Taste Good Seafood Restaurant

Oh how the mighty have fallen...  We were once a competitive co-rec softball team usually challenging for first place every year.  When it came time for the year-end tourney, we'd make it to the finals on a regular basis.  However, this year, we went 0 for 5 and didn't even keep things close.  A combination of factors led to this, and probably the most important was our advancing age.  Our minds said we could, but our bodies were basically saying, "what the heck?".  So to drown our sorrows, we headed over to nearby Taste Good Seafood Restaurant for a year-end meal of sorts.

Originally, I had asked what were the typical items found in the Assorted Appetizer Platter and we were told jellyfish and honey garlic spareribs.  What we got was Soy Chicken, BBQ Pork and Gwai Fei Gai (Empress Chicken).  We were all a bit dismayed at what was essentially something one would find at a regular Chinese BBQ.  Worse yet, the items were pretty average with fatty, but at the same time chewy pork and stiff soy chicken.  We did like the empress chicken though as it was moist and nicely seasoned with xiaoshing wine.

Much like our meal at Shoom recently, we also got the 2-course Peking Duck.  The first course was the typical crispy duck skin served with crepes, scallions and hoisin.  Crispy and easy on the fat, the duck skin was pretty good.  However, it was also rather bland on its own in need of some seasoning prior to cooking.  As for the crepes, they were too wet and doughy where it was very difficult to pick one up without wrecking it.  Next, we had the Duck Lettuce Wrap which was very good.  The entire dish was subject to enough wok heat where there was caramelization of flavours while the veggies remained crisp.  We also appreciated the ample well-cut cups of lettuce.

Since we needed more veggies in our meal, we went with the Gai Lan with Beef.  This was another well-prepared dish with big crunchy gai lan stalks that were kissed by a really hot wok.  Hence, there was very little moisture on the plate.  The ample slices of beef were tenderized enough, but some pieces were still a bit chewy.  As evidenced by its dark colour, there was plenty of seasoning, especially soy.  Milhouse defaulted to his go-to dish being the Sweet & Sour Pork, which was not bad.  Just right in size, the pieces of pork were relatively moist and tender inside while sporting a light batter.  With a plethora of sauce, there was not crunchy texture left though.  We found the sauce to be pretty balanced.

Appearing rather yellow, the Fried Squid with chilis and garlic were more crispy than they appeared.  Textually, the squid was tender while maintaining a natural chew.  They were wok tossed in a good amount of garlic, chilis, onion and tomato to go along with ample salt and white pepper.  Hence, there was no absence of impact.  At first, the Cashew Chicken looked a little odd when it arrived.  Ah yes, they forgot the cashews.  Even after they added it on top, the entire dish was not very aromatic due to the lack of wok heat and appearance of too much moisture.  That also meant there was a lack of flavour from the caramelization of the seasoning.

Of course Boss Woman couldn't participate in a Chinese meal without the Prawns and Scrambled Eggs, so yes, we got that too.  It was a fairly large plate of silky eggs that were also a tad wet.  They didn't overdo it with the seasoning which meant we could taste the prawns and eggs.  Large and sporting a meaty crunch, the ample amount of prawns added their own flavour to the dish as well.  Lastly, we shared the Vermicelli with Chicken in Soup.  Originally, it was supposed to be a Wor Mein, but they ran out of wonton noodles and decided to make it with vermicelli without asking us first.  It was rather average with chewy noodles, but pretty weak soup (not in salt), but in depth.  Overall, we thought the food was decent, but considering the price point, Shoom would be a better option.

The Good:
- Decent service
- Decent eats
- Okay portions

The Bad:
- A little pricey