. The staff decided that the three of us only needed 2 menus, so we had to ask for another one for me.
We spent some time choosing the dishes we wanted to order, and called over a waitress. After listening to us ordering three dishes, she turned to leave us as she assumed that we were done with our ordering. We informed her that we were not finished, and asked whether she needed to write down the names of the dishes. No need, apparently. A manager came over, and he also confirmed that they would be able to remember all the dishes we were going to order. We pointed to the names of the dishes on the menu while placing our order. Nothing was written down despite our repeated requests.
Minutes later the manager returned and asked us to confirm a dish that we had ordered. We informed him that we did not order that particular dish, and proceeded to reconfirm each dish once again. He went away.
While waiting for our food, I decided to pick up a bread roll and spread some butter on part of it. I almost spat it out. The butter was stale and racid - it probably had been sitting out in room temperature for who knows how long. I asked my friends to stay away from the butter. I've never had a restaurant serve me stale butter like this. Ever.
Food started to arrive and things started to calm down, sort of. The chives mandu in small portion were OK, like Japanese gyoza. Samgeobsal kochoojang was pretty spicy, but I was a little disappointed in the three-layered pork - it was a little too shredded and there was not much fat. Sea whelk in spicy sour sauce with noodles also came as a small portion, and was pretty decent.
So daechang gui was by far our favorite dish. The ox intestine on the hotplate was just soooo yummy... I could have had the whole plate myself. The fried spring onions worked well with the intestine. Mini kimchijuns were disappointing - doughy and flabby when they should be more dry and crispy.
Seafood ddeokbokgi was from the "Korean Royal Cuisine" section. Now I'm no expert on Korean food, but my travels to Seoul tells me that ddeokbokgi is actually street food most popular on cold winter nights. Calling street food "royal cuisine" is an oxymoron. Instead of just rice cakes and simple fish cakes, the restaurant decided to make a "premium" version by using real seafood - like crab, mussels...etc. This was pretty spicy, too, as expected.
Pineapple bulgogi wasn't what I expected at all. It was nothing more than simple slices of stir-fried beef (perhaps tenderized with pineapple juice) with a few chunks of pineapple on the side. I'm left scratching my head trying to figure out why this dish was created at all...
We were also brought a plate of spicy seafood noodles. For some reason the restaurant thought we ordered this - yet another confusion thanks to their refusal to write down our orders. We sent it back, but they decided to give it to us anyway on a complimentary basis. After all, they had no other customers to give it to. It was bland and uninteresting.
For dessert we chose the preserved persimmon stuffed with mixed nuts and dried fruits. This was pretty good - stuffed with walnuts, black sesame...etc and garnished with pine nuts and jujube. The yuzu sauce was nice.
We were stuffed. On average the food was OK, although there were only at most two dishes which we liked. But what was up with the service?! These people - and there were at least four of them - were just totally clueless! If you don't know the names of the dishes, or can't remember the names beyond three dishes, use your pen and paper to write them down! How can they not understand something so basic?!
And what's with the manager's uniform jacket? The name of the restaurant was embroidered on the left sleeve of the guy's pin-stripe jacket, in the same spot where the mainland Chinese people used to show off the brand names of their jackets. Dude, I don't care about how cool your uniform is...I care about how good your service can be...
Three months after opening, at 8pm on a Wednesday night, in a busy shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, the restaurant served three customers out of a capacity of about 60. The Japanese ramen shop next door is doing brisk business, so the restaurant is empty not for lack of traffic. Frankly, there's absolutely no reason for me to go back - not with uninspiring food and clueless staff. My friends and I give the place another three months...
We went to ChumChumMi, which was supposed to be Korean with a fusion bent. The menu was extensive, and while there were many traditional-looking dishes, there were also a few which raised an eyebrow or two. There were also a selection of "Korean Royal Cuisine" but honestly I didn't see anything special about the dishes.
This sorry excuse for a restaurant failed so badly right from the start, and the hole just kept getting deeper. The whole restaurant was empty - we were the only table. The staff decided that the three of us only needed 2 menus, so we had to ask for another one for me.
We spent some time choosing the dishes we wanted to order, and called over a waitress. After listening to us ordering three dishes, she turned to leave us as she assumed that we were done with our ordering. We informed her that we were not finished, and asked whether she needed to write down the names of the dishes. No need, apparently. A manager came over, and he also confirmed that they would be able to remember all the dishes we were going to order. We pointed to the names of the dishes on the menu while placing our order. Nothing was written down despite our repeated requests.
Minutes later the manager returned and asked us to confirm a dish that we had ordered. We informed him that we did not order that particular dish, and proceeded to reconfirm each dish once again. He went away.
While waiting for our food, I decided to pick up a bread roll and spread some butter on part of it. I almost spat it out. The butter was stale and racid - it probably had been sitting out in room temperature for who knows how long. I asked my friends to stay away from the butter. I've never had a restaurant serve me stale butter like this. Ever.
Food started to arrive and things started to calm down, sort of. The chives mandu in small portion were OK, like Japanese gyoza. Samgeobsal kochoojang was pretty spicy, but I was a little disappointed in the three-layered pork - it was a little too shredded and there was not much fat. Sea whelk in spicy sour sauce with noodles also came as a small portion, and was pretty decent.
So daechang gui was by far our favorite dish. The ox intestine on the hotplate was just soooo yummy... I could have had the whole plate myself. The fried spring onions worked well with the intestine. Mini kimchijuns were disappointing - doughy and flabby when they should be more dry and crispy.
Seafood ddeokbokgi was from the "Korean Royal Cuisine" section. Now I'm no expert on Korean food, but my travels to Seoul tells me that ddeokbokgi is actually street food most popular on cold winter nights. Calling street food "royal cuisine" is an oxymoron. Instead of just rice cakes and simple fish cakes, the restaurant decided to make a "premium" version by using real seafood - like crab, mussels...etc. This was pretty spicy, too, as expected.
Pineapple bulgogi wasn't what I expected at all. It was nothing more than simple slices of stir-fried beef (perhaps tenderized with pineapple juice) with a few chunks of pineapple on the side. I'm left scratching my head trying to figure out why this dish was created at all...
We were also brought a plate of spicy seafood noodles. For some reason the restaurant thought we ordered this - yet another confusion thanks to their refusal to write down our orders. We sent it back, but they decided to give it to us anyway on a complimentary basis. After all, they had no other customers to give it to. It was bland and uninteresting.
For dessert we chose the preserved persimmon stuffed with mixed nuts and dried fruits. This was pretty good - stuffed with walnuts, black sesame...etc and garnished with pine nuts and jujube. The yuzu sauce was nice.
We were stuffed. On average the food was OK, although there were only at most two dishes which we liked. But what was up with the service?! These people - and there were at least four of them - were just totally clueless! If you don't know the names of the dishes, or can't remember the names beyond three dishes, use your pen and paper to write them down! How can they not understand something so basic?!
And what's with the manager's uniform jacket? The name of the restaurant was embroidered on the left sleeve of the guy's pin-stripe jacket, in the same spot where the mainland Chinese people used to show off the brand names of their jackets. Dude, I don't care about how cool your uniform is...I care about how good your service can be...
Three months after opening, at 8pm on a Wednesday night, in a busy shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, the restaurant served three customers out of a capacity of about 60. The Japanese ramen shop next door is doing brisk business, so the restaurant is empty not for lack of traffic. Frankly, there's absolutely no reason for me to go back - not with uninspiring food and clueless staff. My friends and I give the place another three months...
February 20, 2010
Flushing another Michelin star down the toilet
It's been two hours since I stopped eating, I've recovered from my buzz, and now it's time for dinner. I volunteered (insisted?) to pick the venue for this post-Lunar New Year dinner with my adopted family, and decided we should try out Regal Palace (富豪金殿). Reasons for this pick? 1: I was tasked to find a new place where the family hasn't been. 2: The restaurant has gotten a macaron for the last two years. 3: I vaguely remember a fellow blogger talking about it last year. I should have listened to the naysayers next to me...
As soon as we walked in, I detected a whiff of that "Chinese (read mainland) restaurant" smell... and was amazed that I found it in a restaurant in Hong Kong, and one with a star, no less! Not a good sign of things to come.
