After my last 2 roller coaster meals from Serenade and Jade Garden, I decided to have a more thorough study on why these Maxim's restaurant and if all other Maxim's restaurants changed. So for the past 3 days, I took turns in trying each representational Maxim's outlets again including Jade Garden (but on other dishes).
1. Round 1 - Peaking Garden. 2. Chilled duck in salty water HK$78. The salt was cooked a bit too long in the water, resulting in a kind of an acidic flavour. The duck itself has some "smell" which should be first soaked in ginger/star anise water first before soaking into salty water. I was a bit turned down with this dish.
3. Fu Yung chicken slices HK$78 - the chicken was marinated a bit too long and the egg white was too over-done. Quite disappointed. 4. Chestnut with Siu Tong Choy HK$58 - the cheapest one is the better one. The veggie was stir fried in a nice texture and soaked in chicken stock to taste. Chestnut was shimmered quite well and still kept with its nice aroma.
5. Salty pork and veggie fried rice HK$88 - supposed this one is a Shanghai style fried rice and the egg shouldn't be too overwhelming or I would prefer no egg in it. The egg just took away the nice flavour of salty pork and veggie which are the essence of this fried rice. 6. Siu Lon Bao HK$48 - not impressive at all and the buns were prepared and kept in the fridge for quite some time. This kind of flour products need to be made fresh to the order.
7. pan fried dumplings HK$88 - same comments on no. 6. 8. the entrance.
9. 2nd round - Jade Garden again. The captain noticed me and recommended their seafood combo just started this Monday night. It's "shark fin's soup with a Tiger garoupa" at HK$198 (was $598). Ok, give it a try. 10. To play it safe, I ordered my favourite romaine lettuce in sesame sauce.
11. the shark's fin soup - as you would see and I didn't expect it to be with lots of fins, considering what price I paid for. So no complaint. Good that the stock is still good. 12. Again, I wouldn't expect it to be a wild catch but the Chef shouldn't pour the soy sauce after the boiling oil. It's because the hot burning oil would make the soy sauce a bit sour. Besides, to make a farm fish taste better, it had better be with some raw salt on the fish body and keep the left over fish juice after steaming. It's common in many commercial restaurants they would pour away the steamed juice and then put some pre-cooked soy sauce with other seasoning.
13. the Entrance. 14. ok, the 3rd round is Chiu Chow Garden.
15. Kung Fu Tea - very chiu chow style but I just took one cup as it's very strong to keep you awake all night long if you drink them all. 16. Chiu Chow pickled - a bit disappointing as the veggie was soaked in water too long and the original taste was gone.
17. Shrimp and crab deep fried mini-pastry HK$98 - not so impressive as it didn't have the original Chiu Chow style. 18. Sliced goose meat HK$128 - the goose is a farm one and I believe it's not a lively killed. Very bland. So the key point is the soaking sauce and it didn't recover the goose to a better taste.
19. Mustard veggie with spare ribs in soy bean casserole (HK$78) - as you can see it's not the big mustard veggie we normally use. It's another type - baby mustard veggie which doesn't deliver the mustard veggie aroma. What a lost of the soul of this casserole. 20. This shop at the basement of Jardine House (Connaught Center) for over 20 years or more.
21. the basement entrance. OK, in conclusion, certain food were not from some good sources, such as frozen fat chops, fridge-poultry (冰鮮) and some cheaper veggie. Meat (chicken slices) and seafood (soda prawn) were marinated for too long which lost the respective meat texture and flavour. Cooking steps were done in some irrecoverably wrong steps, the goose and the steamed fish. My comments were given to the captain but apparently and naturally, it wouldn't be relayed. Also, it's all about some politics in this kind of big group of restaurants. However, some comments like the "nine belly fish" which shouldn't be cooked in that way and the name on the menu didn't say it right.
7 comments:
1) The veggie fried rice with salty pork is a "must order" for me and Chris when eating at Shanghai Restaurant. We have a lot more "Ching Kong" veggie and "Kam Wah" ham in this dish compared to the one here. Our price is around $8 US per pot(enough for four). And we have no egg. You are right SEA, there shall be no egg to compete the veggie/salty pork aroma out of this dish.
2) Peking Garden does not seem to be too authentic from your comments.
3) The Jade Garden looks good. The shark fin soup and the tiger fish is a bargain.
4) I think I have been to this "Chiu Kong Cheun" in 1990. They used to have "Chuen Jill" Chicken.
I like the aroma of the Chuen Jill Leaf a lot. Also the "Taro Mud" dessert. Yum yum.
5) You are lucky to try all the good restaurants 3 days in a row.
not easy job for you. keep eating in this restaurant. i think you like this restaurant very much. maybe you know. it is hard for you. but for me, the food is good. fried rice with egg is also ok to me.
Stella, I wasn't lucky to go but felt obliged to go to check all these once of my favourites of why they have become like this. Just like the Chiu Chow pickled, it used to be very authentic and original, but now no more.
To Anonymous, correct, the fried rice isn't bad. However, it's a Shanghai fried rice. It shouldn't be like that.
har the shark fins soup is HK$400? so expensive!
It claimed to be $400 as the original price. Now $198 with a garoupa. :)
You are right Thailand Club and Anonymous, all the food here look go to me(and most of the normal people), but since SEA is a professional full time eater and gourmet so his mouth is "sharper". :)
However, I do like all his comments and they are very detailed and analytical.
Yes, the Shanghai Veggie Fried Rice shall not have egg. It is very different from all other fried rice.
$198 shark fin with Tiger Garoupa is too cheap. And yet the original price of $400 is too expensive. I think they did this on purpose to let the consumers think they earn a lot from this $198 special.
Sea, you have earned $202 out of here.
Actually it's worth for $250 to 280, not as listed as $598 ($400 for the shark's fins and 198 for the garoupa). I would split it $150 for the shark's fins and $100 for the garoupa.
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