Food Review 2007 #4 - Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

Today, we went for a Mother's Day lunch at Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant @ Carlton Hotel. Frankly, this is the 1st time in my life stepping into Carlton! It just occured to me that I've never attended any wedding dinners or events in that hotel. Of course I've always known it's presence at the junction of Victoria Street and Bras Basah Rd.... And having undergone some renovations not too long ago.

I was presented with an opportunity to try the food that when "I" booked a table there for lunch. Was told that the dim sum is not too bad. So we went....

Was rather impressed by the 1st impression of the restaurant. I like the decor and ambience there. The service was not bad too. Service staff were attentive and prompt. We ordered the usual dim sum stuff like char siew baos... har gao...siew mai...egg tarts...some deep fried thingys and even a plate of fried rice and noodles as tummy fillers in case someone is still hungry after the dim sum were served and ingested.

The char siew baos... disappointing.... u know how much i love cs baos.... somehow the baos here have a very floury taste to it. the fillings were also miserable. The siew mais....not too bad.... can taste that the fillings are really fresh. And the har gaos has crunchy prawns... pity that the prawns are really small.... The fun cheong... we ordered the prawns and beef fun cheongs... not good in my opinion... the fun cheongs were thick and the beef ones were esp bad. can't taste the beef at all and the sauce tat came with the fun cheong, altho' quite delectable, was miserable. There's hardly enuf sauce for the 3 pieces of fun cheong per plate... really felt like asking for more sauce....

The steam ribs were nice tho' i din manage to take any pics... i guess 'coz it's nice lor! haha... everyone tried to get a piece of it and it was gone in no time!

Egg tarts... not much to comment abt it.... 'coz it's just taste like any other egg tarts. But there's one item i wanted to highlight.... and SORRIE... again no pics! It's their custard puffs. It's really tiny and crescent-shaped. Gave it a name called "美人腰". The portion is really small...the puff pastry is really light. I can't get enuf of that! haha The lotus leaf glutinous rice... I din get to taste it! DS and DD shared one. But from the looks on their faces, they are satisfied customers. We also had deep fried fu-pei (beancurd sheet) wrapped with fish paste. The fillings were fresh and crunchy.

The roast duck was good. Even Mom said so! so it must be good lar. I think they used small ducks 'coz the meat was very little. But it was still moist and tender when bitten into. The skin remained crisp. yum yum.... We had the noodle braised in mushroom. Not bad a dish....and also fried rice. Well, the fried rice is nothing to shout abt.

The fish fillet with mango sauce. Abit pricy for that small portion. And sad to say... nothing to shout abt also. There was also a veg dish which i din take any pics. It was tofu with green veg.. looks like somefin that everyone can easily churn out at home. To end the meal, the kids ordered fried ice-cream. The adults were too full to go for any deserts. The fried ice-cream is only in mango. No choice of other flavours. It was coated with some flour and dessicated coconut, and a few slices of mango at the side. Verdict for the fried ice-cream? NOT GOOD. Altho' the portion was considered quite big... but it cost $5!... most of the kids can't finish their dessert. and DS even avoided the dessicated coconut coating. The mango ice-cream tasted quite bland.

Overall, I would say that it's not too bad, altho' I won't want to go back there again. I hope that Mommy dearest had a good time tho'.

Happy Mother's Day again!