Food:
+smoked pigeon, smoky, juicy, crispy skin
+smoked goose, great fat/ meat ratio, not gamey, melty, smoky
+abalone wrapped in lamb belly, tastes good, but pretty sure I can make this at home
+fried rice, simple, unassuming dish that's hard to get right. 2nd-best fried rice I've had.
~crab, Shaoxing wine was not fully cooked out, made parts of the broth/ sauce salty. Seen similar local reviews say the same thing. Considering it's one of their signature dishes, disappointed that this is still an issue. Tasty dish otherwise.
-pomelo skin, straight up bitter. My first time ever in a Cantonese restaurant having pomelo skin that's pure bitterness. Usually, there's an avoidable hint of bitter aftertaste, but this was immediately bitter. Dish should be taken off and reworked.
-beef, tripe and beef slices too thin, watered down broth, neither spicy nor sour enough, tendon not bouncy, no texture.
-veg, XO sauce hardly noticeable, veg pieces very average. Just an afterthought of a dish really. If an 'omakase' menu slot is gonna be for veg, I expect some premium veg cuts/ tips/ shoots/ hearts, not some menu filler to fill my tummy and/ or stack the bill.
The Chairman would work waaaay better if diners could order à la carte. As far as I know, their old location was à la carte. When I received the menu choices a few days out, it was uninteresting enough that I wanted to cancel. Was interested in the char siu and seafood dishes. However, you only get 1 piece of char siu pp, so I felt compelled to try other apps considering I can get a plate of char siu at any *** for the same price. Extra apps are + ~130pp and seafood +150pp. Meat choices were crispy chicken, smoked goose, beef, pork bao. Too much poultry on the menu. Overall, +dishes were done really well while -dishes fell really flat, 1:1 hit/ miss ratio. Given the 50% misses, definitely not worth the pricetag. Might be different if all the deadweight could be stripped from the menu and can customize the menu carte blanche/ order à la carte.
3.7/5
by lexicalsatire
2 Comments
Fair assessment but looks like you were unlucky to select the worst dishes too. I did not fare as badly.
I have to say, their dishes look very underwhelming and not significantly better than what I could get at my local Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown.
It’s surprising for a restaurant of their fame, and the infamous difficulty of booking. Curious, how did you manage your booking?