One of my new colleagues wrote a list of restaurants that she wanted to try in Wanchai and showed me during lunch, Sabah was at the top of the list. Coincidentally I read that Sabah's Buk Kuy Teh (Meat Bone Tea) was quite nice but I still had not tried it once, so I suggested going there.
Lunch hours was so much packer than weekday's Dinner time. There was several tables waiting, but the wait wasn't that long, I guess we waited for 5-10 minutes max.
Lunch sets of six choices were all priced at $65 with a bowl of soup, entree, a drink and a dessert with 10% service charge.
1) Pumpkin Soup with Crab Meat
Don't be deceived by the look, you knew the quality of this soup right at the first spoon. The pumpkin soup was the WORST pumpkin soup I have ever tasted. Pumpkin soup is supposed to be thick and creamy with pumpkin pureed in it. This soup in Sabah was a mucus-thick which I suspect they put in water chestnut flour to imitate the thickness that Pumpkin Soup have. I was disappointed that they deceived customers in this way to save cost. The crab meat didn't have much taste and texture neither.
2) Chicken in Green Curry with Rice
Absolutely Love the bowl! The Green Curry was still delicious and up to standard. It had a strong coconut taste, a bit sweet and was at a 1/10 spicy point. The texture was thick enough. There were heaps of aubergine, Makhuea Suai (Thai Eggplant), chicken and mix spices in the bowl. Both the Makhuea Suai and aubergine were soft but failed to capture the luscious coconut taste from the curry. The chicken on the other hand was very smooth and tender.
3) Lamb in Red Curry with Plain Roti
Red Curry - After the nice green curry bowl, I was expecting the same standard in Sabah's Red Curry. I was very disappointed upon my first spoon of the curry itself, it was very thin in texture and was pretty much tasteless despite the spiciness. Apparently the curry was diluted as it was rather watery, and they tried to bring back the taste by adding more spiciness in it. The lamb and the potato themselves were pretty nicely done though, it was just the curry itself that disappointed me.
Plain Roti - The roti was only warm when served which should have made to stock for the busy lunch hour. The outer layer was quite crispy but was on the hard side as it got cool down. The patty was rather thick at the sides and not fluffy enough.
4) Hainanaese Chicken Rice
To be blunt, the dish was not appetizing looking at all, the presenting of the dish was rather poor. The dish served with a plate of chilli sauce and pounded ginger, while as authentic as Sabah, I thought they should have a least separate the two and provide the dark soy sauce as well?
The chicken was tasteful, smooth and tender. The only criticism was the missing jelly-like skin finishing, it was too oily and grossed to taste. I wonder if they had dipped the bird into ice/icy water after cooking, or they were too lazy to do so as normal customer would not really care about the skin?
The Rice was quite disappointing. It possessed the look but not the taste nor the texture. The rice was nicely separated but each rice grain was swollen up and became too soft which lost its texture. Taste-wise, it had a tint of coconut taste in it but I was expecting much stronger judging its look.
5) Beef Skewers in Black Pepper Sauce with Chips and Vegetables
The dish was nicely arranged. The beef skewers was extremely hard to chew and was rather dry in texture. The black pepper sauce was thus essential when taking the beef skewers to moisten it. The chips was way nicer than the beef skewers itself. The potato was cut in wedges and deep fried to give a golden yellow crispy coat.
6) Bah Kui Teh
The shade of Sabah's Bah Kui Teh was in dark shade, adding to the fact that it was quite salty, I believe they used a great deal of soy sauce to make the soup. The Chinese Medicine flavour was quite heavy, but on the other quite watery, should have mixed in extra water than it should be. The simmered pork rib had made the soup rather oily to taste, but the rib itself was very savoury and tender.
The soaked tofu puffs had absorbed the soup totally, but since the soup wasn't great itself, so made the tofu puff. The Dried Tofu puffs on the other hand was rather hard in texture. It was rather a bad bowl of Bah Kui Teh.
