Wonderful House Restaurant 89°C

Since I drive by the corner of the Kingsway at Salisbury quite often, I've known about Wonderful House for awhile.  Replacing Private Home Cuisine, the new place put "fusion" into its menu by offering up a combination of Shanghainese, Taiwanese, Szechuan and even a touch of Cantonese eats.  Recipe for disaster?  Normally yes, but we had to give the place a try as I was still searching for the best Drunken Chicken as per this year's CRA Social Media judging. So after dining on the same stuff at Jin Jiang the night before, we did it for lunch the very next day.

Just like the last meal, we were started off with the aforementioned Drunken Chicken (as it is usually a cold dish anyways).  This one was much more impactful and strong with a considerable amount of Xiaoshing wine flavour.  With that being said, it wasn't overpowering even though it had penetrated the meat completely.  Since they used free-range chicken, the meat was much less succulent than Jin Jiang where it was chewy (but in an appealing way).  The gelatinized skin was on point where there was a thin layer of gelatin underneath. We also got the Sliced Pork Belly with Garlic Sauce (as it is another one of my favourite dishes). Despite sporting a tasty sauce that was indeed garlicky, sweet and slightly spicy, the pork belly itself was more meaty than buttery soft.  The lack of fat ensured that it wasn't going to be melting-in-our-mouths.

The most disappointing dish of the meal was the Xiao Long Bao as they were steamed for far too long.  As a result, the dumpling skin was wet and water-logged.  Hence, there was no chewiness to the dough. Inside, there was nary a drop of soup to be found.  The little that there was didn't exhibit much of any discernible flavours.  On the other hand, the pork filling was tender and moist though with a noticeable sweetness. The Potstickers didn't fare much better as the dumpling wrapper was doughy and thick. Despite exhibiting an attractive pan fry, the bottom wasn't exactly crispy.  Inside, the pork and cabbage filling was decent being moist and balanced.  However, it did lack seasoning.

For the kiddies, we got them the Braised Beef Soup Noodles to share.  Either they were super hungry or they really liked the noodles because they attacked it with fervour.  I was able to sample some of it and it was indeed pretty good.  The mild soup base exhibited some depth with an aromatic background meatiness accented by five spice (particularly star anise).  We found the noodles to be chewy while the braised beef was super tender and flavourful.  Also for the kiddies, we got the Chicken Nuggets dusted aggressively by the aforementioned five spice.  These were lightly crispy with well-rendered skin. Underneath, the chicken was succulent and well-seasoned.  All-in-all, we found the meal here hit and miss.  Not really sure if it is worth a return visit.

The Good:
- Okay pricing
- Comfy dining space

The Bad:
- Hit and miss food
- Hit and miss service