considerably Wah!

We went here on a whim, actually - it wasn't an afternoon for dining at Chijmes restaurants since we'd already been there quite a bit - located at Carlton Hotel (near Raffles City), this restaunrat was something new and seemed to be a fancier version of Crystal Jade.

The interior was certainly quite appealing - the gorgeous lighting actually made me quite curious about just how great the food would be since the ambience seemed good. Plus, there weren't many people dining at the restaurant which puzzled us, since the prices were not particularly expensive.

We ordered a few dishes since we weren't particularly hungry. The first we had was the mixed platter combination of roast pork and roast duck. This was so-so, for while the meat of the roast duck as flavourful, the duck wasn't meaty enough. This meant that most pieces of roast duck that was served were the parts with more bones, and while dark meat was served (kudos to them), this dish definitely needs some improvement. The roast pork was passable, but that was about it.

The next dish as quite a typical "Hong Kong cafe" dish - baked rice with pork chops. The rice was a bit on the dry side, but still edible. The pork chops, however, were surprisingoy good - they were well marinated, tasty, and definitely tender. The amount of tomato-based sauce could have been more generous, but it went well with the large amount of onions that were present. Still, I enjoyed this dish thoroughly - it doesn't get quite as authentic as this, and most cafes in Hong Kong pale in comparison to this verison. 

Next was the steamed carrot cake, which is one of my favourite dishes. I normally order the pan-fried version as most Singaporean restaurants don't take the time and effort to make a decent steamed carrot cake - they merely take the slices of carrot cake that were meant to be fried and steam it with no additional garnishing or sauces given. Ths version here, however, was the sort that I like: garnished with spring onions and steamed with soya sauce, and definitely not a lazily put-together version that can be found in some local restaurants. This dish was definitely the highlight of my meal, for it had been ages since I had come across "proper" steamed carrot cake. There were slivers of radish - it wasn't just a mound of flour - and there were pieces of lap cheong, dried shrimp and mushrooms, all of which contributed to the overall flavour of the dish, coming together perfectly. As a fan of carrot cake, this dish was definitely the best out of all that I had that day. 

On the whole this place doesn't disappoint, and if you're looking for a nice place that isn't one of the usual haunts for Chinese food, youmight just go 'wah' at this place.