By now, I am sure you’d have seen the colourful xiaolongbao from Paradise Dynasty on advertising billboards along Orchard Road as well as the other Singapore Food Blogs that have written about it before.

Paradise Dynasty is one of their newer ventures, and it is conveniently located alongside Taste Paradise on Ion Orchard level four. The question on everyone’s mind: are the colourful creations from Paradise Dynasty the best Xiao Long Bao in Singapore?

The Paradise group of restaurants has been growing rapidly in recent years and they are definitely giving the other Chinese restaurant chains like Crystal Jade, Imperial Treasure, Din Tai Fung a run for their money.

I don’t know about you, but the colourful xiaolongbao with exotic ingredients sound like a marketing gimmick to me. In any case, I decided to drop by and see what the fuss is all about.

Okay maybe It is not exactly fair to compare restaurants directly, but to give you a better picture, Paradise Dynasty is the equivalent of Crystal Jade’s La Mian & Xiaolongbao.

Stepping inside Paradise Dynasty through the narrow entrance, the restaurant interior is not what you’d expect from a causal dining restaurant. And given the fact that most of the items on Paradise Dynasty’s menu are priced reasonably, it is not difficult to understand why they have been doing quite well.

We were here for the colourful xiaolongbao of course. Okay, maybe I need to stop calling them colourful xiaolongbao, let me try again. Paradise Dynasty has 8 signature xiaolongbao flavours: Original, Garlic, Ginseng, Foie Gras, Black Truffle, Cheese, Crab Roe, and Szechuan.

The original starts from $9.8 for a basket of 10, while the exotic premium xiao long bao like the black truffle, foie gras and ginseng are $19.80 for a basket of 10. Since it was our first time here, we went for the sampling basket ($13.80 for the 8 flavours). There were hits and misses. I thought that the Crab Roe and Cheese were surprisingly good, while the Ginseng and Foie Gras were rather bland and I couldn’t really taste anything. The other flavours were decent, but not rock-your-socks-off good.

Besides the steamed pork dumplings, we also had the la mian from Paradise Dynasty.

Why is Japanese ramen more popular than Chinese La Mian?

This question has been on my mind for some time, and I honestly don’t get it. Japanese food is a very popular cuisine, and there are so many Japanese ramen restaurants in Singapore. But when it comes to Chinese La Mian, we do not have many choices, and most people seem to prefer having ramen anyway.

The irony is Japanese ramen originates from Chinese La Mian, yet it is often more expensive. A bowl of ramen is at least $12-$15, while La Mian on the other hand, is usually priced below $10 at most Chinese restaurants.

Anyway I digressed. What I wanted to tell you is the La Mian with braised pork belly ($10.80) from Paradise Dynasty. The broth was rich and flavourful, the noodle springy and the pork belly sublime – in short, it was pretty fantastic. I definitely feel that this bowl of La Mian will not lose out to any ramen.

It is not easy to find a restaurant in Orchard road that serves decent food at affordable prices. Paradise Dynasty fits in very nicely in the local food scene, and I like the fact that the Paradise Group is keeping the other Chinese restaurant chains on their toes.

Paradise Dynasty is definitely a good option if you want to have Chinese food in Orchard road. It is a plus that they are an all day dining restaurant, which means that you can even go there during mid afternoon to have dim sum for high tea. But are the colourful xiao long baos with premium fillings really better than the original one?

I am not convinced.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Paradise Dynasty
2 Orchard Turn, #04-12A
ION Orchard Singapore
Tel: +65 6509 9118

Operating Hours:
Weekdays 11am to 10pm
Weekends 10am to 10pm

Whenever I’m in Orchard road for dinner, I will always laugh at those who are queuing up for Din Tai Fung. Okay, the Xiao Long Bao, La mian, fried rice and pancakes on the Din Tai Fung’ menu are pretty good and affordable, but I think it doesn’t make sense to queue up for them.

Karma finally caught up with me when I was waiting at Din Tai Fung for half an hour because my friends were obsessed with Din Tai Fung’s Truffle Xiao Long Bao (available exclusivity at the flagship paragon outlet).