I was still pretty full, and the ordering was done by someone else. In retrospect I should have insisted on ordering for all of us. There were a few Lunar New Year specials that I wanted to try, but I wasn't gonna eat a whole lot anyway. Oh well.
The stuffed tofu skin (腐皮卷) was OK. The skin had the right amount of smoky flavor, but the filling of julienned veggies could have been cut finer. Maybe I'm just spoiled but it was just too crunchy for me.
We probably should not have ordered the Chiuchow-style marinated cuttlefish (潮式鹵水魷魚)...it's more a noodle shop item for me...and of course it sucked. We actually ended up asking them whether this was made in-house or bought from outside... None of us wanted to have it so someone went and finished it all.
Roast Peking duck (北京片鴨) was next, and it was OK. I was hungry enough to have made 3 pancake wraps out of it.
I didn't touch the next two dishes as they were pretty uninteresting to me. Stir-fried beef with spring onions (蔥爆牛肉) was for someone else's benefit; spinach in superior broth (上湯菠菜) was boring, and I hate that sometimes spinach carries that earthy taste. Apparently the spinach here had fine grains of sand...didn't wash or flush them out thoroughly.
The pan-fried prawns in soy sauce (豉油煎中蝦) was probably the only decent dish all night. It was the only thing that somewhat got my mouth watering...
The hairy gourd and conpoy pot (瑤柱節瓜煲) is normally something I would really love, but tonight I didn't have much of an appetite. This is a simple dish that I enjoy, but what I had in front of me didn't look as appetizing as the ones I had elsewhere... Would have preferred a little less soy sauce so the thing didn't look as dark. But taste-wise it was OK. I even had seconds.
The remainder of the duck came back as stir-fried diced duck (炒鴨崧), which we wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves. This was also a little disappointing. The duck meat wasn't that good - kinda mushy in fact. They added water chestnuts for crunch but I was kinda hoping they'd throw in a few pinenuts...no such luck.
Finally, there was a stir-fried mixed vegetable dish featuring lotus root.
I was pretty excited about the dessert menu, because it's the first time I've seen a four-page dessert menu at a Chinese restaurant. But I was pretty full and I think the crowd wasn't that happy with the food anyway, so no dessert for me.
I came back and looked for my fellow blogger's post about this place - and my own comment at the time. I actually said something like "it looks like I don't need to go for a visit"... Well! I came, regretted my decision, and won't be coming back. Admittedly, we did not order anything really special, and some of the dishes we ordered weren't exactly Cantonese. But I'm a firm believer that if a restaurant can't get the simple dishes right, then they shouldn't be in business.
As soon as we walked in, I detected a whiff of that "Chinese (read mainland) restaurant" smell... and was amazed that I found it in a restaurant in Hong Kong, and one with a star, no less! Not a good sign of things to come.
I was still pretty full, and the ordering was done by someone else. In retrospect I should have insisted on ordering for all of us. There were a few Lunar New Year specials that I wanted to try, but I wasn't gonna eat a whole lot anyway. Oh well.
I didn't touch the next two dishes as they were pretty uninteresting to me. Stir-fried beef with spring onions (蔥爆牛肉) was for someone else's benefit; spinach in superior broth (上湯菠菜) was boring, and I hate that sometimes spinach carries that earthy taste. Apparently the spinach here had fine grains of sand...didn't wash or flush them out thoroughly.
Finally, there was a stir-fried mixed vegetable dish featuring lotus root.
I was pretty excited about the dessert menu, because it's the first time I've seen a four-page dessert menu at a Chinese restaurant. But I was pretty full and I think the crowd wasn't that happy with the food anyway, so no dessert for me.
I came back and looked for my fellow blogger's post about this place - and my own comment at the time. I actually said something like "it looks like I don't need to go for a visit"... Well! I came, regretted my decision, and won't be coming back. Admittedly, we did not order anything really special, and some of the dishes we ordered weren't exactly Cantonese. But I'm a firm believer that if a restaurant can't get the simple dishes right, then they shouldn't be in business.
January 8, 2010
Why a restaurant deserves losing its Michelin star
I met up with a couple of friends for dinner tonight. One of them is in town from Taipei, and wanted some Cantonese food, so my other friend booked a table at Lei Garden (利苑) in IFC for us. It's been more than half a year since I was last here, and things have gone downhill sooooo badly that I was livid and ready to leave the restaurant, even before we started eating! I totally understand why they lost the Michelin macaron in the latest edition.
We were given 2 menus: the regular a la carte menu, as well as a plastic tube on the table seemingly listing the "greatest hits". We looked both over and started to place our order with one of the captains.
"Can we have a roast barbeque combination with roast suckling pig (烤乳豬) and another item?"
"Sorry, no more suckling pig, but we can offer you roast pork belly (燒肉)."
"OK, can we have that with roast duck (燒鴨)?"
"Sorry, we don't have roast duck, either. You have a choice of roast pork belly, char siu (叉燒) or chicken."
What?! Awwww...forget it!
I was in serious disbelief that at 8pm on a Friday night, standard menu items that every Cantonese restaurant will stock in full were unavailable. The captain proceeded to tell us that they are in the middle of a menu change, so we shouldn't order off the a la carte menu but look at the plastic tube instead. WTF?! I asked the captain why we were given the a la carte menu at all if it's basically useless, and was told that it was necessary to show the a la carte menu to customers since it has the English and Japanese translations, while the plastic tube only listed dishes in Chinese...
OK, so we look at the tube and try to order something listed on it. The table next door ordered a pan-fried giant grouper fillet (香煎龍躉扒), which one of my friends found interesting. "Can we have that, please?" "Sorry, the only giant grouper dish we have left (out of three preparations listed on the tube) is the braised fin (炆翅). You should order that one." What?!
There were a few other things we wanted which weren't available, and by now I was fuming and ready to get up to leave the restaurant. But I didn't want to make it difficult for my friends, so I stayed and proceeded to order our food.
First to arrive was braised prawn in casserole (金榜題名生中蝦煲). The Chinese name was kinda elegant, and the English description sounded innocuous enough. What we actually got was prawns in laksa sauce. Yes, as in the Malaysian/Singaporean dish with that curry/coconut milk/chili broth. No wonder the waiter told us that it was a little spicy. And here I was thinking that they were just gonna sprinkle a little black pepper or chili powder on top... In all honestly the prawns were pretty tasty, and came with little steamed buns for us to dip into the sauce. But they probably should have described the dish to us when we ordered it...so we knew that it wasn't exactly Cantonese.
Next came the braised conpoy and assorted vegetables (瑤柱海味雑菜煲). This is a simple dish but one of my favorites at classic Cantonese restaurants. Lots of veggies mixed in with conpoy (瑤柱, dried scallops), dried shrimps, sea cucumbers and glass vermicelli (粉絲).
We did order fish in the end - a steamed green wrasse (蒸青衣). I have to admit that they did an excellent job of steaming the fish - the texture of the flesh was just right. Of course, the fish itself was very nice and fresh, too. Perfect with some steamed rice.
The final dish was steamed lotus leaf wrapped chicken and Chinese preserved sausage in small steamer (籠仔荷葉臘腸蒸雞). The combination of flavors is pretty classic - chicken, shiitake mushrooms, preserved sausage enhanced with the fragrance of lotus leaves.
I brought a bottle of 1995 Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Les Varonniers, which turned out not to match the food we ordered. But it drank reasonably well, considering how little I paid for the wine years ago. Classic Rhone nose and palate, with bacon fat, floral and Christmas potpourri notes. Medium body. Pretty enjoyable as a casual wine.
There was definitely enough food to feed the three of us, and I couldn't find fault with the quality of the food. But this would probably be my last visit to Lei Garden in a long, long time. Their attitude was just ridiculous. To not offer more than half the items on the menu, and have the gall to blame it on menu change (isn't this the first week of January?) and expect customers to just accept it as something normal is just too much. I'm not sure why the people at Michelin took away the star this year, but from where I'm sitting they definitely don't deserve any.
We were given 2 menus: the regular a la carte menu, as well as a plastic tube on the table seemingly listing the "greatest hits". We looked both over and started to place our order with one of the captains.
"Can we have a roast barbeque combination with roast suckling pig (烤乳豬) and another item?"
