Bites: Old Cathay @ Victoria Park

Last Sunday, my sister decided have the Moon Cake festival dinner earlier since the little darling, and I were going to be super busy with our mid-semester tests during the mid-autumn festival itself.  Without much ado, we book a table for all of us at Old Cathay in Victoria Park which sits comfortable underneath the Monadelphous Office.  As we went in, I enjoyed the assurance of a large crowd at the restaurant.  But I suspect that part of the crowd was actually using coupons which were sold a couple of weeks ago!    Nevertheless, it did not matter much! I was going to eat here anyways :P!

 

The Menu

 

There was 7 of us that night, so we decided to order 6 dishes.  Some were blogger recommendations, others were simply what we felt like having :)

Our first dish was the Curry Fish Claypot with Lady’s Fingers @$24.50.  The sauce looked slightly pale at first which in contrast to its taste, was miles apart! The curry sauce was aromatic, rich and downright delicious!  It was well liked among us all.  However, things did not turn out so well for the fish due to the deplorable quality of the meat which had a horrible consistency.   After the first slice of fish, I never took another.  This left me with mixed feelings because it now seems that the hero material turned out to be the much coveted sauce and the lady’s finger instead of the fish.. now.. you would not pay $25 bucks for sauce and vegetables would you..

 

But before I could whine another word, the Sweet & Sour Pork @ $15.80 came!

Before I talk about this dish, let me talk about the TYPE of Sweet & Sour Pork I like.  It’s simple, the pork must still hold some crunch.  I hate a Sweet & Sour Pork dish where the batter uses baking powder which develops a soft batter which makes the meat look non-existent.  The sauce must not be overly sweet, and must be tangy!  By tangy I mean that sharp aroma when it first reaches the table!  And the one at Old Cathay had it all.  A typical Malaysian Sweet & Sour Pork which was YUMS!

 

The next dish was the Eggplant with Minced Pork and Salted Fish in Claypot @ $15.80!  While this dish sounded promising, the taste was slightly too salty for my liking.  Initially, I did not like it but after a few more pieces, I was like “Hey! This is actually quite good!”. This dish is one of those claypot styled eggplant dishes which admittedly, goes well with steamed rice!  But this deviated from my usual eggplant dish which is normally cooked with minced meat and preserved bean sauce.  Still yummy though!

 

After this came the star of the night, the Steamed Whole Herbal Chicken @ $34.80!

I know this picture totally sucks! But OMG, the herbal chicken was super nice!  While having corn starch mixed into the sauce was not the best way to go about it, everything else was undeniably good!  The chicken was soft, the skin sinfully tasty.  The herbs were just right!  And this kept us refilling our rice bowls! The little darling herself had 2 bowls while my sister definitely ruined her diet plan.  It was good, what more when we were starving!! Definitely a winner that night.

 

Next was the Sizzling Beancurd with  Shredded Chicken and Mushrooms @ $16.80!! This dish was quite atypical.  Nothing outstanding unfortunately! Next time I will try out their Giu Fei Beancurd which is popular among diners there! Could that be my replacement for the Fuzhou Beancurd @ Hawkers?  The last dish for the night was the Sambal Longbean @ $14.80 which turned out mediocre only.  At least for me, the beans just were not up to expectations! Next time, I will request for Sambal Spinach or Kangkung instead! 

 

To end the night, we ordered a few desserts to share. Being in a Malaysian restaurant, it was only normally that were ordered something which reminds us of home! And we surely did!

A trio of ice creams which are a close remake of the Ice Cream Potong in Malaysia! The jackfruit (yellow), pandan (green) and taro (purple)!  The waitress told us that the ice creams were homemade.  After tasting them all, I liked the jackfruit the best.  It had that necessary taste and fragrant.  The pandan taste was a little too mild while the taro was missing that little saltiness that most taro ice cream has! 

 

After enjoying a good meal, we were satisfied.  While most of the food were delicious, (only naturaly considering the chef is Malaysian) a few things needs to be done to improve the vegetable dishes and the curry fish.  To sum it all, Old Cathay is a good eat with decors that are equally impressive and worth boasting.  The waitress were eager to serve unlike a few restaurants which I will not point out.  Overall, I was satisfied and its definitely a restaurant which I will be visiting again shortly!  Before finishing and paying, sister and I naughtily dropped a request for Durian Ice Cream to be put on the menu.  For most Malaysians, Durian Ice Cream will definitely be a treat.  And I also need to thank the little darling’s dad who treated us that night.  Hohohoo! Free meal xD!

