We celebrated Chinese New Year at Maple Garden Maple Garden, which used to be a family favorite, but after this meal, they get crossed off the list. You’ll see some of the same dishes in a past post, only this time, they tasted very different (not in a good way), leading us to believe the chef had changed.
Starting with the cold appetizers, the Marinated Cucumbers was the only dish out of six that I really enjoyed. They were fresh and crunchy, lightly pickled with just a hint of spice. The Cold Sliced Beef was dry and flavorless.
The Jelly Fish, normally one of my favorites, lacked flavor from being barely dressed.
The Smoked Fish, another one of my favorite, was butchered. It didn’t even taste like smoked fish, just cold chunks of fish. Lon and my dad enjoyed the Smoked Chicken but my mom and I didn’t. (I erased the picture of the Smoked Chicken by accident. Freudian slip?)
The Shredded Bean Curd didn’t taste like anything either.
The Soup Dumplings were pretty standard.
The Dungenous Crab was so heavily battered which is stupid because you have to eat the batter of the shell, then break the shell to get to crab meat, so you don’t eat it together.
The Vegetarian Platter was pretty good, especially the soft and pillowy fried gluten.
The Peking Duck was served barely warm and no crispy duck skin.
The Duck Soup was much better though, simple and comforting. There was plenty of Chinese cabbage and mung bean thread, but it there wasn’t enough tofu for each person to get a piece.
The ribs were pretty dry and very salty.
The Fish was over-cooked.
The Squid and Yellow Chives was one of our favorites, not because it was special, but because it didn’t have any major problems.
I usually love this rice cake dish but this time it was mushy.
The Scallion Pancake ended up being the best dish, with wonderful flaky layers, crispy outer layers contrasting the soft inner layers, lots and lots of layers!
Then there was a long pause before our last two dishes. We had to ask for each of them several times. They kept apologizing for being so busy but it didn’t help to get those dishes any faster. By the time we got the Vegetable Mei Fun, I wasn’t interested in trying it.
I had to eat the Turnip Pastry, after we had been waiting for it for so long. (Lon had been asking about it since the time we had it over a year ago.) Unfortunately, it was totally different. The turnips were a bit under-cooked (still hard) and they added some chopped pork. The size shrunk as well.
As we drove home, we all aired our disappointments. Even my Great Aunt Peggy thought the portions were very skimpy, hardly looking like a banquet meal. My mom had also pre-ordered the dinner and they had an agreed up
on price, yet charged them more when my dad went to pay the balance (they had paid a deposit). If it isn’t obvious already, we are not going back.
on price, yet charged them more when my dad went to pay the balance (they had paid a deposit). If it isn’t obvious already, we are not going back.
*sigh* i dislike it when chinese restaurants suddenly change chefs, too… they say that the chef is the same, but the food tastes completely different.
That all looked delish from the photos… but I do agree that the deep fried crab with shell was strange!
Pearl, it is so irritating!
How annoying! Especially when you've been looking forward it!
we had a similar experience in Chinatown, London. Thought it would be as good as our last visit, they'd changed chefs & didn't we know it!!
Now that really was the last visit!
p.s. can't have duck & no crispy skin :0(