Cathay Restuarant

02 August 2008 :: Saturday :: Dinner

Brief Description:

Located on the 2nd floor of The Cathay, once renowed as the finest Chinese restaurant in Singapore in the 1940s, Cathay Restaurant serves Chinese food since it reopened in 2007.

Review

I’ve been hearing reviews from some that the food here is delicately prepared and delicious, yet affordable.  After hearing about the 1-for-1 set menus, I decided to pay a visit to it with my gf’s family. Although it was a Saturday night, the restaurnat was relatively quiet… probably around 60% full at most. We were seated quite quickly but was disappointed that the waitress did not bother asking us for our tea preference after seating us. Hmm… poor service to be expected? After waiting for 5 mins, we decided to stop waiting and request for the tea menu. Tea choices are nothing spectacular, and consists of the usual Pu’er, Oolong and Jasmine.  We were only give the ala carte menu. Only after asking about the 1-for-1 promotion (a large sign was displayed outside the restaurant) were we given the menus.  We went for the special set, which includes a pair of Cathay movie tickets.

Food took around 20 minutes to arrive. Food was served abruptly without much explaination. The good point is that the waitresses do take note of when to serve the dishes.

First up, 1) Double boiled Shark Cartilage with Winter Melon. The soup looks watery but leaves a thick aftertaste. The soup was average at most. In fact, the majority of the family members left the soup unfinished.

2) Fried prawns with Wasabi Sauce in Golden Bow.  Since I don’t enjoy wasabi, I was apprehensive about the dish. I was plesantly surprised at how the wasabi sauce tasted. The sauce is especially mayonaise mixed with wasabi. The prawns were fried right and wasn’t dry. The sauce went well with the prawns, but sadly, the golden bowl was a disappointed.  It was just a flour mixture fried to the shape of a bowl. It was tasteless and felt plasticly.

3) Steamed Pa Ting fish with Black Fungus & Bamboo Shoots. This was probabably the best dish of the day. The fish was fresh and the sauce was well prepared.

Additional Braised beancurd, Black mushroom & Vegetables. This was an ala carte order as we realised that the portions were small and unlikely to be sufficient. The dish was delicious and though on the costly side ($14 for a small portion of vegetables?), was quite well received.

4) Pork Chop with Brocolli. It was quite surprising when the waitress started laying knives and forks on the table. I mean, we did think that we ordered a Chinese dinner set. Hmm… The pork chop was a bit overcooked and the brocolli was too salty. I was the only one at the table to have managed to finish this.

5) Fried Udon with special sauce. By now, everyone was looking forward to the final dish (not in a good sense I’m afraid).  This was a pretty average dish, like most of the preceeding dishes.

6) Yam ice-cream with almond and pumpkin sauce. Nothing to shout about, although the pumpkin sauce went quite well with the yam.

Total – $46/pax after 1-for-1 promo.

Ratings

Food : 3/5
Ambiance : 3/5
Service : 3.5/5
Value: 3/5
RTE (Return to eat) : Probably Not

Details

2 Handy Road
#02-01, The Cathay
Singapore 229233

Weekdays & Saturday : 11.30am – 3.00pm & 6.00pm – 10.30pm
Sundays : 10.00am – 3.00pm & 6.00pm – 10.30pm