Peony Jade restaurant: Reasonable & cheap dim sum

November 28, 2008 | 19 Comments

Everyday, with the newspaper headline screams the unspeakable “R” word, or some country’s government scrambling to put together a package to rescue their too-big-to-fall banks, times are indeed bad, and no doubt we’ll need to cut down on our spendings to prepare for the storm ahead. But that is not to say that we can’t enjoy good food without spending big money.

My predilection for dim sum has brought me to the attention of Peony Jade restaurant. And since we are on the topic of economics, Peony Jade certainly attracted me with the prices for their dim sum, which i saw from their online menu. There’s two different branch, one at Clark Quay, and the other, Keppel club. Since my friend was driving, i opted for the latter, as it wasn’t a daily affair that you could go to the ulu Keppel club.

Peony Jade is smacked right at the entrance of the Keppel club main building. The main problem will be getting to Keppel club from the outside, just a few minutes drive from Vivocity, but if you are going by public transport, it’s at least 15 minutes walk in from the main road.

Red lanterns adorned the ceiling, with the black traditional walls giving a contemporary look. The whole restaurant was spacious and when we got there around 2pm on a weekday, i was surprised by the small crowd there for lunch.

There was both the steamed prawn & scallop rice roll ($4.50), and coming with an empty stomach, we ordered both. I liked the prawn which was crunchy and fresh, while my friend preferred the scallops which was light. But the rice roll was a tad  thick.

And how can i missed out ordering the Char siew pastry ($3.6 for 3). The very first dim sum i always looked out for. With the main ingredient char siew sticking halfway out, the visual impact was already there. But like they say, after you had the best before, everything else tasted average. How very true.

It was already 2pm when we arrived, and i was starving. The mini oven baked egg tart ($3 for 3) was helpless as i wolfed down 2 easily. The dainty portion was sufficient for my friend, but the petite size was never enough for me.

The squarish basket box caught my attention instead of the steamed pork and crystal shrimp dumpling ($3 for 3). That’s not to say that the siew mai wasn’t attractive. Bright red fish roe, mushroom bits, pork and shrimp, how can anybody resisted the temptation? A pretty decent take, but light’s the word to describe the flavour. Beware of it’s relative, cousin, the steamed butterfly prawns, which was really, just a more expensive rendition of siew mai, with slightly bigger shrimps.

If anyone were to ask me how should a good Har kau be like? In my humble opinion, the shrimp would be the key of course, fresh and crunchy, but you couldn’t miss out the skin too. Most places either do their skin too thin or too thick, which is the fine line between a good and average har kau. The steamed peony jade crystal shrimps dumpling ($4.5 for 3) here unfortunately, fell into the latter category, with the skin coming as a tad thick.

Eating on my own, i’ll never order the Steamed spare ribs black bean sauce ($3.50). I’ve no luck with this dish in all my escapade thus far. So i’ll avoided them far far away with a arm and feet. Give me another basket of siew mai or har gau instead of this.

I’m gonna get into trouble with save-the-sharks organisation after I’m done with this post. My friend wanted the double boiled shark’s fin broth with dumplings ($6), and how can i say no? There was just a few tiny strand of shark’s fin anyway. What? Are you really expecting a whole shark’s fin at this price? Nonetheless, there was plenty of other friends accompanying the lonely fins. Mushroom, prawn, pork, all wrapped within the ginormous dumpling. And oh, the soup base was rather salty for my average MSG indictator.

Just like how I always must have my desserts and dim sum regularly, the chef’s signature deep-fried filo crusted seafood roll ($5 for 6) is surely the must-try gourmet dim sum at Peony jade. There wasn’t any warning to inform us there was going to be 6 seafood roll coming our way. It came as one of the last few dim sum, and by that time we were full. But it didn’t stop me from finishing all of them. As always. And not to mentioned the seafood roll’s about 80 cents each, surely one of the cheapest in town. I’m lovin’ it!

Similarly, the Deep-fried goose liver and prawn ball with almond flakes ($7.50) also gave us a pleasant surprise when it came in 6 instead of their standard 3 piece. Speaking of exotic, how does some goose liver in your dim sum sounds? I didn’t discover any goose liver, or maybe my taste buds wasn’t sensitive enough. It did however, reminded me of the prawn balls that i had before, i wasn’t impress then, and definitely not now too.

When a Japanese asked you to play roulette with her, i wouldn’t bet on the Deep-fried beancurd roulette with shrimps and Japanese seaweed ($4). While the shrimp was fresh, and wrapped inside the deep-fried beancurd, everything’s prefectly fine, it wasn’t my type. You know, some things couldn’t be force. But then maybe i was too full, to find out her true beauty.

I lamented the fact that the pan-fried radish cake ($3) came too late. The very same carrot cake you can find in your market, this one was pan-fried slightly char on the outside, and the radish taste was just right. A pity our stomach finally gave in, and refused to budge.

Total Bill was $70.85 for 2 person, which was much more than what i usually ordered as i always thought that eating 70% full is enough. Its better to eat a bit of here and there, to appreciate the beauty of the dim sum, than to gorge yourself silly. But we couldn’t help ourselves ordering more, the rather cheap prices played a huge role in it of course.

Peony Jade restaurant prided itself in Szechuan and Cantonese cuisine, but surprisely the Szechuan factor seems to be lacking out. I’ll say that the dim sums here are one of the lighest in flavour i ever had before, not that they are not good, just that sometimes you’ll think it should be something more. However, for people who like light flavours, this’s the place for you then.