"Sorry, no more suckling pig, but we can offer you roast pork belly (燒肉)."
"OK, can we have that with roast duck (燒鴨)?"
"Sorry, we don't have roast duck, either. You have a choice of roast pork belly, char siu (叉燒) or chicken."
What?! Awwww...forget it!
I was in serious disbelief that at 8pm on a Friday night, standard menu items that every Cantonese restaurant will stock in full were unavailable. The captain proceeded to tell us that they are in the middle of a menu change, so we shouldn't order off the a la carte menu but look at the plastic tube instead. WTF?! I asked the captain why we were given the a la carte menu at all if it's basically useless, and was told that it was necessary to show the a la carte menu to customers since it has the English and Japanese translations, while the plastic tube only listed dishes in Chinese...
OK, so we look at the tube and try to order something listed on it. The table next door ordered a pan-fried giant grouper fillet (香煎龍躉扒), which one of my friends found interesting. "Can we have that, please?" "Sorry, the only giant grouper dish we have left (out of three preparations listed on the tube) is the braised fin (炆翅). You should order that one." What?!
There were a few other things we wanted which weren't available, and by now I was fuming and ready to get up to leave the restaurant. But I didn't want to make it difficult for my friends, so I stayed and proceeded to order our food.
We did order fish in the end - a steamed green wrasse (蒸青衣). I have to admit that they did an excellent job of steaming the fish - the texture of the flesh was just right. Of course, the fish itself was very nice and fresh, too. Perfect with some steamed rice.
I brought a bottle of 1995 Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Les Varonniers, which turned out not to match the food we ordered. But it drank reasonably well, considering how little I paid for the wine years ago. Classic Rhone nose and palate, with bacon fat, floral and Christmas potpourri notes. Medium body. Pretty enjoyable as a casual wine.
There was definitely enough food to feed the three of us, and I couldn't find fault with the quality of the food. But this would probably be my last visit to Lei Garden in a long, long time. Their attitude was just ridiculous. To not offer more than half the items on the menu, and have the gall to blame it on menu change (isn't this the first week of January?) and expect customers to just accept it as something normal is just too much. I'm not sure why the people at Michelin took away the star this year, but from where I'm sitting they definitely don't deserve any.
October 16, 2009
Opening day bomb
I met up with some friends for dinner at Suzufuji (鈴籐), a Japanese sushi joint near my old office in Taipei. This was recommended by a friend who used to frequent the joint when it was an izakaya (居酒屋). Unfortunately for us, the owners decided to remake this place into a sushi joint, and tonight was their opening night!
The menu consisted of 1 page on their lunch specials, 2 pages on dinner sets and à la carte items, and about twice as many pages on their alcohol selection. I suppose this is in line with the Taiwanese practice of having omakase sets at sushi joints. I chose the most expensive set menu to see whether this place can deliver. They couldn't.
Yamaimo (山芋)"noodles" - this was very nice. Fresh yamaimo cut into very thin strands resembling noodles, with the typical sticky, viscous "juice" as a lubricant. This was garnished with a dab of wasabi, thin strands of nori seaweed (のり), and chopped okra. Very refreshing and a good way to start dinner on a warm day.
Sashimi platter of seared yellow tail (炙りはまち), sweet shrimp (甘エビ) and red snapper (鯛). Not used to having seared yellow tail but I guess it was OK.
Grilled red king crab legs (鱈場蟹) - pretty decent and juicy.
A series of nigiri sushi : tuna (鮪), salmon (鮭), red horsehead (赤甘鯛), scallop (帆立), squid (イカ) sprinkled with salt, seared flounder (炙り鰈) with yuzu salt.
Tempura platter with shrimp, some white fish, shiitake mushroom, pumpkin and eggplant. This was OK.
Tiger prawn (車海老) sushi with a bit of sweetened cooked egg yolk spread around it. Somehow it just didn't feel right.
Mini omelette filled with eel - I really liked this one. While many other places would make this savory, here they added plenty of sugar to make the egg sweet, just the way I like it. They also made the egg a little watery and creamy.
Dobin mushi (土瓶蒸し) - with cubes of chicken, clams and some fish fillets.
Another set of premium nigiri sushi - salmon roe (イクラ), chopped raw tiger prawn, sea urchin (雲丹), toro with scallions (葱トロ).
We ordered a 300ml bottle of Dassai Junmai Daiginjo 23% (獺祭「純米大吟醸」磨き二割三分). This has always been easy to drink since it's on the sweet side (甘口), but tonight I felt it was lacking a bit of complexity, as there wasn't anything very prominent in the nose other than banana...
There was a decent amount of food to fill me up, but honestly the dishes were a bit hit-or-miss. Being a sushi bar, the quality of the sushi was actually not great. And service was terrible. Our waitress could not remember the correct set menu each of us had ordered, and basically sent the dishes to the wrong person at each round. They also annoyed me with the inflexibility of how to split our bill at the end of the meal. Basically they had useless staff. I normally don't visit a restaurant in the first couple of months of operation, and I would normally never dream of going there on opening night! Oh well... With mediocre food and poor service, guess I'm not going back...
The menu consisted of 1 page on their lunch specials, 2 pages on dinner sets and à la carte items, and about twice as many pages on their alcohol selection. I suppose this is in line with the Taiwanese practice of having omakase sets at sushi joints. I chose the most expensive set menu to see whether this place can deliver. They couldn't.
Yamaimo (山芋)"noodles" - this was very nice. Fresh yamaimo cut into very thin strands resembling noodles, with the typical sticky, viscous "juice" as a lubricant. This was garnished with a dab of wasabi, thin strands of nori seaweed (のり), and chopped okra. Very refreshing and a good way to start dinner on a warm day.
Sashimi platter of seared yellow tail (炙りはまち), sweet shrimp (甘エビ) and red snapper (鯛). Not used to having seared yellow tail but I guess it was OK.
Grilled red king crab legs (鱈場蟹) - pretty decent and juicy.
A series of nigiri sushi : tuna (鮪), salmon (鮭), red horsehead (赤甘鯛), scallop (帆立), squid (イカ) sprinkled with salt, seared flounder (炙り鰈) with yuzu salt.
Tempura platter with shrimp, some white fish, shiitake mushroom, pumpkin and eggplant. This was OK.
Tiger prawn (車海老) sushi with a bit of sweetened cooked egg yolk spread around it. Somehow it just didn't feel right.
Mini omelette filled with eel - I really liked this one. While many other places would make this savory, here they added plenty of sugar to make the egg sweet, just the way I like it. They also made the egg a little watery and creamy.
Dobin mushi (土瓶蒸し) - with cubes of chicken, clams and some fish fillets.
Another set of premium nigiri sushi - salmon roe (イクラ), chopped raw tiger prawn, sea urchin (雲丹), toro with scallions (葱トロ).
We ordered a 300ml bottle of Dassai Junmai Daiginjo 23% (獺祭「純米大吟醸」磨き二割三分). This has always been easy to drink since it's on the sweet side (甘口), but tonight I felt it was lacking a bit of complexity, as there wasn't anything very prominent in the nose other than banana...
There was a decent amount of food to fill me up, but honestly the dishes were a bit hit-or-miss. Being a sushi bar, the quality of the sushi was actually not great. And service was terrible. Our waitress could not remember the correct set menu each of us had ordered, and basically sent the dishes to the wrong person at each round. They also annoyed me with the inflexibility of how to split our bill at the end of the meal. Basically they had useless staff. I normally don't visit a restaurant in the first couple of months of operation, and I would normally never dream of going there on opening night! Oh well... With mediocre food and poor service, guess I'm not going back...
July 25, 2009
A disappointing outing
One of my friends has a guest from out of town and wanted to take her to Lamma Island. I decided to go along with them since it's a nice day out, and it's been a couple of months since my last outing.
We arrived on a full ferry at Yung Shue Wan (榕樹灣), the populated end of the island, and proceeded to walk through town on our way to lunch.
I called ahead to book a table at Han Lok Yuen (閒樂園), the famous "pigeon restaurant" above Hung Shing Yeh Beach (洪聖爺泳灘). We arrived at the restaurant a little late, after being caught in a short rainshower. The restaurant looked pretty empty, perhaps partly because of the rain. We seated ourselves at a table indoors and waited...and waited... Service was extremely slow today. I think there was only one person doing the work outside the kitchen.
