Saturday 1 February 2014

Canton Paradise @ ARC Alexandra Retail Centre (Review)

Only problem is, they serve Shark's Fin.

I didn't check the menu completely first before entering. Saw the lovely pic of fried carrot cake and been wanting to try since the day they opened.

Don't know why Canton Paradise is still serving Shark's Fin when a list of other Chinese restaurants have already showed their support against serving this item.

Awareness has already been raised and support already garnered from restaurants and consumers. So, I am puzzled why Canton Paradise, for all its classiness, is still serving this item with such a dirty bloodied background. It is like "dirty money".   Ill-gotten.

The most recent news revealed a China factory killing the endangered Whale Shark on an industrial scale (illegally).


Canton Paradise wants to be associated with illegal, dirty blood money like that? Completely ruins a restaurant's image and classiness.

It would be nice if the restaurant said that its Shark's Fin was fake. That it's made of starch, flour and sugar (though who would want to order, eh?).

Bro said that it's Ok if I don't order Shark's Fin. I said, "Yeah, but the money still goes to them (the restaurant that sells Shark's Fin). ". 

I considered if we should just walk out after reading the menu at our table. Made it a point that we would not be returning.

Ordered the Fried Carrot Cake with XO ($7.80) since I have been wanting to try. They were crowded during the first few days of opening. This time, the place was quite empty  (27 Jan about 6 pm).  I didn't find any online reviews despite it opening for some time already.

The Fried Carrot Cake XO came in cubes and was nice, particularly with their chilli sauce. Bro ate it without chilli sauce and liked it.  But I still much prefer the local hawker center type (black/white).

Bro ordered the Mango Puree with Sago ($5) while I wanted the Yam Jelly Squares pictured in the menu. However, was later told that the Yam Jelly was sold out and so were other desserts. They only had Mango Puree with Sago or Guilin Gao (black Chinese Jelly).

Or Egg Custard that is supposed to be cold/chilled ($5), which I ordered as replacement.

Both desserts were surprisingly poor. Bro said his Mango Puree was nice. But I tried it and it was thin and disappointing.  Instead of yellow like an egg custard should be, my Custard was pale white and it tasted odd and bland (I didn't finish).

The plate of fried Yi Mee noodles was nice. But very few and small pieces of ingredients in it for the price ($14.80).

The strangest taste was their Yuan-Yang Coffee-Tea Mix (cold drink $3.40). It was bad the first time it was served: the coffee too strong and bitter, overwhelmed any taste of tea. Bro said it tasted weird. After I sent it back, it returned tasting a little sweeter but still not passable (even though, as the nice uncle waiter said, "the chef made it more balanced").  We didn't finish this drink.

Peanuts that we didn't order, already on the table in a small plate = $1.50.

2 disposable packets of thin tissues that we would rather have preferred to be paper napkins = $0.60. 

Plain water (refillable) = $0.50 per glass (did not seem to have been added to the bill).

Total cost = $44.84

One word: Expensive.

Four words: Not worth the price.

Service was however, homely and good. Uncle waiter was very nice and friendly but a little too honest about his forgetfulness regarding which desserts are not available (and had to call a younger guy to come tell us). 


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