Overall: 6.5
Ambience: 7
Food: 6
Value: 7
Cleanliness: 7
Service: 6.5
I’ve been to Crystal Mall a million times but never noticed the existence of this Taiwanese restaurant. The entrance to the restaurant is actually on Willingdon Ave. There isn’t access from inside the mall. After stepping in, first impression was not bad, the place looked relatively new and modern and was quite busy at lunch which is usually a good sign. The first thing I noticed on their menu was that they advertised that their food contained no MSG. They might have thought of this as a selling point but it made me worry that the dishes will be too bland 😛
You can find all the familiar menu items which you would expect from a typical Taiwanese restaurant…but then I spotted a somewhat out of place dish …. Bibimbap! I decided to give it a try for a change from what I normally order at other Taiwanese places but it was a big mistake. Everything seemed to be off from a normal Bibimbap, the only part which might be right was probably the stone bowl. It tasted very sour overall and the rice was also very wet. However, the amount of beef and vegetables included were quite generous. I think I was a bit too courageous to order such dish, better reserve that for a Korean restaurant next time.
We also ordered a milk seafood hot pot. There were a lot of vegetables and an assortment of seafood (squid, fish, mussel, shrimp). The soup base could have used more cream and taste. It came with a bowl of rice and a gingery spicy and sour red sauce, this didn’t end up being eaten as we were already full from the other food.
The meals came with a free drink or soup. We chose the drinks. This was pretty refreshing and went quite well with what we ordered.
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