The hibachi salmon ($24) was a well-prepared piece of fillet saddled with an off-putting sauce of salty fermented miso with pungent, blue-veined gorgonzola cheese. In a word: wrong.

Even more disappointing was the grilled lemongrass chicken "a l'orange" ($18), which tasted of neither lemongrass nor orange. It was as bland and poorly prepared a chicken dish as I've ever encountered.

The confusion continues in the "wok and roll" section of the menu. These are ostensibly sides, and in the case of the near-perfect pale green wasabi mashers ($4), it makes sense. But the crispy Hong Kong-style noodles ($15) was a pan-fried cake of fried ramen-like noodles garnished with three small shrimp and a quartered sea scallop, some chopped veggies and a smothering brown sauce. It's a rip-off.

However, smiles reappeared with dessert. We were delighted with the rum-glazed pineapple ($7), a gloriously juicy sweet disc of caramelized fruit and a thin, crispy sheet of dried sweetened pineapple married to heavenly macadamia ice cream and a truly buttery vanilla shortbread cream.

Other recommended sweets include an intensely satisfying white and dark chocolate terrine ($7) and a wonderfully comfy coconut tapioca pudding ($7) with caramelized bananas.

After one visit, I was willing to give Mao the benefit of the doubt. We returned six weeks later on a busy Friday night with open minds and mouths.

Article Continues