鲜定味 Xian Ding Wei Taiwanese Tea Room @ Queensbay

This restaurant name is catchy – in Chinese it sounds like you need to reserve first before dining there. Situated in previous  Swenswen’s lot (next to Sakae Sushi) in Queensbay was a new high class Taiwanese restaurant called Xian Ding Wei 鲜定味. I first visited it on 30-Mar-2010. Cheap labor like me was not able to visit it again to cover more aspects so I might just post the “first glance” now.

I went there with my colleagues during lunch hour. That time we just received “bribe” ($$ a.k.a 遮丑费 paid by someone to cover crime, in this case, crime of intentionally underpaying employees) from company so we decided to pay this newly-opened (that time) restaurant a visit. We flipped through menu and eventually we all ordered “set meals” as those are the only items we could afford:

Taiwan Style Sweet and Sour Pork Set 糖醋咕佬肉套餐 (RM17.90++). As you can see from the figure. The set meal was nicely decorated. There was a bowl of soup of the day, rice (choose between white rice or braised pork rice 卤肉饭), few dessert, and the main course. The main course was served on metal pot/plate and was heated up to keep the food warm.

Similarly, soup was covered with a lid as well. By the way, Sweet and Sour Pork Set was just average according to my friend. Kind of hard and lack of sauce.

Braised Pork Leg with Peanut Set 花生卤猪脚套餐 (RM19.90++), however, was good. In fact, it was the best among others.

The pork leg was braised for long hour, allowing the sauce and fragrant of the spice penetrating the skin. It is not too salty and best consume with rice. The portion is “big” as well (well, at least the biggest among others).

I was the most unlucky person. I ordered Dry Shrimp in Sweet Ferment Rice Wine Set 酒酿干烧虾套餐 (RM19.90++). The menu screenshot looked promising with more than 2 big shrimps. When it arrived… however….

:wtf:

Two shrimps for RM20++? Also, there was no rice wine taste. More like Thai Sauce Shrimp to me. I ended up had to cut each shrimp into 10+ chunks and slowly consumed it with rice. While eating, I keep on comparing the portion with the screenshot on the menu. “How come like that?”

Last set meal was the Sweet Braised Squid Set 红烧蜜中卷套餐 (RM19.90++).

It was okay but again, the portion could be bigger.

Good thing is, their drink was somehow special. I ordered Mixed Fruit Tea 什锦水果茶 (RM5.90++) and it was excellent in term of presentation and taste.

It may be a bit too sweet for some people though.

My friend ordered Dragon Fruit Juice 龙珠果汁 (RM5.90++) and it was just not as pure as the one blended at home. From my understanding is that Red Dragon Fruit is session fruit. Wonder how they ensure that the item is available 365 days…

At first glance, excellent food presentation. However, we felt being cheated by screenshots from the menu. It is not about the texture of the food (even though there are differences), but the quantity. The actual food itself had smaller portion. With such price, I would expect bigger  portion, and also bigger bowl of rice. Perhaps the restaurant is out of my league. Four of us spent RM102.80 that day. There are lots of improvement need to be done. Will visit it again provided someone treat me.