Gold By Harlan Goldstein  

Chilled. Not for me. My first plate - wanted to whip up a Caesar look-alike of some sort but failed hahaa. Neh it still tastes fine. All the usual stuff. Nothing too surprising. They have 4-5 types of dressing. Broccoli was yummy, so was the grilled zucchini, peppers, capsicum and eggplant. My second plate - parma ham and melon, french beans, smoked duck breast with supersour mango><, couscous, pita bread with boiled egg mayo dip, more grilled veg. A word on the smoked duck breast with supersour mango - first, the mango is inordinately sour, which means it shouldn't have been there in the first place; second, something went seriously wrong with the duck breast. Perhaps that's what proper duck breast is supposed to taste like but when I'm smelling toilet in my mouth...yeah. Either something is seriously wrong with my taste, or something is wrong with the duck breast itself. disappointment!!Ooh these petit one-biters were yummy! Tofu was very delicate, cold and refreshing. Egg with grilled eel? was juicy and sweet.

Porcini mushroom Tortellini, wilted spinach, parmesan and crispy pancettaI ordered this dish because well, I like pasta! This one disappointed me. First, the sauce was too, too thick (i didn't expect my pasta to be swimming in a thick bed of cheesy creamy sauce. The cheese flavour, and the parmesan, was overpowering. Perhaps I'm not so fond of cheese anymore. Not sure. I just didn't like the sauce. And the tortellini itself - porcini? Where? G did not think it was homemade. But they didn't hold themselves out as such so that's alright. I would've expected a homemade tortellini though. Back to the filling - tasted like mashed potatoes + pork + cheese. Very strong cheesy flavour therefore it was very filling. I had to scrape out around 70% of the filling before putting the piece into my mouth. In other words most of this dish was wasted. Sad, but I don't prefer forcing an expensive food item down my throat. Experience tells me therefore, that I should go for the burger next time. (if there is a next). I like burgers too.

Slow-cooked wild scottish salmon, tabbouleh salad and sesame lemon garlic dressingIt looked good when first served. Yeah. Sadly this first impression didn't last long when G discovered that the center of the fish was almost raw. G doesn't like raw salmon. It says slow-cooked on the menu right. The outer layer of the fish was alright (I tried a bit, but am not a big fan of any raw-ish kind of fish, no matter how good it is).
So we showed the Chinese waiter, 'look, it's almost raw.'
(roughly translated from Chinese)
'That's how it's supposed to be. The chef deliberately made it that way.
'The menu says slow-cooked but it's almost raw'
'It isn't raw. it just looks raw. that's slow cooking.'
'Um look here in the center it obviously isn't cooked you can compare the outer bit with the center, see...'
Ma'am if you don't like it we can change it to something else for you. There's no use asking us for a 'properly-cooked' dish because that's how it is. The substitute will be the same'
'Uh it's alright I don't think I can handle another dish. Just leave it.'

A couple minutes later, Chinese waiter returns with another small plate of a similar-sized salmon and cuts it open for us. 'You see?It's the same. that's how we do it'.
'It's so not the same, this one's more properly cooked, look at the inside. At least the fat's has dissolved.'
'So do you want this?
'No it's fine, I'm too full thanks.'
'I suggest you have it, because we'd be throwing it away in any case if you don't eat it.
G looks at me. 'Thanks just leave it on the table.'
*Chinese waiter exists the scene.*

The point of extracting this conversation is not to apportion fault. It is to illustrate the Chinese waiter's excellent attitude towards customers.

GOLD ginger pear cake, hazelnut gelato