Here’s the thing, I don’t believe in adding exotic ingredients: a good burger should be one that is simple and no frills, with a nice juicy patty and lightly toasted buns. Likewise, the best xiaolongbao should be one that has a super thin skin holding the superb stock and minced meat inside. You don’t need truffle to make a 9.5/10 xiao long bao to become a perfect 10/10. Okay, maybe you do. At least that’s what Din Tai Fung and fanatics of the truffle xiao long bao think.

Din Tai Fung’s Xiao Long Bao comes with 18 neat folds (trust me, it’s extremely difficult to do that), and obviously you have to pay a premium for the truffle edition. The normal Xiao Long Bao is $6.5 for a basket of 6, while the truffle xiao long bao comes at a price tag of $14.80 for 5 (or $3.20 a piece if you just want one for sampling).

After a few rounds of BBM-ing, my friends finally managed to convince me to give the truffle xiao long bao a shot. To be honest, I was still skeptical about it – I didn’t believe that you could actually ‘see’, much less taste the truffle. But apparently Din Tai Fung proved me wrong. If you poke a tiny hole into the steamed pork dumpling, you can actually see the black truffle sitting smugly on top of the minced meat. Amazing stuff.

That being said, I still find it hard to justify paying almost double the money for the truffle xiao long bao. Anyway, my friends are still crazy over the truffle xiao long bao, and they went back twice just for the truffle xiao long bao after our last visit there.

How about you? Will you pay more for the truffle xlb?

After trying Din Tai Fung, Crystal Jade Restaurant, Qun Zhong Eating House, and the colourful xiao long bao from Paradise Dynasty, the hunt for the best xiao long bao in Singapore will bring me to Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao next!

Singapore Food Restaurant Review
Din Tai Fung
290 Orchard Road #B1-03
The Paragon Singapore
Tel: +65 6836 8336

When it comes to the best Xiao Long Bao in Singapore, most people will usually think of Din Tai Fung, Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, or Nan Xiang Xiao long bao restaurant. Along the sleepy Neil Road at the intersection of Chinatown & Maxwell Food Market, there’s a very popular place that serves good xiao long bao? Try to search for Neil Road, and Google will actually prompt “Neil Road Xiao Long Bao”, or “Neil Road Qun Zhong”.

The Lonely Planet Guide refers to Qun Zhong Eating House as the #433 out of 625 Things to do in Singapore. Are the Steamed Pork Dumplings there really so good?

If you are a superficial or lazy person like me, chances are, you’d have walked past Qun Zhong Eating House a dozen times without noticing it. The place doesn’t look very impressive from the outside, and there’s always a long queue during peak hours.

Before coming here, I heard about the reputation of the ‘service’, or rather the lack of service. Stepping inside, most of the staff were rather grumpy and appeared to be in a hurry. We were actually quite afraid to ask them for water. Okay to be fair, it wasn’t that bad. I asked for water nicely, and they gave it to us without much trouble.

The Xiao Long Baos from Qun Zhong Eating House were much bigger than any of the dumplings that I had before. And it was for a very good reason. They held a lot of soup within the seemingly-thick folds of the steamed pork dumpling ($7 for 7). It literally gushed out when I took a nibble of the xiao long bao.

Is this the best Xiao Long Bao in Singapore? I can’t answer that, but if you like a meaty and thick steamed pork dumpling, with lots of soup, Qun Zhong’s Xiao long bao is definitely the one for you. We also had the Pan Fried Dumplings ($8 for 10), and together with the 7 xiao long bao, and a bowl of zha jiang mian – it was really a lot of food for the two of us.

Other than the Zha Jiang Mian (noodle with minced pork & soya bean paste), Qun Zhong Eating House also serves a variety of Beijing cuisine and food like the Chinese Pizza, Steamed vegetarian dumplings and Hot & Sour noodle.

If you still have room in the stomach after eating the xiao long bao, Dim Joy is just across the street. For desserts, there’s Flor Patisserie, Once Upon A Milkshake and Patisserie Glace nearby.

Restaurant Review
Qun Zhong Eating House
21 Neil Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6221 3060

Sometimes, the best things in life are the ones that you are not expecting.

After spending a bomb during my Sydney holiday in December last year, I didn’t plan for any overseas trip for 2010. But within a short span of a month, I went to Shanghai, Phuket and Hong Kong. Back in August, I joined the Denizen team for a trip to Shanghai for their global launch of the new denim brand.

wanderlust (noun) – an irresistibly strong desire or an impulse to travel far away and explore different places.

