Kam Fook - Chatswood

On Saturday, my partner and I were lucky enough to attend what I'm inclined to call the "wedding of the century" in terms of it's hugeness and it's importantness. Their huge wedding reception took place in Kam Fook Seafood Restaurant at Chatswood.

Table arrangements

Details of the wedding aside, I guess what's most important to talk about here is the food. Needing to serve 24 tables full of guests (~12 per table) at roughly the same time, the waiters decided to just dish out individual portions on the side tables, rather than to place the dish in the middle for us to freely pick at (and hence, I only got to photo my individual portions).

The first course was suckling pig with jellyfish. Some people on the table complained that the crackling was cold and no longer crisp. They might be expecting too much~ Needing to roast 24 little piggies right before it's served is impossible (I think) and hence, understandable that the pig has been out for a while. Nonetheless, my two pieces of fatty crackling was still crunchy and crisp and the meaty bits weren't the most tender, yet, wasn't too tough. The jellyfish was yummy!

Suckling pig and jellyfish

Next dish was of a deep-fried seafood pocket variety. Served with mayo, there was scallop, prawns, and veges (eg. celery) inside. I was amazed that my seafood pockets were still warm. For needing to serve around 300 people, for this to be warm was amazingness (thought I). Tastewise though... hmm... really needed the mayo here.

Seafood pockets

The next course was dried scallops with lettuce and "fat choi" (which according to my partner, is moss that grows next to a tree - I think that it's a type of vege) doused with oyster sauce. I had to rearrange this heaps before it looked good enough for the photo but looks aside, it actually tasted alright. Not being a fan of steamed dried scallops, I off-loaded one of them to my partner. But the remaining one was nice and soft, and the vege variety was nicely immersed in sauce. So not bad.

Steamed dried scallop with veges

Shark fin soup came next. This always tastes nice with a good dallop of vinegar. My partner destroyed his soup by adding half a jar of pepper - he makes it into the hot and sour soup variety LOL.

Shark fin soup

Then came lobster in uneven portions. Some lucky people, like myself, got lotsa lotsa meat (5 huge pieces) whereas unlucky people got lots of lobster legs. Lobster was tasty and slightly too floured up. But, no major complaints from me except that normally, I like the noodles sitting under the lobster and there were no noodles in sight :(

Lobster

The next course was abalone with chinese mushrooms and peas. Very sauced up and very tender, it just could not have been live abalone. As such, I actually enjoyed my piece~ The sauce - tasted like the oyster sauce again.

Abalone with Chinese mushroom and peas

Big fish came out next. My portion was slightly overcooked and slightly rubbery and a lot less soy sauced than is necessary. I stole my partner's fish - and his was quite nice and soft and yummy. So, I guess it depended on luck~

Fish

By the fish, alot of people were full already, so the quality of the chicken didn't matter too much. I did taste it, for the sake of seeing how it was, and yeh, there is a reason why they make you full on the previous dishes!

(no longer crispy-skinned) Chicken

Noodles and rice came out next. The rice was wrapped in lotus leaf thing - I didn't eat it though, but it couldn't have been bad. It is just rice after all. I did, however, eat the noodles (cos I really really like noodles and couldn't resist) and I thought they were nice and soft~ (just the way my partner doesn't like it)

Noodles

Rice

Dessert was cake and cookies and fruit. The cake and cookies didn't look too appetising, but the watermelon was awesome!

Cake and Cookies

Fruit Platter

Overall, the food was average and even better than I had expected. They had a huge crowd to cater for and I guess they did a pretty good job in that there were no complaints. The atmosphere, well, we make the atmosphere at weddings, not the restaurant - and we were quite awesome~ LOL Service was decent too, the waiters didn't say much but they were responsive in refilling out drinks.

Ratings:
Food - 6.5
Service - 6
Ambiance - 7
Value for money - ??
Overall - 19.5 + ??

Kam Fook Seafood Restaurant
Shop 600, Level 6,
Westfield Shoppingtown,
28 Victor Street,
Chatswood
Tel: (02) 9413 9388