In general, I was surprised by how different the food quality can be at lunch and at dinner times. Most of the dishes that I liked when I paid my last visit at night was horribly made at lunch. I hope restaurants as nice as Sabah could put more effort to keep up their quality standard.
Lunch hours was so much packer than weekday's Dinner time. There was several tables waiting, but the wait wasn't that long, I guess we waited for 5-10 minutes max.
Lunch sets of six choices were all priced at $65 with a bowl of soup, entree, a drink and a dessert with 10% service charge.
1) Pumpkin Soup with Crab Meat
Don't be deceived by the look, you knew the quality of this soup right at the first spoon. The pumpkin soup was the WORST pumpkin soup I have ever tasted. Pumpkin soup is supposed to be thick and creamy with pumpkin pureed in it. This soup in Sabah was a mucus-thick which I suspect they put in water chestnut flour to imitate the thickness that Pumpkin Soup have. I was disappointed that they deceived customers in this way to save cost. The crab meat didn't have much taste and texture neither.
Absolutely Love the bowl! The Green Curry was still delicious and up to standard. It had a strong coconut taste, a bit sweet and was at a 1/10 spicy point. The texture was thick enough. There were heaps of aubergine, Makhuea Suai (Thai Eggplant), chicken and mix spices in the bowl. Both the Makhuea Suai and aubergine were soft but failed to capture the luscious coconut taste from the curry. The chicken on the other hand was very smooth and tender.
Red Curry - After the nice green curry bowl, I was expecting the same standard in Sabah's Red Curry. I was very disappointed upon my first spoon of the curry itself, it was very thin in texture and was pretty much tasteless despite the spiciness. Apparently the curry was diluted as it was rather watery, and they tried to bring back the taste by adding more spiciness in it. The lamb and the potato themselves were pretty nicely done though, it was just the curry itself that disappointed me.
Plain Roti - The roti was only warm when served which should have made to stock for the busy lunch hour. The outer layer was quite crispy but was on the hard side as it got cool down. The patty was rather thick at the sides and not fluffy enough.
To be blunt, the dish was not appetizing looking at all, the presenting of the dish was rather poor. The dish served with a plate of chilli sauce and pounded ginger, while as authentic as Sabah, I thought they should have a least separate the two and provide the dark soy sauce as well?
The chicken was tasteful, smooth and tender. The only criticism was the missing jelly-like skin finishing, it was too oily and grossed to taste. I wonder if they had dipped the bird into ice/icy water after cooking, or they were too lazy to do so as normal customer would not really care about the skin?
The Rice was quite disappointing. It possessed the look but not the taste nor the texture. The rice was nicely separated but each rice grain was swollen up and became too soft which lost its texture. Taste-wise, it had a tint of coconut taste in it but I was expecting much stronger judging its look.
The dish was nicely arranged. The beef skewers was extremely hard to chew and was rather dry in texture. The black pepper sauce was thus essential when taking the beef skewers to moisten it. The chips was way nicer than the beef skewers itself. The potato was cut in wedges and deep fried to give a golden yellow crispy coat.
The shade of Sabah's Bah Kui Teh was in dark shade, adding to the fact that it was quite salty, I believe they used a great deal of soy sauce to make the soup. The Chinese Medicine flavour was quite heavy, but on the other quite watery, should have mixed in extra water than it should be. The simmered pork rib had made the soup rather oily to taste, but the rib itself was very savoury and tender.
In general, I was surprised by how different the food quality can be at lunch and at dinner times. Most of the dishes that I liked when I paid my last visit at night was horribly made at lunch. I hope restaurants as nice as Sabah could put more effort to keep up their quality standard.
Sabah Malaysian Cuisine
G/F., Shop 4-5., 98-102 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai
☏ 2143-6626
07:30-00:00(Mon-Sun)
Date of Dinning: 26 May 2011
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