A Feast at Miss Chow's, Claremont Quarter (Invited)
If you’ve been to Apple Daily then you will remember the taste of their food especially their roast duck bun. Thus the over-excitement when we got the invitation to visit Miss Chow’s and try some food from their menu, especially when the menu was created by the former head chef of Apple Daily, Andrew J. Moore. I only managed to talk to him for a brief 30 seconds when I peeked at the kitchen (hahaha).
Mata Design Studio was the company responsible behind the interior design and furniture used in the restaurant. The design flows so well beginning from the outdoor seating, kitchen to our seating area. The bar area was decorated with beautiful green tiles.
One of the staff approached us with the drink and food menu. She was really attentive and when asked, she suggested that I try the Chinaman’s Mojito. Hubby stuck to the tried and true glass of Iced Longan (carbonated). The round table was still empty when we were there but it wasn’t long until everybody else arrived (ie. Out and About Perth, Bake You Smile, Perth Pop, two out of three Bitchez Who Brunch and DCVN).
We were served with Edamame as a starter to snack on while we were waiting for the entrée and it was always fun to pop he edamame out of their pod. In fact I’d love to see edamame make a more regular appearance as part of a restaurant’s repertoire.
Hubby squealed in happiness when he saw a bowl of Miss Chow’s spicy fried chicken. Hubby loves spicy food and when the menu said ‘spicy’ he had his own doubts about it. After the first bite he said it was better than what he expected, the crust was crunchy with juicy and tender meat. I think pairing the fried chicken with light beers will be really good and won’t overpower the taste of chicken.
We were the first to finish our meal and the staff asked whether she should just keep on bringing in the next menu or wait until everyone else finished. We told her that it’d be fine to flood us with food. Soon we were presented with vegetarian dumplings and crystal prawn dumpling (har gow), both were house made. Har gow was one of hubby’s favourite for dim sum and he gobbled one straight away while it was still steaming hot. The har gow was fresh and tasty. I have to admit however that the har gow while tasty didn't really stand out from what's offered at other restaurants.
The vegetarian dumpling’s green dough looked really fresh and I took one out from the steamer without breaking the skin (yes!). We both felt that the dough held the filling really well but it was a bit too thick and the dumpling can have more fillings.
We didn’t prepare our tummy for the multiple dishes that arrived to our table afterwards. The staff carried a bowl of Teochew Fried Rice served with olive leaf, egg and spring onion. I’m used to eating olive vegetables with porridge but last night was my first time eating it with fried rice, it actually tasted even better when fried with rice.
The Teochew fried rice was a good companion for caramelised spare ribs. The portion for the spare ribs was really generous and if you order fried rice and the spare ribs, both dishes can easily be shared between 2-3 people. The spare ribs looked really good with the golden brown colour and every piece was well coated. DCVN brought up a good feedback that it was quite hard to eat the spare ribs using chopsticks and the soup bowl that was provided, especially if you want to avoid the sticky fingers. I used the silver spoon that came with the spare ribs to help me separate the meat and the bone. Hubby was really good at deconstructing any seafood, chicken and spare ribs without touching it so he cut up many small pieces for me to eat (thanks Hubby!).
When a bowl of Buddha’s Delight arrived, I knew straight away that this would be perfect food for vegetarians! The famous dish gained its name from its old origin as one of the vegetarian meals that Buddhist monks liked to eat. Last night’s dish consists of shiitake mushrooms, lotus root an fried bean curd stick. Hubby wasn’t a big fan of this dish but I really liked it, the dish had a warm and homely feeling to it.
The first time I tried aiyu jelly was from Gong Cha in city where they served ice lemon lime with aiyu. I was so happy to see the aiyu jelly as the dessert of the night. The jelly was served with lemon juice and sugar cane with a sprinkle of grapefruit. This will sound quite subjective but if the jelly was served quite cold then it would taste more refreshing.
We were so full from last night’s dinner and the Turban Chopsticks took some photos together to commemorate the event. Morsels and Perth Gram were there as well but unfortunately we were seated at a separate table.
For those after work minglers, Miss Chow’s happy hour is between 4-6 and there’s a special menu available with choices of dumplings and drinks. Miss Chow’s can easily be found right next to Mad Mex at the Claremont Town Centre