Wah Lok

Earlier this month, my family went to the newly renovated Carlton hotel to have a celebratory dinner at the famous Wah Lok. We went with rather high expectations because we've heard and read that Wah Lok was one of the better Chinese restaurants around and it can be ranked alongside other good Chinese restaurants like Orchard Hotel's Hua Ting.

We made a reservation and arrived at the rather oriental looking restaurant. As seen from the photo above, the predominant colours are yellow/ gold, red and white, which in my opinion are rather "Chinese". I was pretty appreciative that they gave us three menus because there were quite a few of us at the table. I really can't stand restaurants that hog menus and only give one or at most two menus to each table, especially when the menus aren't in use!

What happens at family dinners which require us to order dishes to share is this: all of us will through the menu and each of us will order one dish that we like. So far, this has proved to be the most efficient method of ordering shared-dishes (:

With the help of one of the friendly waitresses, we promptly placed our orders and helped ourselves to the tofu and peanut ($3/dish) appetizer, which was pretty normal.

The first dish to arrive was the BBQ Cuts Combination ($30). Essentially, there are slices of roasted pork, duck and chicken on this plate. Everyone commented that the meat slices were good and they were cleared much faster than I'd expected!

This was one of the more spectacular dishes that night, which apparent is Wah Lok's specialty and was recommended by the waitress: tofu with spinach and mushroom ($6/piece). Each of us had one tofu to ourselves and it was a delight to savour (at least for me). I liked it so much that I helped my brother eat his portion since he didn't want to touch his!

Next came the sweet and sour garoupa slices ($42). I loved the freshness of the fish! I thought that the sweet and sour sauce could have been stronger/ more fragrant but other than that, this dish was pretty good (:

People who love salted egg yolk should be familiar with this dish: prawns coated with salted egg yolk ($45). Probably the best thing about this dish is that the prawns were de-shelled! (: My siblings and I are absolutely lazy prawn eaters so we love it when our prawns come de-shelled! Our parents have told us many times that prawns are cooked with shells so that the shells help to lock the flavour in but we don't mind sacrificing some flavour for convenience! This dish was so-so, nothing too fantastic.

We also ordered Yong Chow fried rice ($16) to share, and it was much blander than expected. Felt that it could have done with more salt and pepper.

The Wah Lock E-Fu seafood noodles ($22) were much better in my opinion. We liked the fact that scallops came with the noodles! (:

Till now, I can't decide if I actually like "Chinese desserts" but I guess I wouldn't pass them over if they appear appetizing enough! (: That night, we tried the following three desserts:

Mango pudding ($6), which tasted similar to Crystal Jade's in my opinion.

Almond cream ($6) and Mango Pomelo Sago ($6). The almon cream was very light and smooth; the mango pomelo sago tasted pretty average.

On the whole, we felt that the food was pretty good but it wasn't particularly special or fireworks-fantastic. Nevertheless, it is a fine place for a gathering/ celebration with close family and friends because the ambience is quiet yet homely.

Alright that's all for now (: Have a good week ahead everyone!