East Ocean Restaurant - Dixon St Haymarket
What better day to test the mettle of a restaurant than Father's day. On a special occasion day you expect fully booked restaurants, and diners looking to celebrate with special requirements for their loved ones.
We were lucky to get a table considering I had only booked a few hours earlier. I was dining with my family and they were arriving separately. When I arrived I had little problem getting to my table; in contrast when my mom and sister arrived, they were dealt with quite abruptly and rudely by one of the waiting staff. This would be the theme of the night, contrasting levels of service, from sublime to less than ordinary.
We began with the house soup. A clear broth accompanied with generous portions of pork, it was equal to any soup you would normally pay for. The soup was full of flavour and munching on the pork at the end was a bonus.
Next up was a 2 course Peking Duck. We sat back as our waiter chopped up the duck and served it up in a pancake sized bread. Delicious was the verdict. You can't really go wrong with Peking Duck but without having to get your hands dirty makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable. The duck meat was then mixed in to form the san chow bow. Again the balance of flavours was just right.
Our mains on this night was a braised bean curd with mushrooms and baked pork spare ribs. These two dishes complimented each other nicely. The pork was so tender it practically fell of the bone. Bean curd can often be overcooked but on this night, the softness of the bean curd coupled with chewy mushrooms accompanied with a thick gravy again highlighted how each of the ingredient's flavours and textures were in synch with one another.
Serving sizes were more than appropriate and between 5 of us, 4 dishes more than filled us up.
I was so full that I could not even savour the complimentary sweets.
One of the waiters assigned to us, wore a frown all night and after perusing the bill and giving him our money, he then alerted us that he would be not be providing change and should assume that the change was a tip. Now that was a first for me. Luckily, after refusing to leave the table, another waiter returned with our change.
So a great night food was tempered by inconsistent service. A great restaurant to dine in, and at times excellent service. The ambience was better than I expected.
Check it out you may receive the great food and also awesome service if you are lucky.
Rating : ***
We were lucky to get a table considering I had only booked a few hours earlier. I was dining with my family and they were arriving separately. When I arrived I had little problem getting to my table; in contrast when my mom and sister arrived, they were dealt with quite abruptly and rudely by one of the waiting staff. This would be the theme of the night, contrasting levels of service, from sublime to less than ordinary.
We began with the house soup. A clear broth accompanied with generous portions of pork, it was equal to any soup you would normally pay for. The soup was full of flavour and munching on the pork at the end was a bonus.
Next up was a 2 course Peking Duck. We sat back as our waiter chopped up the duck and served it up in a pancake sized bread. Delicious was the verdict. You can't really go wrong with Peking Duck but without having to get your hands dirty makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable. The duck meat was then mixed in to form the san chow bow. Again the balance of flavours was just right.
Our mains on this night was a braised bean curd with mushrooms and baked pork spare ribs. These two dishes complimented each other nicely. The pork was so tender it practically fell of the bone. Bean curd can often be overcooked but on this night, the softness of the bean curd coupled with chewy mushrooms accompanied with a thick gravy again highlighted how each of the ingredient's flavours and textures were in synch with one another.
Serving sizes were more than appropriate and between 5 of us, 4 dishes more than filled us up.
I was so full that I could not even savour the complimentary sweets.
One of the waiters assigned to us, wore a frown all night and after perusing the bill and giving him our money, he then alerted us that he would be not be providing change and should assume that the change was a tip. Now that was a first for me. Luckily, after refusing to leave the table, another waiter returned with our change.
So a great night food was tempered by inconsistent service. A great restaurant to dine in, and at times excellent service. The ambience was better than I expected.
Check it out you may receive the great food and also awesome service if you are lucky.
Rating : ***
posted by sachman at 7:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home