restaurant
Restaurant Review: Good World
The Good World Chinese restaurant in Lower Hutt doesn’t do yum char so well.
We went on a Saturday at 12:15pm. Should have been a busy time, and it did look fairly populated. Unfortunately the same food kept cycling around and we only got one dish of steamed dumplings in the first 3/4 of the time we were there. Some new steamed dumplings finally arrived after about 45 minutes.
The place was a bit grimey. The bowls and cutlery were visibly unclean, and I had to wipe them with my napkin first. The teapot didn’t look like it had ever been washed. They are quite slow at filling up your teapot too.
We also had to ask one of the waitress each time to show us what she had, to which one of the explanations was “body parts”. Hmm, best not to ask which body parts… She showed everyone else without being asked though! What’s up with that?
The range of food was limited and the same waitresses kept assuming we were full, exclaiming “Want more!?” each time she came around. Yes we want more. We just don’t want the body parts that you keep bringing around. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a well-rounded Asian that eats almost everything. I’ll eat the classics like tripe, chicken’s feet, tendons and so on, but calling them “body parts” and not even wanting to show us is a little off-putting lady.
If you have leftovers you want to take home, you have to bring them to the counter when you pay. I don’t know why they can’t just bring over a takeaway box to your table like normal places.
I won’t be going back. I can see why my cousins in the Hutt come to Wellington City to have yum char. We’ll stick to The Regal – our favourite place. It might cost a little more but it’s cleaner, yummier and friendlier.
Restaurant Review: Café Pica
*Sigh!*
There was nothing about this café located in the Porirua MegaCentre that made me enjoy my first, and definitely my only, visit.
All the doors were left open and you could see the cold wintery breeze pushing dustballs across the icy floors. It was uncomfortable despite being a few feet from the fire place.
The food was just bad. It wasn’t even average.
The girls had pancakes with banana, bacon and a choice of maple syrup or “orange syrup”. I chose the orange syrup because it sounded interesting but what come on the plate looked and tasted like watery orange juice…
The pancakes weren’t even home made – WHAT!? Looked like they were layered with cheap bacon and banana and microwaved till the banana was a chewy grey. Tasteless. It didn’t help that we only got a wee amount of fresh cream and syrup. Ms Constantine asked for more maple syrup for the both of us and we both agreed the maple syrup was watered down and tasted a bit off.
The boys had a cooked breakfast – you know, the typical bacon, eggs, sausage, hashbrown, tomato and toast. How hard can that be? Just as hard as pancakes it turns out.
The “toast” was not toasted – WHAT!? It was just a thick slice of plain cold bread. The poached eggs were overdone – eww! The half tomato was hard and uncooked. The bacon was again the cheap type, and looked like it was just heated rather than grilled. The “lemon hollandaise” as it says on the menu was nowhere to be seen.
The best thing apparently was the hashbrown, which Café Pica claimed was their own. Not even! It was one of those preshaped triangular things that you buy frozen in bulk. Thankfully it wasn’t home made as it might have tasted as bad as everything else.
If you can make a better breakfast at home on a Sunday morning, then something is seriously wrong with the café. Pancakes and cooked breakfasts are not fancy pants food!
Not going back, ever.
(I just looked online and saw all the reviews for Café Pica on MenuMania were just as bad – so I added another one.)
Restaurant Review: Hong Kong BBQ
This is the place on Kent Terrace that has barbecued meat hanging in the front window – ducks, chicken, ribs and roasted pork.
I’ve been to HK BBQ several times now, mainly for a quick cheap dinner or lunch.
They also do bubble tea. Heard of bubble tea? If not, it’s flavoured tea (hot or cold) that has optional “bubbles” added to it for about an extra $1. The bubbles are either balls of black tapioca, coconut pieces or small pieces of jelly pudding. I’ve only tried it with tapioca, which look kind of like big frog’s eggs at the bottom of your glass. I get it for the fun factor.
Bubble tea with "bubbles" in the straw
The service is usually efficient, although this last time we went I think they forgot about our order. We had a couple waitresses come by and check our ticket with some confusion. The food took aaaages, but the bubble tea was enough to keep me going till then – the tapioca can be quite filling!
Their barbecue meats are delish. The triple meat dish is a good way to try three types at the same time. Crispy roast pork is always good!
The hubby’s favourite dish is the Shanghai noodles, which are delicious.
I quite like the clay pot Chilli Chicken Wings but it varies from medium spicy to almost-too-spicy-to-eat, without any guarantees. The wings are chopped up and bones make it a bit fiddly to eat without using all your fingers.
This time I tried the sweet and sour fish pieces. These were quite good, though a bit bland when alternating with the Shanghai noodles. I found them particularly tasty the next day for lunch, with just rice.
That’s another thing – the servings here are generous. The two of us usually settle for two dishes with rice, which is plenty. Sometimes there’s enough for lunch the next day too.
It’s not a glamorous place. I’ve noticed the disposable chopsticks have been replaced by reusable ones now. The tables could be less sticky though.
Hong Kong BBQ is great for good old-fashioned Chinese food and bubble tea, if that’s what you’re after.
Restaurant Review: Arashi
After taking advantage of two for one cocktails at Chow, we decided that food was much required and Japanese sounded delicious.
Arashi is a quaint little Japanese restaurant on Courtenay Place, Wellington.
It’s an unpretentious place – plain wooden tables and chairs, no table cloths, disposable chopsticks. You can also opt to sit on the floor at a traditional low table if you don’t mind squishing your bits… no thanks for me.
The funniest part of the experience this time was the waitress. She had a ‘humpfh’ about her, as if she was too busy to be waiting on our table. She gave us about two minutes before coming to take our food order. Noone had decided yet so we asked for another five. It didn’t help that a few of us were having a bit of trouble focussing on the menu (blame it on the drinks) to make up our minds before she came back.
Eventually we all ordered bar one, who was still deciding. Can you believe that the waitress did the whole sighing and looking away thing as our friend was trying her best to make a choice? It was hilarious!
About 15 minutes after we had ordered, my hubby joined us and we asked another waiter for a menu. Our original waitress arrived not long after and asked the hubby “Are you going to eat something?” to which I replied without hesitation “Yes!”. I think she realised what a silly question that was because she gave me a smile and laughed about it.
The food there was good. The menu is extensive and the sets are good as an easy option.
I had the teppanyaki beef set that included rice, miso and salad for $18. The previous time I had teriyaki squid which was tasty but a little too sweet for me.
The pork dumplings were yummy too – luckily my friend offered me one as I usually can’t fit in a starter as well. Don’t get put off by the smell of the chives (I think they were garlic chives from the strength) in them – it can smell like someone just let something off but then you realise what it is and it’s all ok. Kind of like how parmesan can smell like sour sick but it tastes good in food.
After she calmed down a little (someone must’ve come back from their break or something) I think the waitress did well handling a bunch of boozed diners. We were certainly vocal that evening so I think the other diners did well too!
And we all enjoyed what we ordered. Definitely a good place for a casual dinner with friends.
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