Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant - Negative at 1st glance

Me and my bf finally decided to have a taste of the newly opened Kim Gary Restaurant outlet at Gurney Plaza, after having a long decision-making process of what time to go so as to avoid the long queue outside the outlet, so we headed there around 6pm-ish in a Saturday evening.

Actually, it's opened on the 3rd of 4th floor, in the middle portion, where there are newly renovated shoplots lining both sides of the restaurant. It is pretty unusual of its location, as it's surrounded by shoplots selling kids' stuff as well as some souvenir outlets.

Anyway, back to our dinner - we had to first get a number, like what you normally do for over-the-counter banking; and then wait for them to call your number. So I took a photo of one side of the outlet, and already i'm feeling a bit weird as people walking by are looking at me like i'm a SUA PA KAO (literally translates to a monkey from the jungle) or something.

After a short while, we were informed that there is a seat, but it's for a minimum 4 seater, 2 on on side of the table and another 2 on the other side; and the waiter asked if we mind sharing a table with another 2 people (we were the first ones to hop in while waiting for another 2 prospects). Reluctant as we were, we surely didn't wanna wait any longer just to get a table to ourselves so we chose to be generous enough to share our table with other newcomers :)

This was the upper interior which extends high up nearly to the upper floor space (which has already been opened up)
We had a tough time deciding what to eat, considering there were plenty (nearly 70 items) to choose from, and we had to tick the items we wanted to order off the order sheet they provided us, together with a tiny pencil. So in the end my bf ordered a cheese-baked (beef) rice set meal which comprises of the main chee-baked rice with a tiny soup, yoghurt and also a serving of coffee or tea; while I ordered a beef soup noodle and a banana ice kacang-like dessert thingy.

We were served the cup-sized soup, yoghurt and banana ice kacang thingy first, and my bf didn't like the soup, not because it's Kim Gary's, it's because he didn't fancy it all the while - it's called Lor Soong Thong in Cantonese - made from celery, tomatoes, some vegies, and the soup is red orangish in colour - comes off as a bit salty and a bit sourish - that's why he doesn't like it - but I like the taste of it, just that it's too damn cold and so I didn't finish it - tasted awful served cold like that.

We then tried the banana ice kacang which is in such a HUGE size, and I thought cool! I get to gulp most of these stuff! But it was sooooo disappointing to realise that it tasted overboardly sweet - the person who made it must've poured in a massive amount of sugar essence to start with!

Then my bf's cheese-baked beef rice came and it looked good - quite unique I would say, coz I never had rice baked with cheese, served with meat and all before, and the beef are quite tender and well-marinated. (The tiny cup beside is the one containing Lor Soong Thong-yes, it comes in that small of a size)
My beef noodle soup wasn't anything to write home about, it's just plain noodle soup with strips of marinated and stir-fried beef in it - just like my bf's rice - the beef is the only thing worthy of mentioning.

So after our main course, we went back to Combatting our banana ice kacang and I even tried to salvage it by crushing the remaining shaved ice into melted water to dilute the sweetness, but to no avail, even after I've melted ALL the ice! We decided it's high time to certify the damn thing UNEDIBLE:-

Look at how thick the damn thing is!

And how much sugar it contains!!!!! goodness will you just look at the froth that comes with it???

Honestly speaking, we were quite disappointed with the quality of the food there, considering the fact that it earned so many compliments on average, and how much I have looked forward to trying its food; coz the last time when we wanted to have our lunch at the Sungai Wang outlet, the queue was simply too long and we were a bunch of hungry people who just could't afford to wait.

On a positive note, we hope it is just like what my fren said, they're just too new and not really familiar with the portions and ingredients to it yet, just like how Mong Kok started out last time where their food tasted horrible and how they have improved much over time. So I really look forward to sample Kim Gary again, hoping to gain new levels of confidence in their food once again - but definitely without my bf's company coz he insisted that he will set foot in the restaurant no more :)