The Chameleon. Lurking in the urban jungle, undetected, unknown, blending into the ever changing landscape, sampling everything from fine dining to reviewing take away joints, this lizard loves food possibly a little bit too much.

Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese

Overall score: 68/100

Restaurant:
Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant on Urbanspoon
An urbanspoon highly rated Asian influenced restaurant in Toowoomba is the very well positioned Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese, residing in the town's feeble attempt at a mall, albeit, visible from Ruthven Street. The restaurant appears very inviting to the passer by, lots of colours drawing you inside. The Chameleon couldn't resist to try it's delights, and, after a less than satisfactory first visit over a year ago, he was hoping that this time around things might be different; and to some extent, they were. 
   On first impressions, Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese presents very well; on this busy night, the crowd seemed cheerful and happy, the ambience was one of relaxed dining, although the music was very very soft in the background; not enough to create a privacy screen for chit chat. The room was decorated as you would expect for such a place; Asian influences evident around the room, but apart from a fish tank in the corner that looked quite interesting, the rest was 'stock standard' basic Chinese. 
   As The Chameleon sat down to begin his dining adventure, the staff were initially very helpful and attentive; unfortunately this lasted only until the drinks were bought out. As The Chameleon mentioned earlier, over a year ago, a visit here was less than satisfactory, the main cause being the service and the time for the meals to be delivered to the table. It looks like that time has done no favours, as the service faltered not once, not twice , but over and over again during The Chameleon's visit. Initially, after being seated promptly and attending to the group's needs, the waitress quite simply forgot about us! The Chameleon waited patiently for a while, it was the least he could do on a busy night, but when the waitress begins clearing tables while diners (not just us) were still sitting there without menus, it is an unfortunate mistake. 
   Following this mishap, the orders were subsequently taken quickly, but then a lengthy wait ensued. For the meal that eventually landed in front of The Chameleon, the delays didn't amount to flavour at the table. Furthermore to these 'mistakes', were two glaringly obvious shortfalls. One of the waiters was dressed very much like a call-in; a raggedy shirt, shorts and to top it all off, flip-flops! The final inconvenience presented itself in terms of what The Chameleon refers to as a "dump table"; a table housing serviettes, cutlery, table cloths etc. etc. that is often seen in restaurants pushed for space. While dump tables are not necessarily a dilemma  they are when it's placed in front of the restaurant's visual focal point; the fish tank. Having got up to observe the koi swimming around majestically, The Chameleon had to negotiate the Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese's dump table. A less than adequate start. 
   Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese raised its score once the meals began pouring out. As an example, the Tom Yum chicken soup entree was very flavoursome. There were some tiny lime pieces which littered the bottom of the bowl and The Chameleon unfortunately chewed on some of these during some of the last spoonfuls. These could have been larger and hence easier to spot and remove, but overall, a great soup. The BBQ Pork Noodles too were great. Good balance between ingredients, subtle flavours which worked well. These dishes have saved an otherwise dismal score from The Chameleon. 
   The Mongolian Beef dish was marginal. The sauce texture was inconsistent, sometimes gluggy to the point that it diminished the textures, and once again, the over-use of salt before it arrived at the table dimmed what would have otherwise been a shining beef dish. Another unfortunate part of the meal was that, once again, the lacklustre service resulted in our waitress forgetting the group's rice. While free fortune cookies were a slight attempt to make-up for the inconvenience of the night, even some of these were stale to top off a forgetful experience. 
   Atypical Chinese restaurant food, with unfortunately dismal service. While not being particularly costly, the food saved Toowoomba Hong Kong Chinese from a very low score;  it was rather difficult to look past it's shortcomings. 68/100 

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