When it was finally time to order, we were greeted with an unpleasant surprise. Whole section of seafood are unavailable without pre-ordering, and apparently this has always been the case. I can't say that I remember this being the case from my previous visits, but maybe I've just been lucky enough to get the extra stock they had ordered... The waitress told us that people mainly come for the pigeon (which is true), that she had assumed that we know this about the restaurant, and that she didn't tell me about this when I booked the table because it was already too late to order the seafood anyway. I guess she has never seen the commercials on TV starring Andy Lau telling people in Hong Kong to improve their service...
We started with the minced quail with pine nuts (雀崧), wrapped in lettuce leaves. This was OK although the sauce was just a little stinky.
The roast pigeon came and it was OK, actually a little subpar to be honest.
Things started going down hill from here... Because we couldn't order a whole steamed fish, we ended up with sweet and sour garoupa fillet (酸甜炒斑球). This was a disaster, as the batter was chewy like rubber.
The deep-fried tofu was pretty tasteless, with the only flavors lent by some stir-fried diced capsicum and deep-fried garlic.
The steamed prawns with minced garlic (蒜茸蒸中蝦) weren't very fresh, and the heavy dose of garlic was used to mask the slightly off taste of the prawns.
This was such a disappointing meal...I wish we had taken our visitor to Rainbow (天虹) - even that would have been better. I think this will be my last visit to Han Lok Yuen.
We walked a little more on the hiking trail, and doubled back to get some sweet beancurd at the famous Grandma's sweet beancurd (亞婆豆腐花). This is another institution on Lamma, and I've been coming for years. Though she no longer sells her grass jelly (涼粉), her beancurd is as delicious as ever, and a much-welcomed relief in the searing heat. All was not lost on this excursion...
As we came back into the town I looked for a shop recommended by a friend. Shelly Cake Express is a tiny cafe with only a handful of tables, serving coffee, tea and cakes. I ducked in to order a few slices for takeout, and the blast of aircon I enjoyed for those few minutes seemed heavenly. The place was packed with customers, as the prices seemed very reasonable. I'll have to come again on my next trip.
We boarded the ferry back to Central, feeling a little disappointed at how this outing turned out. After cleaning up and resting, I ended up having the cheesecakes for dinner... The trademark tofu cheesecake was pretty decent. The distinct taste of tofu was clearly there, but the consistency was more of a mousse instead of cheesecake. The chestnut cake was OK - very sweet and creamy. The New York cheesecake was really pretty good. The texture was thick and creamy, and does remind me of the real thing. Overall the cakes seem to be tailored to local palates. I must try the other cakes at Shelly's next time.
I called ahead to book a table at Han Lok Yuen (閒樂園), the famous "pigeon restaurant" above Hung Shing Yeh Beach (洪聖爺泳灘). We arrived at the restaurant a little late, after being caught in a short rainshower. The restaurant looked pretty empty, perhaps partly because of the rain. We seated ourselves at a table indoors and waited...and waited... Service was extremely slow today. I think there was only one person doing the work outside the kitchen.
When it was finally time to order, we were greeted with an unpleasant surprise. Whole section of seafood are unavailable without pre-ordering, and apparently this has always been the case. I can't say that I remember this being the case from my previous visits, but maybe I've just been lucky enough to get the extra stock they had ordered... The waitress told us that people mainly come for the pigeon (which is true), that she had assumed that we know this about the restaurant, and that she didn't tell me about this when I booked the table because it was already too late to order the seafood anyway. I guess she has never seen the commercials on TV starring Andy Lau telling people in Hong Kong to improve their service...
We started with the minced quail with pine nuts (雀崧), wrapped in lettuce leaves. This was OK although the sauce was just a little stinky.
The roast pigeon came and it was OK, actually a little subpar to be honest.
Things started going down hill from here... Because we couldn't order a whole steamed fish, we ended up with sweet and sour garoupa fillet (酸甜炒斑球). This was a disaster, as the batter was chewy like rubber.
The deep-fried tofu was pretty tasteless, with the only flavors lent by some stir-fried diced capsicum and deep-fried garlic.
The steamed prawns with minced garlic (蒜茸蒸中蝦) weren't very fresh, and the heavy dose of garlic was used to mask the slightly off taste of the prawns.
This was such a disappointing meal...I wish we had taken our visitor to Rainbow (天虹) - even that would have been better. I think this will be my last visit to Han Lok Yuen.
We walked a little more on the hiking trail, and doubled back to get some sweet beancurd at the famous Grandma's sweet beancurd (亞婆豆腐花). This is another institution on Lamma, and I've been coming for years. Though she no longer sells her grass jelly (涼粉), her beancurd is as delicious as ever, and a much-welcomed relief in the searing heat. All was not lost on this excursion...
As we came back into the town I looked for a shop recommended by a friend. Shelly Cake Express is a tiny cafe with only a handful of tables, serving coffee, tea and cakes. I ducked in to order a few slices for takeout, and the blast of aircon I enjoyed for those few minutes seemed heavenly. The place was packed with customers, as the prices seemed very reasonable. I'll have to come again on my next trip.
We boarded the ferry back to Central, feeling a little disappointed at how this outing turned out. After cleaning up and resting, I ended up having the cheesecakes for dinner... The trademark tofu cheesecake was pretty decent. The distinct taste of tofu was clearly there, but the consistency was more of a mousse instead of cheesecake. The chestnut cake was OK - very sweet and creamy. The New York cheesecake was really pretty good. The texture was thick and creamy, and does remind me of the real thing. Overall the cakes seem to be tailored to local palates. I must try the other cakes at Shelly's next time.
December 15, 2008
(Con)fusion
Today for the first time we had the entire office working late on an urgent project. We needed to pull together and get cracking on this job, but not on an empty stomach! So we took our dinner break and ended up at Miso.
I was the last to arrive, and quickly looked over the menu. I haven't been to the restaurant for a few years, since it doesn't strike me as a place that needs revisiting. I initially thought about just ordering some cold inaniwa udon (冷やし稲庭うどん), but then something else caught my eye - another cold udon that seemed more creative and interesting. So I placed my order.
The gang ordered a few starters to share, which included some pan-seared ox tongue with marinated spinach. Someone thought the ox tongue tasted funny, so I decided to try a slice and see for myself. Well...it did taste funny. Fortunately I don't think it was the meat itself, but rather the funny sauce. I couldn't quite place it, but whatever it was, it didn't have any fans at our table.
My cold udon in seasame sauce with spicy teriyaki chicken came, and I was stunned. The udon seemed OK, but was swimming in a big bowl of sesame ponzu. This could make for a messy eating experience. What's worse is that the strips of chicken were laid on top of the cold udon. Now anyone who has ordered the classic tempura with cold udon/soba knows that the freshly deep-fried tempura is always served on the side. This is done so that the tempura isn't cooled by the icy cold noodles. Well, I don't know why this restaurant doesn't understand the simple rule. I wanted my noodles cold, not my chicken, but cold chicken was what I got. And never mind the stupid hot sauce that was on the chicken... I ate the chicken but left most of the noodles in the bowl, having lost my appetite somewhere in the process.
I guess I really don't need to come back this restaurant in the near future... regardless of how close it is to the office.
I was the last to arrive, and quickly looked over the menu. I haven't been to the restaurant for a few years, since it doesn't strike me as a place that needs revisiting. I initially thought about just ordering some cold inaniwa udon (冷やし稲庭うどん), but then something else caught my eye - another cold udon that seemed more creative and interesting. So I placed my order.
The gang ordered a few starters to share, which included some pan-seared ox tongue with marinated spinach. Someone thought the ox tongue tasted funny, so I decided to try a slice and see for myself. Well...it did taste funny. Fortunately I don't think it was the meat itself, but rather the funny sauce. I couldn't quite place it, but whatever it was, it didn't have any fans at our table.
