Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Istana - Parramatta

Istana Paramatta

Reminiscing the awesome food from Singapore/KL, we stepped into Istana in Parramatta for lunch. I was craving awesome oyster omelette and my partner wanted laksa. But as we were stepping into the place, the blackboard special was hainan chicken for a mere$5.80.

Sticking to our original cravings, my partner ordered a chicken laksa ($9.80) and I ordered my oyster omelette ($16.80). However, the more we thought about it, the more the chicken sounded like a super deal. Hence, it was ordered as an afterthought.

My partner's chicken laksa was nice and fragrant and comprised of a mix of hokkien and rice noodles. No complaints from him - except maybe not chilli enough?

chicken laksa - $9.80

The afterthought came before my oyster omelette. We were seriously expecting just a few pieces of chicken. This - was a whole huge plate of chicken! A super bargain for $5.80 I think. Quality-wise, however, it was nothing really special. Wasn't super smooth or tender. Just average. Still a great deal though!

Hainan Chicken - $5.80

At long last, my oyster omelette came. Whilst huge looking, it was very flat (and hence, deceivingly big). Disappointingly, oysters could not be found whole - it was chopped up into tiny bits and even then, they were hard to find. So really, given that it took so long to cook up an omelette, perhaps they had to run off to the seafood store to just get a couple of oysters which became non-existant after cooked. Honestly, this just did not compare to the one in Singapore where plump oysters in multitude were found in and amongst the egg.

Oyster Omelette - $16.80

Overall, Istana wasn't bad. Service wasn't brill but was adequate. Food was OK apart from my omelette and the chicken was a bargain. However, if on the hunt for hawker-style food, Istana is not really it. However, if you're just out for some malay food, this place is probably adequate.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27/40

Istana
277 Church St
Parramatta
NSW 2150
tel: (02) 9687 5113

3 comments:

Forager said...

Interesting review. I've heard so many good things about Istana's hainan chicken. Somebody even suggested they did the best Hainan chicken! I'll have to check it out for myself one day but will approach with a grain of salt..

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

Mmmm, oyster omelette .... a bit far west for me but thanks for the review.

bbsnoopy said...

mmm...
i wouldn't come here for oyster omelette - should continue my search for better :P