Eating in Kuching 2014 - Mandarin Restaurant

Mandarin Restaurant was once one of the eminent Chinese restaurants in Kuching. It went into decline for a while and now it is back at a new location - iCom Square. iCom Square is one of the latest commercial centres in Kuching. It is not fully completed yet - but is already shaping up to be one of the hottest F&B destinations in Kuching. 

The revamped Mandarin Restaurant has a simple but stylish interior. We went there for a birthday dinner recently and it was doing brisk business - like most new F&B venues in Kuching.

The Special Hot Appetizer looked impressive. It was presented on a big platter and had scallops, mussels, prawns, ham, sliced chicken and a few other ingredients. The sauce sadly lacked much flavour, luckily the ingredients were able to stand on their own.

The Fish Lip Soup was a good version.

The Signature Tofu was a pleasant surprise - nicely presented with good flavours. The tofu parcels were sandwiched with seafood stuffing.

Vietnamese Prawns - the prawns were fresh but the sauce lacks the zing of better versions elsewhere.

Mixed Vegetables in Yam Basket. This is one of the best versions you can get in Kuching - the yam basket is actually light, fluffy and tasty.

Grouper in 2 Styles - nicely executed. 

Red Cooked Pork Leg with Mantou - the pork needs longer cooking time, and the sauce needs richer flavours. 

Foochow Noodles - a nice version with a light smokey flavour.

The food at Mandarin Restaurant is of a good standard, however there are some rough edges on the service which need to be ironed out. We had a private room and quite often there was no one in the room to serve us, and despite repeated reminders, some of the dishes were served out of out preferred order. On the whole though it was a pleasant dining experience.