Cherry Garden: A feast of the visual senses

May 19, 2009 | 13 Comments

The beautiful, each piece: Oh-so-dainty, Oh-so-refine. Almost like art, delicately crafted.

O’ my dear, I love you so. Never in my heart, I stopped thinking of you. Miss sushi, and Miss tapas: both seemed to  be more popular than you, but I will always put you in the first place.

It was big, no, huge! This was, one of the many, different renditions of har gau we would see today. Essentially a har gau without the skin; the crab meat dumpling. It was prawny, with a nice bite – but crabby (no pun intended) it was not, well who cares?

Rather than an-overly-thick-skin, give me a dumpling without skin.

The well-admired Steamed Prawn Dumplings had an injection of carrot purée which only served to beautify the appearance of the har gau skin.

“We protested! We protested!”

The purist camp did a demonstration on the streets, crying for the restoration of the conventional har gau which they were so used to. But for the ladies; the boost in vitamin A. What was missing however, was the carrot taste.

The novelty. The inclusion of preserved vegetables was a brilliant stroke of art; the saltiness enhanced the flavour of the pork, which brought us to the question: why didn’t anybody thought of this before? Steamed pork dumpling with preserved vegetables, siew mai.

Now this was a not-so-simple bun that was bound to turn heads. Served piping hot, the bun seemed quite insignificant until you took a bite at it. Immediately, you would realize that you just had something very special. The bun itself was soft, fluffy and light as a feather while the fillings were so, so sweet and juicy. The Steamed kurobuta char siew pork fluffy bao, was the winner for the day.

The humble har gau did an open-faced sandwich; with shark’s fin on top. Luxury, it was, wealth, it symbolized, and prestige, it presented. Sorry sharky! Steamed shark’s fin dumplings with dried scallops and shrimp.

The tinge of pink, at the top of the tri-top; pretty and so pretty. Another piece of art we seen, at the gallery of Cherry Garden. However, the Scallop and spinach crystal dumpling did came across as slightly dry.

Truffled Essence Crystal Dumplings stuffed with Assorted Fresh Mushrooms. This, was a beauty; the translucent skin, the jelly texture, the array of mushrooms, almost perfect – but it was too large!

Prawn was the main lead, and mango was the second lead. There was the accompany of the green, hot wasabi! Netted rice crispy turnover. I held you, in my arms, into the late wee wee hour: without the wasabi! My dear, the netted rice crispy turnover.

And there was the famous XLB. The voluptuous folds, the goodness of the soup stock, everything, gushing out.

Like a peacock spreading his feathers, the netted rice crispy did a peacock effect: it caught everybody’s attention. Oh my, so beautiful, was this meant to be eaten?

And oh wait, there’s something hiding below the feathers; the netted rice crispy I meant. Ah, that’s the pan-fried chives and chicken dumplings!

Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of chives – I would leave the taste of the dumpling to your own imagination. This was, a piece of art! Why don’t we turn it upside down?

This was the umpteenth time we had a make-over of the har gau, they called it, Steamed Chinese spinach dumplings. The spinach, provided the lovely lines, just like how a painting adorned the wall. The egg yolk, provided the oomph, so, so good.

This, was a poisonous pear, for snow white. The wicked witch threw in some pumpkin, a pinch of jicama, stirred stirred, mixed mixed, and finally, some vegetarian ham.

Poof! With a wave of her wand, the deep-fried potato “pear” appeared. Crispy texture checked, mesmerizing appearance checked, vegetarian (snow white is on a diet) checked. Sticky innards (to stick the mouth together) checked. Everything was present, and OH, where’s the poison?

And we took a plunge, into the deep, deep blue sea. From the land to the sea, the Symphony of live pacific grouper prepared in three different ways. The first: we have a soup, grouper fish broth with ginger, onion and Silken tofu.

Steamed grouper crystal fish dumpling.  Was this a dim sum, or was this a fish? It was both, with a twist. Brilliant it was, bravo we shouted. Grouper fish meat inside a dumpling of the fish skin. It was beautiful, too beautiful to eat.

It was not all smooth-sailing, nothing was. As much as I loved the creativity, there was a snag. The use of fish skin, for the translucent was great for the eyes, but not for the mouth. It was chewy, and slightly fishy: non fish lovers, would say, no no!

Prawn and pork, were absent. I give you fish, fish for dim sum. The very first, I believed. Let there be more, say fish siew mai? This, surely, would be a great day for all the fish lovers.

One price, one fish, for the value of three. Worthy, indeed. Sautéed grouper fillet with asparagus, no parts of the fish were wasted, from the meat, to the skin.

