The Oval @ Cricket Club

CNY holiday leaves us with few few options especially so on the first and second day of new year. The Japanese restaurants that I called were closed till at least the fifth day which rules out substantially the choices. Surprisingly, the recreational clubs are open! We headed back to a childhood favourite – Cricket Club. Heaps of memories came flooding back – the first grazing on the knees to going from table to table to usurp the skimmed milk capsules to getting lost in the basement toilets that somehow resembled those on a cruise. I suppose that is what time does, change. Hardly resembling what it used to be – without any of their long serviced waiters and cooks, the place lost a bit of the nostalgia.



Once upon a time.



History speaks. Since 1852.




Missed them milk capsules.



The Oval and the Verandah simply refers to interior and al fresco.



Gunner, a watered down version that could pass off as a fizzled out soft drink.



With any order of a beverage, baskets of nibbles are served up. Who cares if these are off the pack crisps?



Salted nuts too!



Decent coffee.

Soup of the Day ($6)

Canned tomato soup.



Breadrolls to accompany. 

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms ($13.80)

Arugula, Parmesan, Garlic

Large and plump mushrooms made this dish really outstanding.

Steak Sandwich ($12.90)

Lettuce, Tomato, Mustard, Mayonnaise, Fries

Mom says this is my childhood favourite and for that, I ordered it to reconnect with the past. Crinkle cut fries were replaced with thick cut ones which proved to be too dense and lacking in potato flavour. Steak was a tad rubbery snuck in baguette that was too soft.

Club Sandwich ($11.90)

Chicken, Bacon, Egg, Lettuce, Tomato, Fries

This could have fared better with the sandwich completely polished.

Spaghetti Pasta with Prawns Aglio Oil ($18)

First time was forgotten, the second order was wrong and when it arrived, the table completed their courses. A lacklustre bland effort from the chef.

Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis ($9.60)

Fried Egg

Well flavoured spicy rice with a myriad of ingredients that makes eating one both colourful in sight and taste.

Mee Goreng ($9.60)

A saucy rendition that rendered it too wet to eat at some point.

Yong Chow Fried Rice ($9.60)

Best of the three mini woks, best of the whole table. Fried rice executed so well – the control of oil is amazing and packed with enough wok hei to put a Cantonese chef to shame (I’m assuming the chef isn’t one!). We all could not stop stealing bites of this amazing dish – truly, one that befits the memory we have of yonks ago.

Sticky Toffee Pudding ($9.80)

Caramel sauce, icecream

A decent presentation and rendition of this modern favourite, the steamed brown sugar cake was moist and a lovely contrast to the icecream.

For old time’s sake, I would return. Yet sometimes never change – the orders that get forgotten or mistaken.

The Oval

Cricket Club