Golden Peony

Golden Peony is a rather small cozy restaurant located on the third floor of Conrad Centennial Singapore. Its supposedly one of the best restaurants in Singapore in terms of its Cantonese food offerings and this is where my foodie friends and i gathered for our monthly binge session.

Address: 3rd Floor Conrad Centennial Singapore

Contact: 64327488

Price Range: $70 per head

Anderson's Ice Cream

Relaxing in one corner with a nice ice cream cone while i waited for the arrival of my friends. Thus, i whipped out my new, improved and totally unused camera. All shots you see here are made using the new camera, which is why the pictures may look kinda wierd at present. Do forgive me. Anderson's make great ice cream by the way.

Pan Pacific Hotel

This is Pan Pacific hotel, inside is Zambuca, Hai Tien Lou and Global Kitchen where i spent quite a fortune on already. Some worth it, some not. And Hai Tien Lou is that round little thing you see up there, which is one of the better Chinese food restaurants so far. A review can be found here.

Conrad Hotel

Yep, this is where we will be having dinner today. Huge isn't it?

Golden Peony Signboard (Not too flattering i might add)


Walkway


The Wall of Culinary Awards (Impressive no?)

Now this part reminds me of Hua TIng quite a bit i must say.

The Crowd (@9pm)


Our Table and the menu

Everything here looks and feels pretty nice. The lights were rather dim despite how the pictures look, so i had to struggle to find a good light source to get my photos done.

Peking Duck ($52)

First part of the peking duck is obviously its skin. I must say that the portion here is very miserly. 3 really small skins in crepes and it doesn't allow you to get additional items should you have a different preference. I found the skin very normal and not as fragrant as Hai Tien Lou. Still decent though, just not great.

Peking Duck Continued

The second part of the Peking duck was served sliced and diced in lettuce wrap. Taking the meat by itself would have proven too salty but the lettuce wrap did serve to moderate the taste pretty well. However, i simply do not see a the duck here in our 6 portions which is quite a disappointment. If i pay for a duck, i expect to see a duck, and that doesn't seem to be what i'm given.

Salted Yolk Prawns ($39)

This one i found pretty much to my liking. The salted yolk batter was not too thick and i liked it less salty. The prawns were also of a reasonably big size and freshness which made the dish very palatable. The portions were small again though and everyone ended up with 2 prawns max.

Homemade Beancurd with Asparagus & XO sauce ($48 for 6 portions)

I found the beancurd simple and not really fantastic. Texture wise, it doesn't reach the softness and smoothness of good japanese beancurd and the egg taste didn't win it any points with me. After learning further that the beancurd was sold by the grams didn't improve my impression of it one bit. The accompanying sauce was decent but i couldn't taste the XO sauce in this anywhere.

Tea Marinated Pork Ribs ($90 for 6 portions)

This came across as a pretty good item when it reach our table. It was quite a size and i love meat, albeit not pork. The ribs were tender and juicy though and the fatty layer was minimal. However, i wouldn't have known this was 'tea marinate' if i didn't see the receipt. Still, it was rather good and well done if not for its rather exorbitant price.

Lobster Noodles ($120 for 6 portions)

This was $20 a portion and was it worth it? I honestly have to say a resounding No! The noodles taste like almost anything you could find outside and the baby lobster simply didn't come with enough meat nor taste to make it feel like anything except a scam.

Tao Huay ($24 for 6 portions)

Things just keep spiralling downwards i suppose. This tao huay has nothing special i could rant about and it costs $4 a portion. Simply not worth the time nor effort.

Bill: The total bill for this came up to $472.90. Which is a total rip off and simply left me wondering how it was possible for all those prizes displayed on its corridor.

Score:

Ambience: 6.5/10
Food : 5.5/10
Value for Money: 5/10
Portion Size: 5.5/ 10
Service : 6.5/10

Overall: 5.8/10


Last Word:

I honestly expected a whole lot more from this place given its reputation and the number of prizes it won to stand testament to its achievements. Yet, i left the place unsatisfied and feeling more then a little sour at blowing a bomb on a place totally not worth the money. I won't be back and i don't think anyone should either, at least until they get a new chef and modus operandi that doesn't make their customers feel ripped off.