Hua Ting

Hua Ting. An authentic cantonese cuisine restuarant located on the second floor of Orchard Hotel. Getting to the location doesn't prove to be a problem but finding and entering its extremly small carpark does bring a sneer onto my face. This was my 3rd monthly meal with a bunch of people i eventually got to know with each successive meal outing. And to say the least, i had fun for this one.

Address: 2nd Floor Orchard Hotel, 442 Orchard Road

Contact: 67396666 or 67343872

Price Range: $60-75 per head

(Author's note: Please forgive the rather dark pictures at this point. This was still done with my rather old and dying Sony camera. A few more posts and we'll be up to speed with good
pictures. Patience is a virtue my friends. =) As is a normality in this blog, some pictures are taken from FatPig.

The Signboard

Entrance



The Utensils


Interior



Table Setting

The simple and somewhat grand chinese theme of the restuarant says it all. Its all about cooking and they have the prizes to show it off. Headed by Master Chef Chan Kwok, the moment we stepped in, we did not expect to leave unsatisfied, but did it live up to its name and numerous prizes? Read on to find out.

Rose Tea

Given the choice of what to drink, everyone opted for something different on this and my choice is the less adventurous and more simple rose tea. It was fragrant but tasted bland and the lack of a filter really started to irk me after about 2 sips because you can't get any tea in without leaves accompanying it. Great presentation, bad execution.

Hua Ting Deluxe Platter

This serving for 5 came with char siew (roasted honey pork), fried silverfish, jellyfish, soy chicken and prawn wrapped in beancurd. I found it decent though not outstanding. The prawn was fresh and crunchy and i enjoyed the small but surprisingly tasty fried silverfish. However, it does get to taste too salty after a while. The roasted pork was normal, as is the soy chicken and jellyfish.

Crispy Homemade Beancurd with Seasonal Greens Topped with Assorted Eggs

This wierd looking tofu is made simply of egg tofu and egg. It looks out of this world but taste wise, i can't really find anything special about it. The spinach was simple and tasted a little like Hai Tien Lou's three egg spinach combincation. Otherwise, it doesn't warrant much attention apart from looks.

Crispy Roasted Duck

Crispy roasted duck. It more or less a staple for us to have this dish in any chinese restuarant we step into to compare the quality of the restaurant offerings. This one was more or less a must order dish for anyone who visited Hua Ting. The skin was crispy and lightly sweet from the gravy while the meat was tender and had a slightly salty aftertaste. Compared to Hai Tien Lou's rendition, i felt the former tasted better but it seems even Hua Ting has a good enough rendition to recommend. So do try it.

Sautéed Dried Cod Fish with Egg White

This dish looked interesting from the outset and certainly is a different way of cooking the precious fish its based upon. I personally found this dish decent while the rest of my friends shunned it due to the tasteless blending of egg white and cod fish. The end result is a rather tasteless dish that tastes too much like eggs and covers the freshness and sweetness of the cod. I do have to comment that the cod melts in your mouth and since no one else would have more of it, I had the privilege of finishing most of this dish.

Deep Fried Scallop Bacon Roll topped with Conpoy

This dish again had mixed reactions as some found it too salty for their liking. Maybe they weren't eating it right because i found that mixing a bite of the bacon with the Conpoy served to lessen the salty taste and allowed me to enjoy the sweetness of the scallop as well. I'd even go so far as to say i enjoyed the dish for as long as the veg lasted. After it however, its a different story. The bacon and sauce was simply too salty a combination to enjoy.

Fish Paste Noodle Soup with Seafood

Fish paste noodles was awesome. If we had more space this would have been the perfect ending dish which sadly, we did not have. The scallops and prawn were simply huge and very fresh. The soup base was actually really good, tasting nether salty nor oily and the noodles served to fill you up real quick. We did manage to get one bowl of noodle and all the prawn and scallop down but never managed to finish this sadly. I believe this could have been a meal all on its own. I recommend having it before anything else.

Bill

In the end, the above cost the 5 of us $370 which is pretty absurd as it didn't feel justified given the quality of the food.

Score:

Ambience: 7.5/10
Food : 7/10
Value for Money: 6.75/10
Service : 7.25/10
Overall: 7.25/10

Last Word:
It was honestly quite a decent meal but i suppose its understandable that paying an amount as steep as this. Decent is not what we should be getting. It was excellent or bust and from my point of view. This will not bring me back for a second try. Service was attentive and good but the food needed some work to justify its price. Try it for the duck and fish paste noodle alone.