Feb 22, 2009
Check out this Inn
Fish & Co's first foray into Chinese food caters to the mass market with decent, affordable fare
By Wong Ah Yoke
Most would know Fish & Co for its affordable Western seafood restaurants. So it is no surprise that for the company's first foray into Chinese food, it went for the same budget-conscious formula.
Chaozhou Inn, which opened last October in the basement of Parkway Parade, offers a mix of Teochew and Cantonese dishes with more than 90 per cent of them priced below $20.
Only seafood dishes such as steamed pomfret and sambal king prawns cost $22, and the most expensive item on the menu is a braised sea cucumber with abalone sauce at $28. Servings are enough for four people.
And you enjoy these in a pleasant, semi-casual setting of a mix of traditional Chinese and modern designs.
At those prices, you do not expect gourmet food and you certainly will not get it. But the cooking is generally decent, with some dishes even enjoyable.
But I think what may throw first-time customers off is that, for a restaurant called Chaozhou Inn, the menu features a fair number of Cantonese dishes such as roast pork and even local creations such as sambal prawns.
This lack of focus could make diners lose confidence in the authenticity of the Teochew cooking and does the restaurant no favours. Moreover, not all the Cantonese dishes are good, either.
I ordered the braised black bean pork ribs with bittergourd ($10) during my first visit to the restaurant last month and found it bitterly disappointing. The braising time had been too short and the flavours of the sauce did not penetrate either the meat or the vegetable.
But to be fair, for the past 10 years I have not been happy with the versions I have tasted, even though I order it each time I see it on a menu. The last good one was in a coffee shop in Keong Saik Road, which has become the benchmark.
But when I returned to Chaozhou Inn last week, I discovered a good non-Teochew dish in the deep-fried garlic pork ribs ($12). The meat was juicy and the fragrance of the garlicky marinade was infused fully into it.
The restaurant has also created a hybrid dim sum that is very good. Called steamed glutinous rice siew mai Chaozhou style ($4.40 for four pieces), it looks like a Cantonese siew mai except that the filling is soft glutinous rice instead of minced pork.
As for the Teochew dishes, they are not the best I have eaten. But the braised duck with beancurd ($10) is decent enough, coming in an assortment of breast meat and drumstick.
And the steamed red garoupa Chaozhou style ($14) is good value for money and a refreshing departure from the usual steamed pomfret.
But the chef should watch the cooking time more carefully. When I first ate it last week, it was cooked just right. But when I ordered the dish again a few days later, it was overcooked.
Instead of rice, you can accompany these dishes with pomfret porridge, Chaozhou style ($12), a homely dish of Teochew rice and broth flavoured with dried fish and seaweed.
I tried the dish twice and both times, found the broth acceptable but not as sweet as the Teochew fish soups from some hawker stalls. However, I found comfort in that there was probably no added MSG in it, which would have given me a parched throat. Certainly, I did not suffer any great thirst both times.
For dessert, check out the fried sugar yam strips ($4.90). The pieces of yam are fried with sugar until they are cooked and the sugar forms a fragrant, crisp coat around them. They may look plain, but they taste good.
And they may be just the thing to get me back to the restaurant.
CHAOZHOU INN
80 Marine Parade Road, B1-84D, Parkway Parade, tel: 6346-6617
Open: 11am to 10pm daily
Food: ***
Service: *** 1/2
Ambience: ***
Price: Budget from $25 a person
MUST TRY
STEAMED GLUTINOUS RICE SIEW MAI, CHAOZHOU STYLE ($4.40)
This Cantonese and Teochew hybrid dim sum boasts a very tasty filling of soft glutinous rice.
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