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