I have always wanted to go to Cherry Garden. And I’m glad I finally did. It was a feast, for the visual senses. The dim sum, so delicately craft piece by piece, was an art, for all to enjoyed. Creativity was certainly in the air, the adventurous use of different ingredients, the details to attention for the tiniest things, the emphasize of making it look as good as it tasted. I’m sold. Praises, have to be reserved for the savvy and charismatic executive Chinese chef, Mr Hiew Gun Khong.

Cherry Garden has the weekend dim sum ala carte buffet at $45++ per head, which has a selections of 20 over dim sum, and other Chinese food as well. My appreciation to Kelly, the PR relations manager for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Catherine @ Camemberu here
Leslie @ ieatishootipost here
Julia @ Aromacookery here
Leroy @ Hungrycow here

Cherry Garden
5 Raffles Avenue
5F Mandarian Oriental
Tel: 6885 3538

Cherry Garden is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Related posts

Add this Singapore Food Blog to Facebook
Category: # Restaurant Review, * Central Singapore, Dining Guide Singapore, Favorite Restaurants, Food Photography, Invited Food Tasting, Singapore Food Blog
Tags: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Comments

13 Responses to “Cherry Garden: A feast of the visual senses”

  1. Shirin
    May 19th, 2009 @ 12:53 am

    i love dim sum soooo much! :)

    Shirins last blog post..#497: Another One Bites The Dust.

  2. Wendy
    May 19th, 2009 @ 2:14 am

    Was there sometime ago, I like the XLB, roast duck & avocado cream w/walnut ice cream.

  3. Life for Beginners
    May 19th, 2009 @ 9:47 am

    Ah, but I love chives — save yours for me, please! :D

    Life for Beginnerss last blog post..The Return

  4. ladyironchef
    May 19th, 2009 @ 5:49 pm

    Shirin: Does UK have dim sum? HEH

    Wendy: u went for their weekend brunch? roast duck, oh my :)

    LFB: hahaha okay, next time got chives, i air-seal it and fly it over to you. lol

  5. Shirin
    May 19th, 2009 @ 9:56 pm

    it does have dim sum. but terribly expensive. i mean, you can’t beat singapore’s food prices right? :) hehe. singapore’s FOOD paradise after all. ohoh, i have this secret project for summer when i’m back. would you mind if i asked you for help? it won’t take much time. i promise. :) hehe.

  6. ladyironchef
    May 19th, 2009 @ 10:28 pm

    Shirin: looking at dim sum won’t help you in accounting you know? lol! yea even tho the pound has weaken, but i can only imagine the price of Chinese food there. heh.

    Ah i love the sound of secret project, i presumed it has something to do with food? An all-you-can-eat-food-trail? HAHA of course i wouldn’t mind if I can help :)

  7. Nate
    May 20th, 2009 @ 3:41 am

    Wow, your dim sum puts ours here in San Jose to shame!

    That Kurobata char siu bao sounds out of this world.

    The grouper in crystal dumpling looks outstanding. Too bad it didn’t taste as good.

    Nates last blog post..Garlic Cheddar Polenta with Shrimp and Asparagus

  8. June
    May 21st, 2009 @ 12:20 am

    OMG… I’m getting hungry even though it’s 12 midnight already ={

    I hope to get a chance soon to try the dim sum @ Cherry Garden =) Everything looks so delicious!

    Junes last blog post..Want To Get Free Coffee & Croissant!

  9. Sugar Bean
    May 21st, 2009 @ 4:13 am

    The presentation of the dim sum is fantastic! Looks so nice and delicate. Nice ambience too. Would really love to visit this place.

    Sugar Beans last blog post..Bellinis Italian Restaurant

  10. Jo
    May 21st, 2009 @ 11:30 pm

    Wow, lots of dim sum here lately! I like… =D

    Jos last blog post..Oreo/ Nutella/ F&N

  11. ladyironchef
    May 22nd, 2009 @ 1:58 pm

    Nate: hahahahah yeah the kurobuta was most excellent, it was creative using fish meat in dim sum, jus that the fish skin as the dim sum skin tasted kind of weird. lol

    June: lol! thats why come to lic at midnight only at yr own risk! lol! yeah all the dim sum looks very pretty :)

    Sugar bean: Definitely, cherry garden’s one of the place which put in the most effort in their presentation i feel, another place on yr to-try-list when u visit Singapore! haha

    Jo: hahah this is the second last post, after that have to take a break from dim sum liao. lol

  12. Camemberu
    June 9th, 2009 @ 6:07 pm

    I finally posted Cherry Garden too. It’s tough sifting through the photos, man! Somehow the eating part is not as jelak as posting. Haha. :D

    Camemberus last blog post..Dim Sum Day 3: Cherry Garden

  13. ladyironchef
    June 9th, 2009 @ 8:04 pm

    Camemeberu: hahahahaha you sure? it was super full considering we cover two places that day! I enjoyed sifting through the photos, it made me go hungry all over again. heh

Leave a Reply