Does healthy food mean tasty food? :::: Page 2

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The massive tureen of Chinese Herbal Chicken ($36) spans the diameter of a 9 inch pizza and easily feeds a dozen. Simmered in a conservative morass of assorted roots and wizened Hawthorn fruits for over 12 hours, the chicken arrives luxuriously perfumed in a herbal aroma. Moist and soft from the hours of preparation, the meat tears from the bone effortlessly. Be sure to pamper the chicken in a few drips of the sweet broth for a touch of extra flavour. Our Double Boiled Pork Thigh Soup with Hairy Mountain Fig ($12) comes in a more manageable portion but is no less generous with several juicy chunks of stewed pork in a pleasant stock.

The Fish Noodles in Shark Bone Soup ($9.80) is a more adventurous culinary affair. Practically unheard of prior to our visit here, this dish boldly dismisses tradition in favour of more unorthodox ingredients. Not to be confused with your average noodles, these noodles are created by massaging freshwater fish meat into thick strands before coating them with a slim layer of flour. The result is noodles that have a silky texture yet less brittle. Unmistakably chewy, each toothsome bite packs a unique flavour. Easily one of the best dishes we had at Old Hong Kong Essence, the tepid presentation is a little unfortunate but you would be doing yourself a disservice if you do not try this.

The next soup-based dish served, Poached Green Sprout with Conpoy in Soyabean Milk ($18), feels more like an unfettered culinary experiment gone wrong. It’s easy to appreciate the idea behind the noble decision to combine protein rich foods into one dish but the mixture is ineffective at best, and disastrous at worst. The soyabean milk is bland, robbed of its sweetness and overwhelmed by the slightly stinging bitter flavour of the green sprouts. Depending on how much you like your veggies, you could either find this dish reasonable or mildly offensive.

We round our mains up with the Salty Garoupa Fillet, Pan-Fried ($28). Offered with a small saucer of soya sauce, the sauté fillet isn’t salty on its own as suggested by its name. What you get is a pair of sizable fillets that are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The health conscious preparation technique used also means you won’t be mopping too much grease from the plate.

Our dessert spread starts with the Bird’s Nest Cake with Osmanthus ($18). Fancy names aside, we would like to clarify that this dish is actually a pudding. Like the Chilled Kai-Lan Served with Wasabi & Soya Sauce (Page 1), the pudding arrives with ice to keep it sufficiently chilled so there’s little need to worry about your dessert getting stale. To maintain freshness, the wobbly piece of pudding is put in a bowl that is placed atop a cup of ice. We find ourselves fascinated when the surface of the cup begins to emit a pall of white smoke, the cause of which we are certain is the ice that the restaurant somehow manages to coax into an even lower temperature. This visual effect creates a heavenly look for the dessert and we can’t help but give this dish heaps of extra points for presentation.

The Dating with North / South Poles ($9.80) is another ambiguous play on words. Fortunately, confused diners can always consult the short description below the name in the menu. We like the Yam Ice Cream though we would rather call it the Yam and Coconut Ice Cream. Suitably thick and distinctly rich in flavour, the ice cream is a perfect marriage of matching tastes. This cool sensation juxtaposes the ice cream with the other half of the dish – a warm Yam pudding that is more creamy than concentrated. There’s no coconut flavour to be found here which means the yam taste is more apparent.

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Address 8 Sinaran Drive, #02-05, Oasia Hotel (Next to Novena MRT)
Opening Hours Daily 10am – 2.30pm, 6pm – 10pm
Tel 6659 6738
Website http://www.oldhongkong.com.sg/

Review by Loh Yong Jian