My cold udon in seasame sauce with spicy teriyaki chicken came, and I was stunned. The udon seemed OK, but was swimming in a big bowl of sesame ponzu. This could make for a messy eating experience. What's worse is that the strips of chicken were laid on top of the cold udon. Now anyone who has ordered the classic tempura with cold udon/soba knows that the freshly deep-fried tempura is always served on the side. This is done so that the tempura isn't cooled by the icy cold noodles. Well, I don't know why this restaurant doesn't understand the simple rule. I wanted my noodles cold, not my chicken, but cold chicken was what I got. And never mind the stupid hot sauce that was on the chicken... I ate the chicken but left most of the noodles in the bowl, having lost my appetite somewhere in the process.
I guess I really don't need to come back this restaurant in the near future... regardless of how close it is to the office.
December 5, 2008
My last two meals in San Francisco
Today's my last full day in San Francisco. Time for just two more proper meals here before heading home. As I have finally finished taking inventory of my wine collection here, I am left with a day of relaxation.
And what better way to start the day than having lunch at Boulevard, Nancy Oakes' place down by the Embarcadero? The restaurant seemed popular with the public, garnering high ratings with Zagat and is also the proud recipient of a Michelin star.
I started with a glass of 2007 Barrel 27 High on the Hog, a Rhone-blend with Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne. The wine was a bit cold so the nose was very light, with only a bit of oak and lemon. Sweet and hot on the palate with a bitter, long finish. Not very impressed.
I had a little trouble deciding on the starter, but in the end I settled on pan seared Monterey calamari - stuffed with jambalaya rice, crispy tentacles, lemon aioli, gumbo sauce. I like the idea of stuffed calamari, especially when there's a Cajun twist. I was not disappointed. The calamari was nicely pan-fried on the outside, with nice flavors of smoky sausage and peppers coming through. The gumbo sauce added a nice, subtle touch. The deep-fried tentacles were wonderful. Off to a good start.
The pan roasted local ling cod - wild rice & erbette chard, fondant orange cauliflower with herb bread crumbs, Sherry beurre blanc was also nicely done. The tender flesh had just enough flavor on the outside, and sits on a bed of yummy wild rice. The heavy flavor of the erbette chard stood out from the rice. The cauliflowers were interesting, as the topping is very similar to the herb sauce one finds in escargot Bourguignon.
I am stuffed and decide to pass on dessert. Good thing I was going to be walking around for the rest of the afternoon! But I'm real glad I was able to sample the creations by Nancy Oakes.
Dinner was a totally different experience altogether. At around 8pm I decided to head for dinner at Bistro Boudin, which is just around my hotel. I had passed by yesterday and know that it's part of a huge operation run by Boudin Bakery, and it got decent reviews on Zagat. I decided to try out a couple of seafood dishes while enjoying some of San Francisco's famous sourdough French bread.
I knew things weren't gonna be good right from the get-go. Despite the restaurant being less than half full, the woman at the reception told me that "only very large tables were available", and that I'd have to wait. She suggested that I sit at the bar and watch TV while I eat. I initially thought that they had closed an entire section to make it easier on themselves, but found 2 diners sitting in a booth. I smile and agree to the suggestion, but I am upset at the treatment. This got worse as a family of 4 walked in and was immediately seated at a table.
I'm at Fisherman's Wharf, so I go local and make it a Dungeness crab evening. Started wih Dungeness crab cake with roasted corn salad and whole grain mustard-lemongrass aioli. The crab cake was pretty big, and tasted alright. The addition of mustard was interesting. The corn salad was refreshing and provided a good balance to the savory crab.
Here we have another problem. Before I was finished with the crab cake, the waiter brought the main course over. He sensed that I was not quite happy, and took it back to the kitchen after I asked him to wait for 5 minutes. So the comments I saw on the Zagat's website are true - the service is all about rushing you through your meal and getting you out the door. My pasta was sent back to the kitchen, where the cook added a bit more sauce and sautéed it again. And it showed - the texture was off.
And what was it that I ordered? Why, it's the Dungeness crab “mac and cheese” - aged Vermont cheddar cheese, cream and freshly picked Dungeness crab. Well, "mac and cheese" is a bit of a misnomer, because they actually used rigatoni. The tubes were a bit too large for my taste. But the chunks of sweet crab meat were nice. Unfortunately the sauce was a bit dry thanks to being reheated.
The huge glass of 2005 Guigal Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc I got was way too cold, and showed nothing in the nose.
Yes, it is nice to be able to smell the bread baking downstairs. But would I go back to Boudin for mediocre food and poor service?
And what better way to start the day than having lunch at Boulevard, Nancy Oakes' place down by the Embarcadero? The restaurant seemed popular with the public, garnering high ratings with Zagat and is also the proud recipient of a Michelin star.
I had a little trouble deciding on the starter, but in the end I settled on pan seared Monterey calamari - stuffed with jambalaya rice, crispy tentacles, lemon aioli, gumbo sauce. I like the idea of stuffed calamari, especially when there's a Cajun twist. I was not disappointed. The calamari was nicely pan-fried on the outside, with nice flavors of smoky sausage and peppers coming through. The gumbo sauce added a nice, subtle touch. The deep-fried tentacles were wonderful. Off to a good start. 
The pan roasted local ling cod - wild rice & erbette chard, fondant orange cauliflower with herb bread crumbs, Sherry beurre blanc was also nicely done. The tender flesh had just enough flavor on the outside, and sits on a bed of yummy wild rice. The heavy flavor of the erbette chard stood out from the rice. The cauliflowers were interesting, as the topping is very similar to the herb sauce one finds in escargot Bourguignon.I am stuffed and decide to pass on dessert. Good thing I was going to be walking around for the rest of the afternoon! But I'm real glad I was able to sample the creations by Nancy Oakes.
Dinner was a totally different experience altogether. At around 8pm I decided to head for dinner at Bistro Boudin, which is just around my hotel. I had passed by yesterday and know that it's part of a huge operation run by Boudin Bakery, and it got decent reviews on Zagat. I decided to try out a couple of seafood dishes while enjoying some of San Francisco's famous sourdough French bread.
I knew things weren't gonna be good right from the get-go. Despite the restaurant being less than half full, the woman at the reception told me that "only very large tables were available", and that I'd have to wait. She suggested that I sit at the bar and watch TV while I eat. I initially thought that they had closed an entire section to make it easier on themselves, but found 2 diners sitting in a booth. I smile and agree to the suggestion, but I am upset at the treatment. This got worse as a family of 4 walked in and was immediately seated at a table.
I'm at Fisherman's Wharf, so I go local and make it a Dungeness crab evening. Started wih Dungeness crab cake with roasted corn salad and whole grain mustard-lemongrass aioli. The crab cake was pretty big, and tasted alright. The addition of mustard was interesting. The corn salad was refreshing and provided a good balance to the savory crab.
Here we have another problem. Before I was finished with the crab cake, the waiter brought the main course over. He sensed that I was not quite happy, and took it back to the kitchen after I asked him to wait for 5 minutes. So the comments I saw on the Zagat's website are true - the service is all about rushing you through your meal and getting you out the door. My pasta was sent back to the kitchen, where the cook added a bit more sauce and sautéed it again. And it showed - the texture was off.
And what was it that I ordered? Why, it's the Dungeness crab “mac and cheese” - aged Vermont cheddar cheese, cream and freshly picked Dungeness crab. Well, "mac and cheese" is a bit of a misnomer, because they actually used rigatoni. The tubes were a bit too large for my taste. But the chunks of sweet crab meat were nice. Unfortunately the sauce was a bit dry thanks to being reheated.Yes, it is nice to be able to smell the bread baking downstairs. But would I go back to Boudin for mediocre food and poor service?
November 4, 2008
Ridiculous service at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
A couple of friends of mine decided to catch up over lunch today, and we picked L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon as the venue. I have only had dinner here, and I looked forward to trying out their lunch menu.
I was given a choice to sit either at the counter or at a table inside, and I was told that I could have the set lunch at either location. Of course I chose to sit at a table inside for the comfort factor. I arrived on time and waited for my friends, who were busy with work and showed up much later. When I finally got my hands on a menu - more than 30 minutes after I arrived, I realized that the set lunch menus were different in the two areas. I had wanted the $390 set being served at the counters, while one had to order the $580 set dining at a table.