Traveling is always fun, especially when you get to see new things, meet new friends, and of course, food. It’s always about the food, baby. Okay, maybe not everything about the food, but you know what I mean. It only make sense if you try the local delicacy when you are there. Like if you are in Japan, obviously you will fill yourself up with ramen, sushi and sashimi right? The same logic applies for everywhere.

Now, what is Shanghainese food? I have been told that there isn’t a definite cuisine on its own, instead the food is influenced by the nearby surrounding provinces. When we talk about Shanghainese food, I’m sure everyone will think of the famous Shanghai Xiaolongbao. Thank god I had one!

Our schedule for this short trip to Shanghai was packed very tightly. Other than spending time at the event venue, the rest of the time was spend in the hotel room, but boy, if it’s up to me, I would have chosen to stay in the hotel room all day long.

We stayed in Langham Yangtze boutique hotel Shanghai, which is conveniently located in the heart of the city. I wasn’t expecting much from the outside, but I fell in love with the place once I stepped inside. The hotel is at Nanjing road, China’s premier shopping street, which is pretty much like our Singapore’s Orchard road.

Other than ‘work’ and cooping enjoying ourselves inside the luxurious hotel, the denizen team fed us very well. We went to this fine dining Chinese restaurant at Xintiandi, which is an entertainment and dining destination in Shanghai. It is a very funky area which has been preserved and developed, with lots of Art Gallery, cafes and restaurants.

You know what is the worst thing that can happen when you are hungry and all you want to do is to eat and go back to bed? Having a multi-course dinner in a fine dining Chinese restaurant.

Even though the food was very exquisite, it was quite a torture trying to stay awake after a long day, and wait for each course to come. In total, we had around 15 courses, and it took us almost three hours to complete dinner. Yawn!

What’s a trip to Shanghai without its iconic Xiaolongbao?

On the second night, all of us made merry over steamboat. Countless plates of ingredients that could feed an army, were brought to our table, and for that two hours, we ate, and ate, and ate, and ate.

I believe the sole purpose of my existence lies in grabbing the thin slices of meat, and submerge it within the hot boiling broth, swishing it back and forth several times, and letting it melt inside my mouth. Swish-swish-swish.

Our event venue was at The Waterhouse at South Bund, an uber-cool boutique hotel which is operated by The New Majestic Group from Singapore. Many of you will have heard of Jason Atherton, the celebrity chef who used to be under Gordon Ramsay. His first independent restaurant Table No 1 is housed within The Waterhouse at South Bund, but I didn’t get to eat there though — what a shame. But you will never know what the future may bring, maybe I will get to stay in The Waterhouse at South Bund during my next trip to Shanghai. A boy can wish right? You never know..

Good Bye Shanghai, see you again soon!

Did something major happen in the dim sum world that I’m not aware of? Over the weekends, there’s a crazy number of people searching of ‘Dim Sum Buffet‘, and ‘Dim Sum Singapore‘.

Anyway, I was wondering if I should blog about Taste Paradise Chinese Restaurant since I’ve raved about them before. But I thought this will be a good reminder if you have missed my previous post, or have yet to visit them. Taste Paradise at Ion Orchard is definitely one of the top 3 among my list of Dim Sum Restaurants in Singapore.

If you are thinking of having Yum Cha this week, please go to the Ion Orchard branch as Taste Paradise at Mosque Street does not serve dim sum. The menu at Taste Paradise has almost 40 different dim sum to choose from, and they have three seating time slots for weekend dim sum brunch: 11am-12.30pm, 12.30pm-2pm, and 2pm-4pm.

Yan Ting restaurant has the best Char Siew Sou in town, but I dare say Taste Paradise’s Baked BBQ Pork Pastry ($3.90 for 3) is almost just as good. It’s a definite must order on the dim sum menu!

I heard that Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao restaurant at Holland Village serves free flow of Xiao Long Bao for their steamboat buffet. Well, I’m not sure about you, but all I need is one good Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumpling ($3.80).

Best Custard Bun in Singapore

I’d like to introduce my new favorite dim sum, which incidentally is the most ordinary and plain-looking item on our table. Custard bun ($4.20 for 3) is the Chinese equivalent of the Western Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. My dear, you really need to try their custard bun! This stuff is seriously addictive. I’d vouch for it with my name.

