Catalpa Garden

Sometimes I find myself in Chinese restaurants suddenly aboard a pain train destined for a world of hurt.  I don’t how I quite got on the train, but suddenly dishes are piling up on the table and I don’t really know what any of them are or why I ordered them.  That’s to say sometimes things go sideways real fast, perhaps through no real fault of the restaurant, just through general misunderstanding and/or cultural ignorance of Chinese cuisine and what I should expect.

Catalpa Garden Macau

That’s kind of how my lunch at Hotel Royal’s Catalpa Garden went, only I had the lovely and irresistible A Ping riding shotgun with me, and she felt the same way I did about the food – most of it was strange and not any good.

The Liquor-Saturated Shrimp (醉虾, $90) was indeed saturated in Chinese rice wine, and why anyone would want to drown perfectly good shrimp in that paint thinner is beyond me.  I can’t stand drinking rice wine on its own, I sure as hell don’t want to eat it.

Catalpa Garden liquor saturated shrimp
Liquor Saturated Shrimp

The Braised Beef (红烧牛展, $90) wasn’t cooked long enough or wasn’t fresh; whatever the case, it was far too chewy and another POS dish.

Catalpa Garden Braised Beef
Braised Beef

The Steamed Rolls (蒸银丝卷, $30) were laughable, offering zero taste, like eating dry cake without the icing.

Catalpa Garden Steamed Rolls
Steamed Rolls

One of my favourite Shanghai specialties disappointed as well, the Pork Soup Dumplings (上海小龙包, $38) that when done right absolutely explode in your mouth.  These ones were far too limp though, like a warhead that doesn’t go off, missing all the bite and oomph they need to have.

Catalpa Garden pork soup dumplings
Pork Soup Dumplings

As for other dishes. the Fried Spring Rolls (上海炸春卷, $30) and Lemon Tea Duck (柠茶鸭, $145) were both okay with the best choice by far the Spinach Soup (三鲜菠菜羹, $140).

Catalpa Garden fried spring rolls
Fried Spring Rolls
Catalpa Garden lemon tea duck
Lemon Tea Duck

Thick and deep, it rocked a beautiful texture, and was the only thing the restaurant got right.

Catalpa Garden spinach soup
Spinach Soup

For those who are fans of Shanghai cuisine, you can do a lot better than Catalpa Garden.  For food quality it’s probably two stars out of five, but at least it isn’t expensive and the service is good.

Catalpa Garden table and chandelier

I’ll never go back though.

5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments