Jade Kew — Restaurant in Melbourne

Very Disappointing!

We went midweek with another couple. Although the restaurant was full, the noise level was surprisingly low. The menu is varied, but the prices are on the “high side”. However, we don’t mind paying good money for good food. For entrees we chose Peking Duck and Fried Dim Sims (pork) with a sweet & sour sauce. Both entrees were delicious, so we were looking forward to our main meals. Unfortunately, our positive expectations went downhill from there! When we finished our entrees, we were asked to keep our used/dirty cutlery for our main meals??...Unacceptable by any measure, particularly at this price point!!  The Steamed Fish Fillets with Vegetables, and Vegetarian Rice dishes were reasonable.  The Stir-Fried Diced Beef Fillets with Cantonese Sauce was very tough and almost unchewable.  The Crispy Noodles with Chicken was NOT “crispy”, but rather “sticky soft”, and was bland with no flavour whatsoever.  The Banana Fritter with Ice cream was NOT good. The Fritter was COLD when it arrived?…and seemed to have far too much flour, to the extent that it destroyed the flavour of the Banana. After enjoying our entrees so much, the rest of our dining experience was VERY disappointing! Unfortunately, towards the end of the evening one large group became unacceptably rowdy. When we politely showed our displeasure, the staff did nothing to maintain the noise to a “reasonable” level? At this price point we anticipated a higher culinary standard, and most certainly expected to be provided with CLEAN cutlery for our main...

Summary: beautiful restaurant, fantastic food, large serves, and reasonable prices (once you take into account the serves and the ambience).

Butter garlic fried chicken ribs: 5/5. nicely presented and delicious. The batter was crispy and the chicken inside was moist and perfectly cooked. It was served on a bed of fried kale (?) and that was fantastic as well. The garlic flavour was subtle and not bitter.

Spinach with conpoy (dried scallops) and bamboo fungus: 5/5. As you can see, very generous with the sauce. I would have liked more conpoy - when I make it at home, I use a LOT of conpoy. The texture of the bamboo fungus was soft with the perfect amount of bite.

Red bean pancake: 5/5. You will have to travel to Malaysia or Hong Kong to find a better red bean pancake than this one. It is actually very hard to find a decent red bean pancake in Melbourne - either the ratio of filling to pastry is off, or it is too oily, or the texture of the pastry is wrong. This place gets everything right.

Mango with sago and pomelo: 5/5. This dessert was AMAZING. It was so fresh and light. The flavour was elegant - sweetness from the mango, very light on the sugar, very slight bitterness and citrus from the pomelo. I have never seen this served anywhere else.

Overall, very delicate and refined flavours. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of this restaurant given they have "satay chicken" on the menu (if I see that, I automatically avoid going there because it says something about the restaurant's clientele), but the Chinese food they serve is...

An outstanding Cantonese restaurants in Eastern part of Melbourne. Friendly staff, they were attentive and not pushy at all. The place has a fairly high ceiling so they have installed many lanterns in different size and shape. Great to educate the kids about the Chinese culture while waiting for our yummy foods. The selections on their lunch menu were amazing and highly recommended to try (this ain’t your average lemon chicken rice you see everywhere). The only downside is that the menu was written in Chinese but I’m sure they could translate for those who can’t read. We had dined at the restaurant a few time recently and we had positive experiences with their quality Cantonese foods. Special highlight has to be their seasonal offering Mango Pomelo Sago Pudding (楊枝甘露) -A must try in summer! Other highlights include fried ginger spring onion lobster with egg noodle and the deep fried eggplants with stuffed fish paste. Obviously, lobster pieces taste fresh and juicy, but the best part was the egg noodle which it was the best I ever had in Melbourne. I reckon the noodle was soak in lobster broth for extra flavour. Will definitely be back for more and continue support local businesses during...