Prices are absolutely cheap given the restaurant standards and ambience. I’ll be hard-pressed to find another such restaurant which served dim sum at such prices, even Kam boat is more expensive without the 30% discount. And although the quality of the dim sum isn’t comparable to Royal China, and Yan Ting, but the pricing factor certainly win hands-down. I’ll go to their branch at Clark quay when my cravings come again.

Peony Jade restaurant
Keppel Club
Bukit Chermin road
Tel: 6276 9138

Category: # Restaurant Review, Dining Guide Singapore, Food Photography, Singapore Food Blog
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Comments

19 Responses to “Peony Jade restaurant: Reasonable & cheap dim sum”

  1. Evan
    November 28th, 2008 @ 1:07 am

    wah dim sum again! nx time ask me along leh, i never eat dim sum for a looong time haha. then again $70 for 2 isn’t exactly cheap!

  2. Fen
    November 28th, 2008 @ 9:41 am

    I liked dim sum too but I can’t take prawns :( and looking at the dishes, the bulk of it seems to contain prawns… I thought the cheapest place to have dim sum is long men? All army boys should know that place >.<

  3. didally
    November 28th, 2008 @ 9:58 am

    I like dim sum but can’t eat much cos of all the meat and prawns. Perhaps it’s cost saving too. lol

  4. Jacelyn
    November 28th, 2008 @ 1:56 pm

    shiok! food looks so good. i’ve been trying to look for dim sum. only know red star one :D

    i can’t make it for your food outing. sad :( have smth on. hope to go on the next! :)

    Jacelyns last blog post..HungryGoWhere Big Eat Out! Part 2

  5. ladyironchef
    November 29th, 2008 @ 10:50 am

    evan: yeah sure no problem. actually because we ate a lot. the pricing for their dim sum there is quite cheap compared to other restaurants i been to.

    fen: oh, can’t take prawn eh? my friend also can’t take prawn den she always take out the prawn and just eat the rest. lol! but a bit wasted to eat dim sum if you can’t eat prawn or pork since most of them are. eh, long men or dragon gate is lousy, never go there. haha. i rather spend a bit more on quality dim sum

    didally: you can’t eat both prawn or pork? or you can’t eat much dim sum cos got too much meat easily full? lol!

    jacelyn: yea, red star dim sum is average la, more on the traditional push cart “ambience” you should try royal china @ raffles hotel. oh, you can’t go eh? nvm, next time :)

  6. elvadrieng
    November 29th, 2008 @ 9:52 pm

    Another dim sum restaurant on the list to eat

    elvadriengs last blog post..Kamboat Dim Sum Kitchen

  7. thoo2
    November 30th, 2008 @ 1:46 pm

    did you use dslr? shooting with the giant at restaurant a bit exaggerate for me… not dare to take it out….

  8. ladyironchef
    November 30th, 2008 @ 1:56 pm

    yeah all my post after May 2008 were taken with my nikon d40. i just got myself macro lens too. hahah no need feel pai seh one la, i’m used to strange looks from other people already. haha

  9. *koume
    December 1st, 2008 @ 3:54 pm

    fen: I can’t take prawns too because of my skin condition but what’s dim sum without prawns and pork? HahA I always eat now and suffer later!

    LIC: I almost went to Peony Jade at Clarke Quay for their A la Carte dim sum on Sat! I think I should give Peony Jade a shot…the deep fried goose liver looks really good!

  10. ladyironchef
    December 2nd, 2008 @ 7:20 am

    koume: oh you can’t eat prawns too? den still eat dim sum eh? ahh.. you shld go and try, but then i feel the deep fried goose liver only looks good but didn’t taste as good : )

  11. Nate
    December 19th, 2008 @ 8:17 am

    Wow, all those dim sum look exquisite! I am hungry for dim sum now!

    Nates last blog post..Jiu Hu Char

  12. ladyironchef
    December 21st, 2008 @ 9:48 pm

    Nate: yeah dim sum! dim sum! haha

  13. Anna
    March 7th, 2009 @ 8:31 am

    Wow, your pictures are GORGEOUS!! They’re literally good enough to eat. Thanks for sharing!

    Annas last blog post..The Vegan(ish) Monologues

  14. ladyironchef
    March 7th, 2009 @ 9:39 am

    hello Anna: wow thanks! glad you like them. No problem, i like to make people hungry, haha. i saw your post on the new food to try, some of which i also interested, but eating bugs a bit too much for me. hahaha

  15. Enzo
    March 9th, 2009 @ 3:39 pm

    actually went here yesterday for the hi-tea, was quite disappointed with the services as the food took very long to be served dispite multiple complains… it was until when we asked for the manager b4 food started appearing but it was almost time for last order by then :/

  16. ladyironchef
    March 11th, 2009 @ 5:49 pm

    Enzo: oh? they didn’t take that long to serve us. maybe they had a bad hair day. haha. but prices are all rather reasonable.

  17. James
    April 19th, 2009 @ 9:14 am

    Hello Brad, have u try Min Jiang at Goodwood Park Hotel? High Tea Dim Sum Buffet at $23.8++ (only on sat,sun and PH)

  18. ladyironchef
    April 20th, 2009 @ 10:50 pm

    James: Nope, is Min Jiang good? I din know they have this buffet at 24 bucks, sounds good. what does the buffet includes?

  19. Trish
    September 4th, 2009 @ 7:59 pm

    The Prawns in filo….which is a Greek pastry called Kataifi, is such a nice dish. I have had it many times in Moroccan restaurants and made it myself. What sauce was it served with?

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