Bateman Chinese

Details: Category: Perth Restaurant Reviews; Published: Thursday, 11 December 2008 09:49; Written by Nita Teoh

BATEMAN CHINESE MALAYSIAN EATING HOUSE

6/22 Parry Avenue, Bateman
Phone: 9332 0838

Weekends are a great time for catching up with family over a meal. On this particular Saturday, I lunched with my Mum at the local Chinese eatery in the suburb of Bateman. The Bateman Chinese Malaysian Eating House is set amongst a group of shops in the Bateman Commercial Centre on Parry Avenue. On weekends, this commercial centre is relatively quiet, but on stepping into "Bateman Chinese", from previous experience we have found that due to its popularity, one should aim to get there before 12pm.

We were greeted by a friendly lady and were seated at "Bateman Chinese" around 11.30am. The restaurant is not particularly big and has around 8 tables. I noticed that there were already 3 other groups of people lunching including a couple, a group of students, and family. I found the service to be friendly and prompt.

There are a range of lunch specials available from 11am to 2pm take away or dine in every Tuesday to Saturday. One of the "house specials" that is a "must try" and has been "tried and tested" by myself several times is the fish head mee hoon soup (mee hoon is rice vermicelli noodles). We ordered the fish head mee hoon soup and a fried kueh teow (flat rice noodles). The price of dishes won't break the bank at around $6.50 to $7.50 for the lunch specials.

The fish head mee hoon soup was served rather promptly. Firstly the large bowl of mee hoon soup with pickled cabbage, tomato pieces, and mee hoon comes out piping hot. Shortly thereafter, a plate of freshly fried crispy snapper wings is served to complement the mee hoon soup. I enjoyed tackling the fish with vengeance, whilst not forgetting to make in-roads into my soup. I noticed that without exception, all my fellow patrons had ordered fish head mee hoon soup. Other dishes that were popular amongst patrons included the crispy noodle egg sauce and the ho fun with egg sauce (ho fun is flat rice noodles similar to kueh teow).

The fried kueh teow was served with prawns, bean sprouts, spring onions, and pieces of chicken. The restaurant is flexible to accommodate different palates. We had ordered our fried kueh teow with less salt and we found that the restaurant was able to oblige our request. I was so full from tackling the fish head mee hoon soup that I did not have room to try the fried keuh teow. My Mum enjoyed the fried kueh teow. Due to the generous serves for both dishes, we kindly asked them to "doggy bag" the fried kueh teow.

By 11.45am, I noticed that the restaurant was nearly at full capacity. We finished our lunch just before 12pm. There was a bit of juggling of tables by the lady manager to accommodate various sized groups who had all arrived at the same time. We left pleasantly full amidst the pleasant hum of customers chatting to each other and enjoying their piping hot food.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

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