I was a little upset. While I always knew that the a la carte menus were different, the person on the phone did not tell me about the different menus and pricing. I asked a waiter to change to counter seating so that we can have the $390 set. They informed us that they cannot fit a party of four, and asked us to wait. We called a manager to discuss the situation. The guy was totally unapologetic, and was willing to do nothing. My friends and I start to get really upset. It was now 1:30pm, and we haven't been able to order the food, let alone start lunch.
While I know that for some reason, L'Atelier has this stupid rule about keeping the menus for the two areas separate, I felt that in this instance, the manager is clearly being ridiculously inflexible. In order for him to keep to his rule, he would rather have 4 paying customers sit around waiting for seats at the counter, even though they are already seated at a table and could be served immediately. What was really ridiculous was his insistance that the staff on the phone was absolutely correct - since one can have a set lunch both at the counter and at a table inside. Basically this is how he sees it: if I needed to know more - such as whether they are the same set lunch or different ones - well then, it's my fault for not asking a direct question. The staff is under no obligation to voluntarily disclose that information.
The manager walked away, still insisting that we wait for seats at the counter instead of serving us at the table. 1:40pm came and we were on the verge of walking out to get lunch somewhere else, when a waiter came to tell us that we can now sit at the counter. Team decided to stay for lunch since we were already there, but the damage was done.
There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of service, especially from an establishment purporting to be one of the best in the city. The food was excellent as one would expect. But why would I bother to return to a restaurant that gives me shitty service with that kind of attitude?! I did take pictures and did plan on describing the dishes and my experience, but at this moment, I have zero inclination to do so.
I was given a choice to sit either at the counter or at a table inside, and I was told that I could have the set lunch at either location. Of course I chose to sit at a table inside for the comfort factor. I arrived on time and waited for my friends, who were busy with work and showed up much later. When I finally got my hands on a menu - more than 30 minutes after I arrived, I realized that the set lunch menus were different in the two areas. I had wanted the $390 set being served at the counters, while one had to order the $580 set dining at a table.
I was a little upset. While I always knew that the a la carte menus were different, the person on the phone did not tell me about the different menus and pricing. I asked a waiter to change to counter seating so that we can have the $390 set. They informed us that they cannot fit a party of four, and asked us to wait. We called a manager to discuss the situation. The guy was totally unapologetic, and was willing to do nothing. My friends and I start to get really upset. It was now 1:30pm, and we haven't been able to order the food, let alone start lunch.
While I know that for some reason, L'Atelier has this stupid rule about keeping the menus for the two areas separate, I felt that in this instance, the manager is clearly being ridiculously inflexible. In order for him to keep to his rule, he would rather have 4 paying customers sit around waiting for seats at the counter, even though they are already seated at a table and could be served immediately. What was really ridiculous was his insistance that the staff on the phone was absolutely correct - since one can have a set lunch both at the counter and at a table inside. Basically this is how he sees it: if I needed to know more - such as whether they are the same set lunch or different ones - well then, it's my fault for not asking a direct question. The staff is under no obligation to voluntarily disclose that information.
The manager walked away, still insisting that we wait for seats at the counter instead of serving us at the table. 1:40pm came and we were on the verge of walking out to get lunch somewhere else, when a waiter came to tell us that we can now sit at the counter. Team decided to stay for lunch since we were already there, but the damage was done.
There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of service, especially from an establishment purporting to be one of the best in the city. The food was excellent as one would expect. But why would I bother to return to a restaurant that gives me shitty service with that kind of attitude?! I did take pictures and did plan on describing the dishes and my experience, but at this moment, I have zero inclination to do so.
July 8, 2008
A less-than-perfect clone
Another dinner to celebrate an upcoming birthday. The birthday girl heard me rave about my last meal in Taipei at Da Shan Wu Jia (大山無價), and was looking forward to dining at Shi Yang Shan Fang (食養山房), a restaurant serving similar cuisine on Mount Yangming (陽明山).
We arrived just after 7pm after winding our way up and deep into the mountain. From my experience at the other restaurant, I know that they would like us to arrive early (before 6:30pm) and they want to serve the same course to all diners at around the same time. By arriving a little late, I knew we would have a bit of catching up to do at the start of the meal.
We were seated at a table in the long hallway section, which comprises 14 or so "private" cubicles. The long and narrow hallway, decorated with paper lanterns, actually looks quite pretty. Outside the window, the green leaves on the maple tree in front of us look particularly green thanks to the lighting.
Small cups of mango juice appear in front of us, with passion fruit seeds floating on top. This is a nice way to start the meal.
Before we had a chance to taste the delicious juice, the waiter lays out a long, rectangular plate in front of us with three morsels on top. We have a small piece of yamaimo (山藥) tofu topped with a smudge of wasabi and passion fruit seeds. Honestly they put a bit too much wasabi for my taste, and my eyes started to moisten. There was a small salmon roll topped with blueberry, on a bed of mashed potatoes. Finally there was the tofu skin roll with cucumber and alfalfa sprouts, drawing flavor from the sesame seed paste inside. OK so far.
Now we have chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し）, with shredded conpoy (乾貝) and a dollop of yamaimo mash on top. I am starting to get flashbacks of my meal from 2 weeks ago, as the progression of the courses are very similar. It's dried scallops vs fresh scallops at the other place.
The inari zushi with lotus root and fish was an interesting blend of flavors. The rice is naturally a bit on the sweet side as you would expect from an inari zushi (稲荷ずし）. There is then the savory taste of the smoked fish, plus the slightly sour taste of the dab of guacamole. The sides included fresh broccoli flowers as well as very sweet chunks of pumpkin. This dish was paired with a small glass of pineapple vinegar on the side. Unlike the other restaurant - which served the vinegar after a certain course as a palate cleanser - it seemed that we were to drink the vinegar alongside. Hmmm....
A large bowl is placed in front of us - our sashimi course. In addition to the sweet shrimp (甘エビ), scallop (two thin slices only), calamari and salmon roe (いくら), we were offered green asparagus, bamboo shoots, eggplant and seaweed. As in the other restaurant, an onion vinegar sauce is presented as dressing for the veggies. I would have preferred if we each got our own little container with our own portion, instead of having everything served in one large bowl... Another glass of vinegar appears, this time it's rose vinegar.
A block of deep-fried gaozha (宜蘭高渣) is served with a steamed baby abalone. The abalone was a little overdone, and is a bit tougher than I normally prefer.
Before we dug into the gaozha, the waiter brought us our salami handroll. It actually looks less like a handroll and more like a rice ball with a piece of salami wrapped outside. The rice is flavored and has diced mushrooms mixed in - very much in the style of the gomoku rice of the other restaurant. Slices of sauteed eringi mushrooms are served on the side, with chickpeas and black fungus.
Finally, we have the piece de resistance - the lotus chicken soup. Unlike the other restaurant, here the waiter served us the pot of soup, then placed a rather sad-looking dried waterlily flower into the pot. In terms of taste and ingredients, it is almost identical to what I had 2 weeks ago.
Reasonably full now after the soup, we manage to finish the fruit as well as the desserts. The small piece of panna cotta was only so-so, although the sweet barley topping was very interesting. The small cup of mulberry and strawberry juice was also nice.
By this point, you would have thought that I had a reasonably good meal. So why is it that I have decided never to return to this restaurant?! Very poor service.
First, they really rushed us through everything. To me, it is absolutely unacceptable to be placing multiple courses on your diner's table during a meal like this. You are giving pressure to the diner and asking them to hurry up and swallow the food. This is not the kind of experience that people would pay money for.
Second, they botched up the wine service. Now I understand that most of their clients probably don't expect to drink wine with a meal like this. But I did bring a half-bottle of 1994 La Mission Haut-Brion for the occasion and wanted to drink it. The waiter brought a sorry-looking corkscrew - the type with two handles on the side that you buy in any neighborhood supermarket for nothing - and proceeded to break the cork. He simply didn't know what to do with the corkscrew. They also didn't have any wine glasses - unlike Da Shan Wu Jia - and we had to use tall ceramic cups to drink the wine. This meant that the wine never had a chance to show.