 

WenY

Bites: Tasty House @ Northbridge.

After attending a graduation last week,  I was hungry beyond hungry when it finished.  So was my sis and Kevin!  Undecided on where to go at first, we finally decided to settle for some Chinese along Roe St.  Our choice for the night was Tasty House as we were craving some crabs and my sister said they were having a promotion.  I have eaten here plenty of times.  To date, perhaps 30 times?  I come here often for supper and occasionally dinner.  Honestly, it serves SOME genuinely good food although some dishes had turned out very horribly before (see my order list below).  Luckily enough, it did not fail when my stomach was at its most needy state.

 

To start the stomach a little, sis ordered the beef and coriander soup!:

The soup was delicious although for a few moments I contemplated on whether I was drinking soup or sauce.  Crunchy coriander bits and beef mince made this a welcoming appetizer for a hungry tummy!

 

Mud Crabs cooked with XO Sauce and Vermicelli was yummy!  The noodles were every bit tasty!  I love this style of cooking the crabs!  Back home in Malaysia, this is easily comparable to the Kam Heong crabs cooked with Vermicelli.  Two very similar dishes originating for two different countries! YUMS!  Funnily enough, we ordered some rice to go with the dish!  And that was because:

The crabs had a good amount of eggs in it!  Lucky or not hehe I’m all smiles to a loaded crab! And at the same time the crab was pretty big! I think it was like 1.2kg each?  I’d have to admit though, that the seafood in Australia has never been all that great although the scallops and mussels here are quite a treat!  Besides this dish, we also ordered a spinach dish which was cooked with fermented bean sauce (fu-yi) and it which turned out beautifully!  All in all, what we had for dinner was every bit satisfying!  The dinner ended with a sweet note thanks to the complementary red bean pancake which was yummylicious despite being sold in frozen packets!

 

So, what are some of the best things to be ordered here?  Well if you are coming for late nights supper, I would recommend to you the baked cheese rice with ham and chicken in cream sauce. On the other hand, darling is a big fan of their salted egg and pork porridge which is supper good too!  But if you are here on a dinner occasion, there are plenty of dishes which you could try.  My recent favourite is the OX Tail in Red Wine sauce which is a hearty Asian styled stew which goes well with rice; especially during cold days.  Other beef dishes which turned out well was the black pepper steak and the scotch fillet with XO Sauce and snow peas.  Do note that the Scotch fillet with XO sauce and snow peas is a wildcard which can be superb at times and awful!  As for seafood, I need not go further down the menu when I see the salted egg prawns! A definite prawn dish if I were to call prawns! Do note that the prawns here are not overly fresh as with other restaurant around town.  Be it prawns in a Chinese restaurant or Western, they tend to have that artificial crunch in them which is non-existent when I pick my prawns from the markets.

 

Sorry if this post was too long for its own good! I realised that Tasty House has been treated quite unfairly and thought that it deserved better !

 

On a side note, this month is going to be a busy one! With mid semester tests and the little darling’s birthday coming up, there is surely to be  a few days extra that I will be eating out!  So keep a look out ;)!

 

WenY

Bites: Ribauldo’s @ Como

While it is hard to not fall head over heels with a Italian model or sports car, it is probably even harder to not drool over good Italian food. When a coupon website promoted an Italian 3-course meal for two @ $49, I was SOLD!  Many times have I passed the Kwinana freeway but I have never noticed this little eatery tucked among the many dwellings on Melville Parade. Ironically though both D’Tandoor and Pagoda on the same row were more noticeable with their bright  neon blue and red sign boards which reminds me of a certain place in Bangkok.   After calling countless of times, we finally managed a slot yesterday night.  As of now, my list of good Italian food consists of Spaghi’s or Ciao Italia which all in car terms would have been supercars these day. So how did Ribauldo’s fare in this stiff competition? Well head down to see what we ordered ;)!

Bread was a mix of hard and some crispy. A balsamic and olive oil mix has been a favourite of mine although Bruschetta is still my no.1 :)!  However, my housemate Nee taught otherwise and felt that the offerings in another restaurant was better.  But hmm, thinking of what she said, I too realise that the balsamic vinegar felt lacking.  Perhaps it was a little sweetness that was needed.  I did not eat the olives by the way, never liked the flavour ahah.  But fishman said it adds a unique flavour to the bread!

