Mui Garden (Main Street)

It's been awhile since Bam Bam has played for our softball team.  In fact, he hasn't been out all season due to his archery class.  Archery class?  Maybe he should change his name to Robin Hood and wear green tights.  Yes, that would be a sight to see, much like the Kardashians at Nobu in L.A..  Anyways, he finally made it out to a game and brought along Maid Marion, er..  I mean Pebbles.  I immediately asked the most important question, "where are we eating afterwards?".  She remarked that a burger would be nice, so we headed off to Splitz Grill on Main.  Well, that was an epic fail as they were already closed as of 8:00pm.  Looking across the street, we decided on Mui Garden as our backup plan.

After the complimentary daily soup, we dived right into our 8 dishes starting with the Hainanese Chicken complete with 2 buckets of chicken oil rice.  Although it was the lean free-range variety, the meat was still succulent while sporting a nice layer of gelatin and gelatinized skin.  The half chicken was rather meaty and large while sporting enough seasoning.  Our 2 buckets of rice had a nice nutty and chewy quality with only a moderate amount of salt.  If we were going to have one of their 2 signature items, we weren't going to get out of there without the Curry Beef Brisket.  Despite being a curry, this Malay version featured a significant amount of coconut milk to make the whole thing mild and creamy.  A bit small in size, the chunks of brisket were sufficiently moist and fatty.

At first, I was hesitant to order the Braised Pork Belly with pickled mustard greens.  Hey, it's not the most healthiest of options!  Well, was I ever wrong as the group devoured it from the start.  Although the dish lacked colour and overall depth, the pork belly itself was on point being meaty with just enough fat to keep things moist and rich.  There was enough sweet soy and salty tartness (from the mustard greens) to flavour the dish.  Onto another hot pot item, we had the Fish & Tofu Hot Pot.  It was a very well-executed dish where the big filets of fish were fried beautifully.  The meat was super flaky and moist while sporting on a very thin layer of batter.  With just enough oyster-based sauce to coat all of the ingredients, the seasoning was bang on.

Moving onto some veggies, we had the classic Gai Lan with Beef.  This was glistening much like a pubescent boy's forehead.  However, this also meant there was a good amount of wok heat that kept the moisture level to a minimum.  Hence, the gai lan stalks were vibrant and crunchy.  The sparse amount of sliced beef was properly tenderized and amply seasoned. I enjoyed this dish, but the oil content was rather excessive.  Next, the 4 Seasons Green Beans were also respectable.  Properly oil-blanched where the beans were fully cooked, they still maintained a fresh crunch.  With enough wok heat that resulted in caramelized flavours, it also kept the dish dry (which is a good thing).  Again, the dish was seasoned nicely with some spice to go along with the salty and briny dried shrimp.

Since I value my life, I got the Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp for Boss Woman because she loves the dish (even without any prompting).  A bit pale in colour, the eggs were on the wetter side.  Therefore, the dish was soft and a touch lifeless.  With that being said, the flavours were good while the shrimp were mostly crunchy.  Lastly, for the benefit of Milhouse, I got an order of the Sweet & Sour Pork.  Obviously refried, the chunks of pork were a touch dry and chewy.  As for the sauce, it was rather sweet due to the pineapple and lychee.  There was also too much of it as it drowned the pork. Although the last 2 dishes were pretty average, the meal as a whole was decent and reasonably-priced.  Not bad for a backup meal of sorts.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced for the portion size
- Surprisingly good service

The Bad:
- Some dishes could use more refinement, but okay nonetheless
- Restaurant a bit run down