Judging from the response, the Deep-fried Prawn with Mango Roll ($4.80 for 3) was a popular choice. The combination of mango and prawn never fails to disappoint – I’d gladly have second helpings of it.

We also had the usual Steamed Prawn Dumpling ($4.80 for 4), and Steamed Pork Dumpling ($4.80 for 4). If you like rice rolls, there are 8 different types of Cheong Fun on the menu to choose from.

Taste Paradise is famous for their XO Carrot Cake ($8). It was good, but I did not think it was worth the money for the small portion. Personally, I rather spend the money on another basket of custard bun and char siew sou.

You will probably be sick of me saying this, but allow me to repeat this again: happiness comes in the form of a Mini Egg Tart ($3.60 for 3). Warm flaky pastry with soft egg custard, one is never enough!

Taste Paradise is definitely one of the best dim sum restaurant in Singapore; affordable and good dim sum, with an accessible location at Ion Orchard. You must try the Custard bun & Char Siew Sou!

Speaking of that, what is your favorite dim sum?

Restaurant Review
Taste Paradise Ion Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9660

Do you believe in fairytale? I do. The story of the Paradise group isn’t exactly a rise from the rugs to riches one, but it’s close enough. For someone who started off with a cze-char stall in the industrial park Defu lane, to a group of restaurants that includes the fine-dining Taste paradise, seafood restaurant Seafood paradise, and middle-range Paradise inn, doesn’t it sounds like a fairytale ending?

I have wanted to go to taste paradise for a very long time. But their original outlet at Mosque street does not serve dim sum, and so I waited until now for their new branch in Ion that has dim sum for lunch.

Having tried the most expensive xiaolongbao, and also the dirt-cheap-but-good ones in Nanxiang restaurant Shanghai; everything in between seem exceptionally ordinary to me. I know for a matter of fact there are people who love to pop a dozen of xiaolongbao ($3.80 for 4) into their mouth, but not me, one is enough.

Ladies and gentlemen, this, is the one you must try. I will go as far as saying Taste Paradise’s rendition is as good as the best char siew sou ($3.60 for 3) that I’ve so far, Buttery undertone of the flaky pastry, sweet and juicy char siew fillings, honey get your hands off the plate!

My dear, listen to me carefully for this is going to be very important, you need to have three for yourself, uh-uh, no sharing, and maybe that isn’t enough – make it six each!

I was contemplating whether to have the usual Siew mai & har gau ($4.80 for 4), we didn’t fancy having the former, thus only the latter was ordered. It might be a case of having too much dim sum, but the steamed prawn dumpling, unlike the char siew sou or custard bun, is just not sex-citing enough.

We also had the Steamed cheong fun with prawns ($5.20), it was some sort like a go-between, not fantastic, but not all bad either. Increasingly, it’s getting more challenging to get a good cheong fun. The problem lies with me, and me alone. Define what makes a good cheong fun: the rice rolls must not be too thick that it will stick to the teeth, nor can it be too thin that the roll breaks and expose all the ingredients. The fillings of prawn or char siew must be fresh, and the light sauce must be able to make the simple cheong fun taste good.

For someone who do not like yam except for yam cake, I always find myself ordering the Fried Taro puff ($3.60 for 3) when I’m having dim sum. This one was pretty disappointing, the fried crispy exterior was not too bad, but the yam fillings were too mushy for my liking.

I tasted Custard bun for the first time about one and a half years back, since then I only had it on just a few several occasions. I remember very clearly staring at the ordinary-looking bun, the kind of buns that you get from the neighbor coffeeshop, whatever it is, those that taste plain and boring.

Imagine my reaction when I torn apart a small corner of the fluffy-light bun, hot molten custard fillings flowed out like lava from an erupting volcano, I scrambled to save every single drop of the yellow-golden fillings – they are oh-my-god, so good! ‘Yummy…!’

Towards the end, we had a second round of custard buns and were deciding whether to have one more serving of the char siew sou or go for the Baked BBQ Pork Bun ($3.80 for 3). I had fond memories of this dish, but the one here wasn’t what I thought it was, instead of the bo luo bao texture, it tasted more like deep-fried bread. The char siew fillings were great, but I’d rather have the crispy puff pastry than the honey-glazed baked buns.