 

A fresh garden salad was next and all I can say is MOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!

Fishman kept complaining that the little darling and I are unhealthy because we refuse to even touch it but blahhh!! I wanted to keep my stomach for the mains and dessert :P!

 

Now that we have reached the mains, I clearly understand why the patrons are divided over the food served at Ribaudo’s!  While most of the mains were decent, one was just atrocious! We ordered the following:

The Spaghetti Marinara had tiger prawns, fish, calamari, cooked in a sauce with garlic, onions, white wine, tomato, Basil and chilli, finished with fresh parsley and lemon.  End product?  A very delicious Marinara that carried a subtle seafood fragrant while packing  loads of taste in each strand of pasta.  The seafood presented was odourless with a strong garlic taste and a hint of spiciness.  For me, this was the winner of the night.  Fishman being a lover of seafood had plenty to comment on the way Australians misuse the word tiger prawn.  He said the size of the tiger prawns here are pretty much the same size as the head of the tiger prawns he gets back in Malaysia.  I cannot help but agree too.  However, the optically miniscule prawns did not stop him from loving this tongue-tastic pasta!!!  Nee Nee liked this too but the little darling did not have any because she is unfortunately allergic to seafood.

 

This next dish was really tiny! Vitello alla Griglia or grilled organic veal medallions served with creamy mashed potato finished with a red jus! As the veal slices were really small, it was hard for it not to be cooked through.  The end result was a slightly tougher than usual slice of meat which to my housemates and I is a little tiring to eat.  The mash tended to be dense and still had small bits of potatoes.  Not quite sure whether this was intentional or not but it was edible! Over all, a decent but not really recommended dish!

 

The next dish was the Lasagne con Pollo  or sheets of pasta layered with chicken sugo, Béchamel, Parmesan and Mozzarella.  While the initial impressions were good, a spoon of it had me think otherwise.  Overcooked pasta sheets which literally disintegrate  was not quite the way I would have liked it.  The chicken sugo were like broken bits of chicken tasting clay. The cream sauce was not enough to moisten the whole experience and hmm.  Ok put it this way.  I did not like it, neither did fishman and Nee Nee.  Little darling kept mum for the moment ahah! 

 

Lastly was the Pizza de Carne which had a good topping of chicken, olives and mushroom.  The cheese was enough, the chicken tasty but the crust was all but hmm not quite there yet.  Go around our dining table and you will find half eaten pizza crusts.  You then cannot help but conclude that the crust just did not satisfy!!

 

But it was not all doom and gloom even though the mains did not quite put up the show we expected.  Nonetheless, move over main and welcome the desserts!

The Vanilla and Raspberry Panna cotta served with Raspberry Coulis and Fresh Strawberry

 

Chocolate and Almond Semi Freddo served with Raspberry Coulis and Dusted with Cocoa

 

Both desserts turned out well for us. Without a doubt, the favourite for the night was the panna cotta which was uber smooth and to me I though it was very carefully served too!  Taking small scoops and a paying attention to the dessert, the little darling found a small layer of white chocolate at the bottom of the Panna cotta! Yummy!  Overtime, this Piedmontese dessert has been adopted by various non-Italian cultures. The Japanese for instance have reinvented the dessert in a way which incorporates green tea, an iconic Japanese beverage.  But going back to its roots, the Italians does it best!  As for the ice cream, it was pretty nice but ahah it tasted salty too =X!  Perhaps it is just a way to bring out the chocolate in this dessert?  I know many cooks use salt to help bring the flavours of the chocolate together, so I guess it really works!

 

Overall, our dinner at Ribaudo’s was quite a nice one with some hits and misses.  For the price of the coupons, it was well worth the buck!  However, the restaurant could do better with its pizza base.  It simply just went into the oven for too long!  Also, the veal should have appeared more generous as a main. The lasagne.. really was no more than canteen/cafeteria quality and should have been a whole lot better.  Luckily, the night ended sweetly with a delicious Panna Cotta which really lifted my mood from :( to !  In the end, is Ribaudo’s a supercar or a normal one? Well, Ribaudo’s is worth a try and perhaps paying full price will make a difference.  In fact, it had better make a difference because for the price it charges, it has a lot of expectations to meet! Over and out :P!

 

WenY