bought 2 x $100 groupon vouchers at S$49.90ea & went with my OPS friends to feng bo zhuang 风波庄 on 16.8.2016. ^^

it’s a kungfu themed restuarant. the dishes were all named after famous 武侠小说stories. when you settle the bill they called you 大侠 and said 后会有期. but then what’s the use of gimmicks & superficial stuff when a service philosophy is lacking?

have to highlight that service was bad & extremely unco-operative. they were not outwardly rude but refused to help with the menu & any questions. basically “difficult to suggest anything, it’s up to you what you like to order”.

there were many instances, and not just an isolated server. both servers & manager were all uncooperative. maybe they did not like us using groupons…lol…

anyway i changed from lao sichuan to this place because some may not take too spicy food.

so basically 2 of us ordered only 1 spicy dish & the rest items non spicy.

my immediate reaction & comment “xiaolongbao小笼包 looks like a disaster!”.

very little soup, skin not smooth, fortunately the filling was tasty.

so in fact one friend commented she would order this dish if she come here again.

it’s a matter of whether one is looking for a reasonably good dish or a good xiaolongbao小笼包.

this was NOT a good xiaolongbao小笼包 (like the very good ones we had recently at paradise dynasty @ ONEKM)

but it’s a reasonably good dish. for myself though, i would not order this as there are other dishes here at good price to try.

we all agreed the steamed scallops was the worst dish. no taste la!

not so difficult to do leh, scallops or razor clams….

the steamed frog legs were strangely also much below par, not tasty. maybe it had to be taken with the sauce.

must say the photos actually looked alright, but quite tasteless??

i was ordering only one spicy dish. they did not have my favourite 水煮鱼, so i ordered spicy sour veg fish 酸菜鱼.

some found it spicy. for me it was not spicy, but for me水煮鱼 is not about being spicy or numb but that it is very flavourful – “pang” c/w with this.

one friend felt the snake head fish was not very fresh. for me it felt ok.

the best dish for the evening was the braised whole trotter.

very flavourful, tender, not old, & just the right texture. even the lean meat was good.

quite surprising! it was not just above expectations but very good even c/w good restaurants, and at S$18 before groupon discounts. ^^

we had the duck soup medium.

it was very tasty soup, not like itek tim with special flavours of sour plum or orange peel & salted vegetables, but just a very tasty soup & quite nice duck.

the 娃娃菜with prawns was ok, an average dish.

had some prawns, but not sure it made any difference.

so the forgoing we had 7 dishes for 7pax. trotters excellent, duck soup very good, spicy fish i still like, xiaolongbao & vege ok, the other 2 dishes quite poor.

one friend decided to order 2 more dishes to try.

i liked the 百叶 – fried gluten puff.

flavour was strong & unique, maybe a bit of sesame oil & slightly tangy. 🙂

like the 百叶 – fried gluten puff. with minced pork too.

overall bill was S$138.50. there was no GST no service charge. with the groupon S$100 voucher costing S$49.90, dinner with 9 dishes for 7pax was about S$88.

i would often tip the servers(>10% of the nett price) if there was no service charge & especially when there was a good groupon discounts & food & service were good, like at uncle leong.

would have done the same here but service was non existent la…

so i do think food was ok, above average & good value for the price. also as we were not familiar with the menu & with no help form the servers, that explained few misses.

recently, the same OPS friend treated us to a zi char dinner at quan ji 权记 at amoy street food centre, S$102 for 6 dishes for 7pax.

food was good, tasty, good portions & i enjoyed very much & will go back.

& he eats often at the place so he knows all the good dishes to order.

so i would say if it were just food alone, and this is an aircon restaurant ambience c/w a hawker centre table, the groupon deal is rather worthwhile.. & though you don’t have groupon all the time, even S$138 for 9 dishes w/o discounts were ok if we ordered the right dishes.

the thing about bad services is whether one is bothered by it. there are nazi chefs, & places with zero service but if you know what dishes to order & no interactions required, zero service may not matter.

for me, i don’t rule out going back altogether but also not in a hurry to la…

c.h.e.f andy

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