* * *

I have always insist that my favourite dim sum place is Yanting and Royal China, but now, we have a new addition to the list  for best dim sum – Taste Paradise. There’s a problem though, it’s affordable, and it’s right in the middle of town. I’ll probably forget about all the other dim sum, and just binge on the char siew sou and custard buns – they are that good! See you there!

Taste Paradise
2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 Ion Orchard
Tel: 6509 9660

Taste Paradise is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

* * * The giveaway is now closed, will announce the winners shortly * * *

It’s that time of the year again – the hairy crab season.

The October and November period is the time for harvesting the tiny crustacean; while they are definitely not the biggest in size, it is often touted as the king of crabs (maybe with the exception to the Alaska king crab).

Almost every decent Chinese restaurant will be offering this delicacy; it’s either you have this, or be square. And they are also not exactly cheap, the better quality ones can cost up from fifty to hundreds of dollars. I was invited to a tasting session by Food Junction recently – they are the first and only food court in Singapore to offer hairy crabs.

The highlight of the hairy crab is definitely the rich roe within; the main difference of the male & female hairy crab will be the latter having more roe.

Here’s the step by step guide provided by Food Junction on “How to eat Hairy Crabs”

Step 1: Lift flap on the underside of the crab. remove the heart.

Step 2: Pry open the toe shell to enjoy the roe.

Step 3: Remove gills

Step 4: Hold on to the legs & break the body in half.

Step 5: Cut crab leg into smaller segments.

Step 6: Push it through to the narrower segment of the claw into the other to extricate the flesh in the latter.

Step 7: Remove Pincer from crap and snip into smaller segments.

Step 8: Cut along the sides of the pincer to extricate the flesh.

The hairy crab set consists of one crab and ginger tea, with the necessary tools like the scissors and gloves (if you need one). We also had some side dishes of steamed pork dumpling (xiaolongbao) which I found to be ordinary; the skin cracks when I tried to lift them up. Order the fried pancake instead, it is a better appetiser and fares much better than the xiaolongbao.

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of crabs in general. I don’t understand why people spend so much time and effort to pry out so little meat hidden within the shell; fine I admit, I’m lazy – I don’t like to get my hands dirty! Anyway if you are keen to have a hairy feast, the hairy crabs will be available at three Food Junction food court (Bugis Junction, Great World City and The food place @ Raffles city) from now until 20th December; with the male ones priced at $18.80 and the female one at $23.80. I will like to thank Pris & Racheal and Food Junction for the invitation.

* * *

HOW TO ENTER THE HAIRY CRAB GIVEAWAY

I bet half of you just scroll right to the bottom when you saw the word Giveaway on the top! So for all the lurkers silent readers out there – here’s the reason for you to finally leave your first ever comment on my blog.

I totally understand how it feels to be on your end, reading my blog from the screen and feeling hungry in the middle of the night; so I’m happy to announce that Food Junction has kindly agreed to giveaway FIVE SETS (1 male & female hairy crab worth $42) to five lucky readers. If you want a chance to win, here is what to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post

Tell us why you want to try the hairy crabs. And ONE entry per person, just write a short and simple line. It doesn’t really matter what else you say, as your impressive or witty comment will not affect the results,  but obviously you can’t just write two or three words. Anyway the point is – nobody wants to read an essay here.

2. Use a valid & contactable email

Please use a contactable email when you post the comment, I will email the winners shortly after to direct you on how to redeemed the hairy crabs from the Food place @ Raffles City.

3. And the Five lucky Winners . . .

The five lucky winners will be decided by a highly sophisticated method, and I reserve the right to re-pick if there’s any discrepancy or foul-play involved (of course there won’t be, all of you are nice people but yeah just in case).  The contest will run until 20th Nov Friday Midnight, and so you have exactly three days before it ends.

Have a hairy crab feast, I hope you enjoy the little gift I have for everyone!

My love affair with XLB starts way back; I fall in love with her at first sight, every petite piece so delicate and exquisite, she, who has the ability to make my heart skip a beat when I place her on my lips, she, who makes me go crazy and think of her everytime.

The two different XLB was made by two different pairs of hands; the one on the left was by me (note: the uneven folds) and the one on the right was by the master of course.

At Din Tai Fung’s media preview of their new mini steamed pork dumpling (xiao long tang bao), we were given a hands-on experience on making XLB. And that’s why I like dim sum so much; it’s easy to pop a piece inside our mouth, but to make each piece so delectable there’s much hard work and effort involved.

