Tuesday 7 February 2017

Tang Room@The Starling : The Case of the Miniature Chicken


It was Saturday evening on the 8th day of Chinese New Year. My partner and I wanted to have a nice dinner and we decided to visit Tang Room at The Starling.

Prior to this, I remarked to my partner that Tang Room looks like a posh restaurant and might be out of our league. Anyway, we walked in that Saturday evening when the place was in full swing.


At first we were ushered to the outside seating since most tables inside were set for big groups. Somehow a table was soon available and we were able to sit inside.


As usual, I was tasked with the ordering. Since it was our first time there, I was rather unsure of what to get. I settled for 4 dishes - a fried spring chicken, salt and pepper crispy oink trotters, dragon vegetable and spinach tofu.

We waited quite a bit as the restaurant was busy. And then I almost fell out of my chair when the spring chicken was served.


Even the server had the giggles when my partner and I burst out laughing. Why?

Because.................


I have had spring chicken before but it was not that small. This one must be a seriously underaged chicken by the looks of it. So tiny. I can eat 4 of those. Tsk!

The server offered to cut the chicken for us but no, I insisted on doing it myself.


I still can't get over this itsy bitsy spring chicken. I am forever haunted.

Then the oinks arrived. The server did ask me how many portions I wanted. I thought one would suffice, especially at those prices.


Well, it was a small one for you and a small one for me. 


I complained to my partner that at the prices we were paying, we are getting so little (especially that microscopic chicken). This was what my partner had to say.

"This is fine dining. Small portions. I think fine dining is not ngam for you. You are more the chap fan type". Muahahahaha!!!

After a while, our dragon vegetable arrived. Much to my relief, the portion was generous.


It was very garlicky with lots of wok hei which I love. Service was slow though. The servers took so long to serve the rice and my partner had to call for attention.

Two servers could not understand what is "rice" until another one (a Bangladeshi) came along and asked "Nasi?" Yup. Nasi.


The last dish. Nice big portion of spinach tofu. This filled us up very nicely. 

While eating, I flipped through the Chinese New Year set menu (which I overlooked when ordering earlier) and noted that the sets were quite attractive (in terms of variety). The sets range from RM78++ per person (minimum two persons) to upwards of RM2,000++ per table of 10.


Honestly, it would be a long time before we come back again.

40 comments:

  1. I think this Tang room is under the same group as Ming room at BSC and Han room at the Gardens. Portion is right for me but price is too high for me. Thank goodness the non meat dishes portion are enough for you both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One time enough already. I want to eat food that is value for money like at Sam Yu. I don't care much for ambiance. I only feed my stomach, not my eyes LOL!

      Delete
  2. Thank you very much for sharing this place before I actually step inside there. Now I better think twice as the portions won't satisfy me if they want to serve Chinese food as fine dining. I also found that place looked very posh from outside but not the guests when I was there weeks ago. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can afford to eat here lah, TM. But whatever you do, don't order the spring chicken. So not worth it.

      Delete
  3. Actually, if we look at the overall price of the meal (under RM50 per person), it isn't that expensive...maybe the portions were a wee bit small. RM18 - RM20 for a dish is now quite common even at tai chow places but then you don't get to dine in a nice ambience like here. Nowadays I find it hard to even have a nice meal for RM100 for two :( Could the (wrongly named) spring chicken actually be a poussin? That could explain its small size! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True, in fact the week before we were at Sam Yu and 3 dishes cost us around the same price. The difference is that the portions were big, so much so, I even got to tapau a bit home hah..hah.. Yeah, we are paying for the posh atmosphere at Tang Room, contributing to their capital expenditure >.<

      Delete
  4. Hihi.... restoren yang femes femes memang macam tu kot PH....portion kecik harga mahal!. Kalau I memang tak puas tu PH. Tak kenyang weyh hihi....
    Dragon vegetable ? Melayu panggil apa ye PH?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tu lah, Hainom. Tempat kelas2 ni PH tak main lah. Sayur tu PH pun tak tahu nama Melayu apa. Kat supermarket ada jual.

      Delete
  5. That size chicken would be too 'infant ' to me to eat😄

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like that spinach tofu... looks yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lucky there are other dishes to fill you up! hehehe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I almost pengsan see the chicken so kecik.

      Delete
  8. Macam anak ayam jer kecik benor lah PH..
    Panjang lagi sudu tu bila diukurkan..
    Kalau CH mahu sekali telan jer hahahha..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ya, betul tu, Yati. Kalau PH makan, sekali bedal empat ekor. hah..hah...

      Delete
  9. keciknya portion tu..hhrrmm..memang fikir 2-3 kali lagi nak pegi situ

    ReplyDelete
  10. First time see tofu & vegetable dishes are more expensive than meat dishes >_<

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and they are the more substantial ones. The meat dishes, not enough to eat :(

      Delete
  11. Wahhhh... really ah, from the size on the plate and the knife, the "bird" indeed looks very mini-sized.. For RM28, the chicken looks very "malnourished" hahahaa.... well, as your partner said, this is a fine dining place, the meat will be very fine, only the price looks big! hahaha...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No more spring chicken for me liao. Cannot tahan lah like that LOL!

      Delete
  12. OMG!!! That is hardly enough for one. I could gulp it down in one go!!! RM92!!!! Oh me oh my!!! I guess you need to contribute towards the exquisite decor. Hehehehehehe!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For RM92 in Sibu, can have a very nice dinner for more than 2 people. I must move there LOL!

      Delete
  13. Really very small... Like those normal chicken thigh, 2 bites kaotim already xD

    ReplyDelete
  14. That spring chicken looks like baby chicken. He he. I memang don't like fine dining. Expensive never mind but eat also tak puas! The spinach tofu is something special.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you. Fine dining also not for me unless other people belanja hah..hah...

      Delete
  15. Omg! I have never seen such small spring chicken! I think it fit my youngest boy nicely for such size. Lol.

    Fine dining. I agreed with your darling on the price and size. Once a while it is ok. Most of the times, I am a chap fan person. Haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I still think about that baby chicken. Kesian also lah. Me too tak boleh tahan with fine dining. I want value for money - good food, stomach full at reasonable prices.

      Delete
  16. gosh - that spring chicken is kinda cute when posed beside your cutlery, but ya, i've had pigeons bigger than that chicken - i hope it cost much less than a nando's whole chicken (around RM44) :D the spinach tofu looks tempting :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's astounding, the price charged for that tiny thing, I can get a whole chicken at Aeon hah..hah...

      Delete
  17. What a laugh I had! You can write a comedy out of this. Totally enjoyed this post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hah..hah...thanks. I am now paranoid about spring chicken >.<

      Delete
  18. Comelnya chicken! Saya nak order 3 ekor!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Replies
    1. Macam burung puyuh kan? Tak tau lah hee..hee..

      Delete