Third, they basically booted all their customers out the door! Around 8:15 pm, about an hour into the meal, they brought us the check and asked us to pay. We were still having the soup! Then they told us that their hours are only until 9pm, and proceeded to remind us of this later on. Basically, they wanted all their clients out the door at 9pm. And indeed, when we did leave the restaurant around 9pm, we were the last ones on the premises. I haven't been shown the door by restaurant staff in quite a while now... and I don't intend on repeating this experience.
Finally, the food is a poor copy of what I had at Da Shan Wu Jia. Many of the courses - and the ingredients - were similar. But the quality here is only about 80% of the level compared to the other place, and the price is exactly the same at both restaurants. When the quality of both the food and the service is inferior, why come back?!
As a footnote, I asked the staff whether there was any relationship between the two restaurants. While the answer I received was an emphatic "No, we do not have any branches," judging by the reaction of the staff I sense that there is more to the story. I have heard from multiple sources that this restaurant had relocated from Xindian (新店) - where Da Shan Wu Jia is also located - it is entirely possible that one is a "copy" of the other, opened by a former chef or something of that sort. If that were true, then I believe that Da Shan Wu Jia to be the original, and that Shi Yang Shan Fang would be the copy. After doing a quick search on the net, it seems that Shi Yang Shan Fang was the original restaurant in Xindian which moved to its present location in 2005. However, apparently the chef did not move to the new location, and instead opened Da Shan Wu Jia in the original spot...
We arrived just after 7pm after winding our way up and deep into the mountain. From my experience at the other restaurant, I know that they would like us to arrive early (before 6:30pm) and they want to serve the same course to all diners at around the same time. By arriving a little late, I knew we would have a bit of catching up to do at the start of the meal.
We were seated at a table in the long hallway section, which comprises 14 or so "private" cubicles. The long and narrow hallway, decorated with paper lanterns, actually looks quite pretty. Outside the window, the green leaves on the maple tree in front of us look particularly green thanks to the lighting.
Small cups of mango juice appear in front of us, with passion fruit seeds floating on top. This is a nice way to start the meal.
Before we had a chance to taste the delicious juice, the waiter lays out a long, rectangular plate in front of us with three morsels on top. We have a small piece of yamaimo (山藥) tofu topped with a smudge of wasabi and passion fruit seeds. Honestly they put a bit too much wasabi for my taste, and my eyes started to moisten. There was a small salmon roll topped with blueberry, on a bed of mashed potatoes. Finally there was the tofu skin roll with cucumber and alfalfa sprouts, drawing flavor from the sesame seed paste inside. OK so far.
Now we have chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し）, with shredded conpoy (乾貝) and a dollop of yamaimo mash on top. I am starting to get flashbacks of my meal from 2 weeks ago, as the progression of the courses are very similar. It's dried scallops vs fresh scallops at the other place.
The inari zushi with lotus root and fish was an interesting blend of flavors. The rice is naturally a bit on the sweet side as you would expect from an inari zushi (稲荷ずし）. There is then the savory taste of the smoked fish, plus the slightly sour taste of the dab of guacamole. The sides included fresh broccoli flowers as well as very sweet chunks of pumpkin. This dish was paired with a small glass of pineapple vinegar on the side. Unlike the other restaurant - which served the vinegar after a certain course as a palate cleanser - it seemed that we were to drink the vinegar alongside. Hmmm....
A large bowl is placed in front of us - our sashimi course. In addition to the sweet shrimp (甘エビ), scallop (two thin slices only), calamari and salmon roe (いくら), we were offered green asparagus, bamboo shoots, eggplant and seaweed. As in the other restaurant, an onion vinegar sauce is presented as dressing for the veggies. I would have preferred if we each got our own little container with our own portion, instead of having everything served in one large bowl... Another glass of vinegar appears, this time it's rose vinegar.
A block of deep-fried gaozha (宜蘭高渣) is served with a steamed baby abalone. The abalone was a little overdone, and is a bit tougher than I normally prefer.
Before we dug into the gaozha, the waiter brought us our salami handroll. It actually looks less like a handroll and more like a rice ball with a piece of salami wrapped outside. The rice is flavored and has diced mushrooms mixed in - very much in the style of the gomoku rice of the other restaurant. Slices of sauteed eringi mushrooms are served on the side, with chickpeas and black fungus.
Finally, we have the piece de resistance - the lotus chicken soup. Unlike the other restaurant, here the waiter served us the pot of soup, then placed a rather sad-looking dried waterlily flower into the pot. In terms of taste and ingredients, it is almost identical to what I had 2 weeks ago.
Reasonably full now after the soup, we manage to finish the fruit as well as the desserts. The small piece of panna cotta was only so-so, although the sweet barley topping was very interesting. The small cup of mulberry and strawberry juice was also nice.
By this point, you would have thought that I had a reasonably good meal. So why is it that I have decided never to return to this restaurant?! Very poor service.
First, they really rushed us through everything. To me, it is absolutely unacceptable to be placing multiple courses on your diner's table during a meal like this. You are giving pressure to the diner and asking them to hurry up and swallow the food. This is not the kind of experience that people would pay money for.
Second, they botched up the wine service. Now I understand that most of their clients probably don't expect to drink wine with a meal like this. But I did bring a half-bottle of 1994 La Mission Haut-Brion for the occasion and wanted to drink it. The waiter brought a sorry-looking corkscrew - the type with two handles on the side that you buy in any neighborhood supermarket for nothing - and proceeded to break the cork. He simply didn't know what to do with the corkscrew. They also didn't have any wine glasses - unlike Da Shan Wu Jia - and we had to use tall ceramic cups to drink the wine. This meant that the wine never had a chance to show.
Third, they basically booted all their customers out the door! Around 8:15 pm, about an hour into the meal, they brought us the check and asked us to pay. We were still having the soup! Then they told us that their hours are only until 9pm, and proceeded to remind us of this later on. Basically, they wanted all their clients out the door at 9pm. And indeed, when we did leave the restaurant around 9pm, we were the last ones on the premises. I haven't been shown the door by restaurant staff in quite a while now... and I don't intend on repeating this experience.
Finally, the food is a poor copy of what I had at Da Shan Wu Jia. Many of the courses - and the ingredients - were similar. But the quality here is only about 80% of the level compared to the other place, and the price is exactly the same at both restaurants. When the quality of both the food and the service is inferior, why come back?!
As a footnote, I asked the staff whether there was any relationship between the two restaurants. While the answer I received was an emphatic "No, we do not have any branches," judging by the reaction of the staff I sense that there is more to the story. I have heard from multiple sources that this restaurant had relocated from Xindian (新店) - where Da Shan Wu Jia is also located - it is entirely possible that one is a "copy" of the other, opened by a former chef or something of that sort. If that were true, then I believe that Da Shan Wu Jia to be the original, and that Shi Yang Shan Fang would be the copy. After doing a quick search on the net, it seems that Shi Yang Shan Fang was the original restaurant in Xindian which moved to its present location in 2005. However, apparently the chef did not move to the new location, and instead opened Da Shan Wu Jia in the original spot...
December 11, 2007
A Very Entertaining Dinner
Tonight I had a very entertaining meal at Tang, the French/Japanese/creative restaurant at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi in Dubai. It was entertaining because I had a lot of fun watching how badly a chef can fail to come up with something cohesive.
The Indian head waiter started by telling us how great the chefs are - one used to run a 2-Michelin star restaurant in Alsace, and the other had trained in a Michelin 3-star restaurant in the US. I was tempted to ask the guy to name the restaurant, knowing that there are only a handful of 3-star restaurants in the US, and all in NY up until Michelin released other US guides a few months ago. But I decided to pass. This guy was already getting on my nerves.
I started with Champagne and Strawberries as the cocktail, where strawberry caviar would be dropped into the Champagne flute. It all looks good and I was looking forward to the desired effect, but when I took my first sip I realized just how different my expectations were. The caviars I was looking for would be liquid inside a thin membrane made of the same liquid, a la the mango caviar at El Bulli or the carrot caviar at Tapas Molecular. Nope. The caviar here has a solid core and is just a bunch of gelatin.
I asked for the chef to put together a tasting menu. Started with the Raw Experience, where he put together blue fin tuna slices; "new style sashimi" with hamachi (actually nothing more than thin slices seared with a torch); blue fin toro; and beef sashimi wrapped in shiso and kimchi sauce. He failed miserably - I didn't get a sense at all that I was having nice and expensive blue fin, the tastes were too heavy (too sour, too salty), and the flavors clashed with each other.
