Ah Yat abalone @ grand pacific hotel

happy bday to myself =) this is the last single-hood birthday!!! i actually didnt think about it till my friend told me... haha.... the previous years i will plan where to eat or what to do but this year we were busy with wedding preparation, i didnt pay much attention to my bday... i thought of just going out for a nice dinner with bf... & he surprised me this year by the choice of restaurant.... since i only like to eat a very narrow range of cuisine, i expect him to bring me to some nice japanese or ang moh restaurant but nope, i was wrong... he brought me to Ah yat abalone.... i was really surprised cause this is like the least place that i would think he will bring me to because i told him that i personally dont like to dine at chinese restaurants cause i dont like to spend $ on food that i know how to cook.... & somemore ah yat abalone?!?!?! thats a real surprise.... his reason was that i always said i want to hold our wedding at one of the ah yat abalone place cause it's cheaper than having it at hotel & restaurants normally have nicer food.... so he thought i REALLY want to try their food, so he brought me there... i do want to try but not the dying want to try kind but still.....so sweet =)

so he made reservation at grand pacific hotel outlet... the restaurant is kind of small, it's like the size of a normal fastfood restaurant, i was expecting something bigger since they do banquets.. but perhaps they will get the hotel ballroom to have those events... oh well.... so we sat down & the waiter came to ask what tea we want to drink... i told him just plain water & he said "oh, 你们是groupon的啊?".... like wth!?!??! where does that come from!?! i guess i was too shock to give him the "you are so screw & i so gonna kill you" face but i just nicely told him that "nope, i just dont want to drink tea".... i was like WHAT?!??! firstly i didnt know groupon has ah ya deals but even IF i do bought the voucher, so what!??! i still paid for it OK!!! what kind of attitude was that!!! so throughout the dinner, we avoid eye contact with that waiter... really shitty man.... & when the other staff came over to ask us fill in the form for membership card, i put my title as "Dr"... normally i dont do that cause what's the point, the title wont give me more discounts or what... but because of the shitty attitude, i purposely put my title there & indirectly tell him that I CAN AFFORD the food here OK!!! *roll eyes*

irritating issues aside... lets move onto the food...

ah yat abalone

table setting

peanuts + weird chili sauce

set menu 1

set menu 2

 they do have ala carte menu but seriously those items are OMFG expensive... a simple abalone will cost at least $200.. like OMG!!!! so we just went for the $48++ menu....

close up on menu

i actually prefer the $39.80++ menu but the first dish is pork & they cant change it to other things so we go for the $48++ menu instead.... $55++ menu looks not bad but i find it abit weird to eat teriyaki fish & prawn.. so i didnt choose that option....

shredded chicken

i do expect the portion to be small but when the waitress put down the dish & i was like WHAT!??!?! that's like a baby portion... but ok.... expensive restaurant... suck it up.... but the shredded chicken does taste nice...

sharkfin soup

this is ok.... slightly salty but still quite nice

braised TINY abalone

like excuse me, where is the abalone!?!??! it's this tiny 2cm thing at the side... from the picture the abalone look so HUGE.... i know... i know... pictures are deceiving.... but seriously... that was TINY.... lucky the other side dishes taste quite nice...

fried fillet

the chef has very fine skill in frying... the batter is very crispy yet not thick & fish is still tender... the sauce is like sweet thai style... but i dont like fish & chip so this dish is average to me

stuff crab with minced seafood

in my opinion, this is the worst dish in the menu.... i thought of crab will be baked or steam but is deep fried... & due to the frying, the seafood taste has been masked so nope, not my kind of dish

noodle

quite ok dish but too oily for me.... but still better than the crab dish

mango pudding

not too bad, is better than i thought but it still taste more jelly than pudding....

on the whole, if this is the standard of the food during banquet then i am glad that i didnt hold my wedding at ah yat abalone... i would say the food is pretty average there, at least for the set menu... perhaps the ala carte dishes will be much better but they are way too expensive.... for me, i doubt if i will go back to this expensive place again......& i shall end off this post with the lovely bouquet from my bf =)

lovely bouquet