Closed
Actually, I was really impressed by the bold, non-conventional and modern decor of this restaurant, featuring sliver plush chairs, crystals lining the dark granite walls which contrasts so well the bright blue sections of the wall. I do expect the food and service to be on par with the standard of the ambience. However, things fall short a bit of my expectations (I kind of expected that this may be the case when I realized that the restaurant does not serve Shou Mei tea, my personal litmus test for the standard of a Chinese restaurant).
Food wise, the dishes like roasted pork, char siew and mee sua are quite good but other dishes like cod fish with beehoon (has a fishy smell), sea cucumber with abalone mushroom (I could not finish the abalone mushroom since it was so tough and tasteless) and roasted chicken are mediocre. Maybe I had been spoiled by the wonderful, creative dishes in set menu of Summer Palace and Li Bai, that I find it unacceptable that very generic roast chicken (which was too salty) was included in the set menu of a restaurant of such calibre. The ingredients used are fresh but the dishes were quite boring without any twist or specialty, thus giving me no motivation to want to go there just to enjoy them again.
Savoury dishes aside, the desserts here are actually quite good. The custard buns were filled to the brim with salted egg custard goodness and the aloe vera with coconut is very refreshing and fragrant (though could do better by cutting the jelly into smaller pieces). How I wish the chef can be more creative with the main dishes as he had with the desserts.
Service wise, is quite okay, no major hiccups and professional, but lacking in a certain warmth and passion for service.
I'll recommend this restaurant for gatherings, since the standard is still there, and should be good enough to impress most people (for those who don't frequent Chinese restaurants). But for personal indulgence, maybe not, unless I'm going for the desserts only.
My Thoughts: Quite Okay
This restaurant is no longer in operation.