Next came a pair of carpaccio - cod and beet root. I don't think cod is a suitable fish to make a carpaccio since the texture is all wrong. The beet root had sprinkles of goat cheese and was mildly interesting.
Another pairing came next - of tartares. The blue fin tuna came with kimchi sauce, and would have failed completely were it not for the thin wafer with sesame seeds. The wagyu beef tartare was topped with spicy tomato sauce, with a deconstructed Bloody Mary on the side and sprinkles of macadamia nut powder. Again, not very exciting.
The next two dishes were pretty much the only highlights of the evening. The seared diver scallops were very fresh and sweet, laying on top of pear salsa. Unfortunately it was served with slices of red beet on the side and this marred the overall experience. The spring roll of Chinese spider crabs was also a hit, with hints of lemongrass complementing the flavors.
The langoustine came on a plastic stick filled with pisco sour, and one is to inject the liquid into the meat in the process of savoring it. Unfortunately I never liked pisco sour, and the ginger marshmellows on the side again did not really work well with the rest.
The palate cleanser was a tube of apple and yuzu foam.
The grade 7 wagyu beef was introduced with much fanfare by the waiter, with all the usual clichés about how the cows drank beer and got massages while listening to classical music. Yeah, yeah, yeah... The bloody thing was obviously overcooked, looking very dry and hard on one side while desperately trying to retain some fatty flavors on the other. It was topped with red wine sauce made into caviars (this time like the El Bulli caviar) which tasted like Chinese five spice, and therefore reminded me of braised beef （五香牛肉）we find in Chinese cuisine. It came with a hard shiitake biscuit, no doubt made from the leftover juice after you soaked the dried shiitakes in hot water. It's been a while since I saw someone mess up wagyu so badly.
Pork belly was the last main course, and it was a poor version of what I can get at Bo Innovation in HK. It came with suan cai （酸菜） but basically it was sauerkraut. It also mysteriously came with a small piece of fried skate. Even more puzzling was the presence of half a cha siu bao (叉燒包）where the filling was replaced by blood pudding. Given that the majority of the population don't take a liking to blood sausage, I wonder what the chef is thinking here.
I gave in to dessert, and was served a spoonful of powdered "bread" and goat cheese, as well as a tube of honey and violet caviar as my pre-dessert. This was OK.
With dessert, the chef sort of redeemed himself a little. Whatever chocolate concoction I was served was delicious, with what I believe to be a rum sauce. Unfortuately, here again he decided to mess around with silly bits of biscuits on the side. I sampled a red piece and initially got the taste of carrots in my mouth. As time went on, I felt I was eating a piece of cardboard. Yuck...
Some words about the staff. The head waiter was annoying as he tried to recite the twenty different ingredients that the chef had used in each dish, and spoke so fast in his Indian accent that I couldn't catch half of it. He also tried to show us how great everything was, about how creative the chefs were. Well, I would have liked to let him know that his chef is one of the worst chefs I have run into, and I couldn't imagine how he ever was associated with a Michelin 2-star restaurant, let alone to have run it.
The rest of the wait staff are all cheap labor - each one is a trainee imported from a developing nation. We had girls from China and the Philippines, some of whom had only arrived in Dubai 2 weeks ago and had absolutely no experience with fine dining. They were friendly but basically useless. But then again, this fits with the overall theme of Dubai importing thousands of cheap labor from Asian countries...
Needless to say I would never EVER go near this restaurant or its chefs again. And I would strongly advise anyone else against going.
The Indian head waiter started by telling us how great the chefs are - one used to run a 2-Michelin star restaurant in Alsace, and the other had trained in a Michelin 3-star restaurant in the US. I was tempted to ask the guy to name the restaurant, knowing that there are only a handful of 3-star restaurants in the US, and all in NY up until Michelin released other US guides a few months ago. But I decided to pass. This guy was already getting on my nerves.
I started with Champagne and Strawberries as the cocktail, where strawberry caviar would be dropped into the Champagne flute. It all looks good and I was looking forward to the desired effect, but when I took my first sip I realized just how different my expectations were. The caviars I was looking for would be liquid inside a thin membrane made of the same liquid, a la the mango caviar at El Bulli or the carrot caviar at Tapas Molecular. Nope. The caviar here has a solid core and is just a bunch of gelatin.
I asked for the chef to put together a tasting menu. Started with the Raw Experience, where he put together blue fin tuna slices; "new style sashimi" with hamachi (actually nothing more than thin slices seared with a torch); blue fin toro; and beef sashimi wrapped in shiso and kimchi sauce. He failed miserably - I didn't get a sense at all that I was having nice and expensive blue fin, the tastes were too heavy (too sour, too salty), and the flavors clashed with each other.
Next came a pair of carpaccio - cod and beet root. I don't think cod is a suitable fish to make a carpaccio since the texture is all wrong. The beet root had sprinkles of goat cheese and was mildly interesting.
Another pairing came next - of tartares. The blue fin tuna came with kimchi sauce, and would have failed completely were it not for the thin wafer with sesame seeds. The wagyu beef tartare was topped with spicy tomato sauce, with a deconstructed Bloody Mary on the side and sprinkles of macadamia nut powder. Again, not very exciting.
The next two dishes were pretty much the only highlights of the evening. The seared diver scallops were very fresh and sweet, laying on top of pear salsa. Unfortunately it was served with slices of red beet on the side and this marred the overall experience. The spring roll of Chinese spider crabs was also a hit, with hints of lemongrass complementing the flavors.
The langoustine came on a plastic stick filled with pisco sour, and one is to inject the liquid into the meat in the process of savoring it. Unfortunately I never liked pisco sour, and the ginger marshmellows on the side again did not really work well with the rest.
The palate cleanser was a tube of apple and yuzu foam.
The grade 7 wagyu beef was introduced with much fanfare by the waiter, with all the usual clichés about how the cows drank beer and got massages while listening to classical music. Yeah, yeah, yeah... The bloody thing was obviously overcooked, looking very dry and hard on one side while desperately trying to retain some fatty flavors on the other. It was topped with red wine sauce made into caviars (this time like the El Bulli caviar) which tasted like Chinese five spice, and therefore reminded me of braised beef （五香牛肉）we find in Chinese cuisine. It came with a hard shiitake biscuit, no doubt made from the leftover juice after you soaked the dried shiitakes in hot water. It's been a while since I saw someone mess up wagyu so badly.
Pork belly was the last main course, and it was a poor version of what I can get at Bo Innovation in HK. It came with suan cai （酸菜） but basically it was sauerkraut. It also mysteriously came with a small piece of fried skate. Even more puzzling was the presence of half a cha siu bao (叉燒包）where the filling was replaced by blood pudding. Given that the majority of the population don't take a liking to blood sausage, I wonder what the chef is thinking here.
I gave in to dessert, and was served a spoonful of powdered "bread" and goat cheese, as well as a tube of honey and violet caviar as my pre-dessert. This was OK.
With dessert, the chef sort of redeemed himself a little. Whatever chocolate concoction I was served was delicious, with what I believe to be a rum sauce. Unfortuately, here again he decided to mess around with silly bits of biscuits on the side. I sampled a red piece and initially got the taste of carrots in my mouth. As time went on, I felt I was eating a piece of cardboard. Yuck...
Some words about the staff. The head waiter was annoying as he tried to recite the twenty different ingredients that the chef had used in each dish, and spoke so fast in his Indian accent that I couldn't catch half of it. He also tried to show us how great everything was, about how creative the chefs were. Well, I would have liked to let him know that his chef is one of the worst chefs I have run into, and I couldn't imagine how he ever was associated with a Michelin 2-star restaurant, let alone to have run it.
The rest of the wait staff are all cheap labor - each one is a trainee imported from a developing nation. We had girls from China and the Philippines, some of whom had only arrived in Dubai 2 weeks ago and had absolutely no experience with fine dining. They were friendly but basically useless. But then again, this fits with the overall theme of Dubai importing thousands of cheap labor from Asian countries...
Needless to say I would never EVER go near this restaurant or its chefs again. And I would strongly advise anyone else against going.
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