Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Can or Not?

This was an incidental visit. The parents and I were actually heading to Guan Hoe Soon but it was not open. Next we tried for the teochew porridge that's at the corner of Dunman Road and Joo Chiat Road. Would you believe it, the coffee shop was closed as well. Now, this would have been sad except that we are quite used to this happening, having grown up with my mum, she with the unenviable track record of restaurants closing down after our ill-fated visits.

Anyway, we ended up at Canton Wok, a fairly popular restaurant along Joo Chiat Road, and ordered from their list of signature dishes. There were a couple of hits and misses...


bacon-wrapped prawns with mayonnaise

This was the equivalent of salad prawn, that ubiquitous starter of Chinese restaurants in Singapore. Sadly, the bacon did nothing for us; it was crispy but tasteless. Still it added texture, I suppose, to an otherwise commonplace dish.


poached spinach in superior stock

This dish was suggested by the waitperson. We wanted some veggie, we wanted some soup. The stock was good but the vegetables were as old as my grandmother (sorry, that's a running gag in my family).


homemade tofu topped with dried scallop

The homemade tofu was excellent - it was really soft and delicate.


steamed crab with glutinous rice and garlic

This dish had potential, although I did think there was a little too much salt and a little too much garlic for the rest of the dish.

All in all, it wasn't a bad meal. Having said that, there was nothing memorable about it either. The service too was adequate, rather than good. For example, none of the waitstaff offered to serve us at any point, even though at first there were at most three occupied tables. Contrast this to Peach Garden, where the service is impeccable. And who can forget their wasabi prawns? The only mitigating factor for Canton Wok, I suppose, was the size of the bill: $86 for three. Aptly, the bill did not include the 10% service charge...

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