The requirement for a standard XLB is 18 folds, and it’s definitely not easy to do it, especially so when we only had half-an-hour of lesson beforehand, where the chefs actually train for a year to achieve the result. It’s only when you experience how difficult it is, to make a XLB before you actually appreciate the hard work put in by the good people slogging it out in the hot kitchen everyday.

The new mini steamed pork dumpling (XLB), or xiao long tang bao, whatever you call it, is 50% smaller than the regular XLB. Just imagine doing 18 folds on a normal size XLB, and now you do it on half the size of XLB; the xiao long tang baos are notoriously difficult to make!

I love to eat eggs; scrambled, poached, fried, sunny side up, steamed, over-easy, salted egg, quail egg, but with just the exception to century eggs. There’s no reason, but the black glossy appearance never appealed to me. Century eggs with fermented soya ($3.50)

As to the origin of drunken chicken, I do not know the story of it, but I do know that the Original Shanghainese drunken chicken ($6.80) had a strong alcohol taste infused in the smooth chicken meat.

Taking up a piece of the mini cucumber, crunch crunch; the inherited sweetness of the green plate had an addition spicy twist to it. Crunchy Mini Cucumber in Spicy Sauce ($3.80). Just for bites.

Much as I love my veggies, I was never a fan of vegetables in dim sum; somehow the steamed vegetables inside dumplings didn’t work for me. Neither did the Steamed vegetable & pork dumpling here.

This was a make-over of our regular siewmai, done the XLB-style. It was quintessentially an open-faced XLB with a shrimp sitting pretty on top. Shrimp & pork shao mai ($13.50 for 10)

I love to drink soup that is thick and tangy in flavour, with lots of ingredients that bear a close reminiscence to Shark’s fin soup. The Hot & sour soup ($6.80) was not bad, but the excessive pepper overwhelmed my taste buds.

Springy noodles that bounced off your tongue, that might sounds exaggerating, but I like my noodles done that way. The Noodle with minced pork in bean sauce ($7) was delightful with the generous toppings of bean sauce; it was a simple bowl of noodles, but I like it!

The Crispy golden prawn pancakes ($8.50) were nice as appetisers too, fried till golden brown, the crispy pancakes crusts were addictive to bite on.

I wasn’t too impressed with the Stir-fried nai bai with garlic. I’m not sure whether the chilli was supposed to be there as a decoration, or was it to enhanced the taste, but personally I felt that nai bai and chilli didn’t work. Plus the garlic wasn’t fried enough to infused the vegetables with the fragrance.

And now the star that we’ve been waiting for. Introducing, the Mini steamed pork dumpling with superior chicken broth ($10.80 for 10 pieces). As you all know, XLB itself has lots of soup stocks within the skin, but we were given a bowl of chicken broth to go along with the Mini Xiao Long Tang Baos (XLTB) this time round.

Filling the spoon with the chicken broth, we placed a piece of the mini XLB into it, add some ginger and vinegar and put everything into our mouth; the chicken broth was subtle, bordering on bland, and it was the stock within the XLB that gushed out that stole the show. Taste-wise there wasn’t much to differentiate the XLB and the XLTB , but it was a novelty and certainly less-filling to eat the mini.

* * *

It was indeed fun to have hands-on experience on making XLB, my appreciation to Clement & Andrew from ICON for the food tasting invitation, miss Patsy from Breadtalk, and the chefs who taught and made our XLB. The Xiao Long Tang Baos are available exclusively at Din Tai Fung Paragon from 1 June 2009, 3-5pm for weekdays, and 10am-12 noon for weekends.

Din Tai Fung
290 Orchard road
#B1-03 Paragon
Tel: 6836 8336

I would have never imagine this; I froze at the mention of it, the sacred foie gras. And hold on a second, what were they saying, I thought I heard something like Juicy dumpling with foie gras. Wasn’t this supposed to be XLB, now where did the foie gras came into the picture?

Believe it or not, they actually contain the French delicacy within our XLB, well maybe just a morsel of it since there wasn’t any trace of the foie gras.

Fresh, is one of the word which has been over-used to describe food. How else would you use to depict the prawn within the crisp vermicelli, well maybe I would say juicy, succulent, and I ran out of vocabulary. Oh well. Deep-fried filo dough.

It was wet, a little moist inside, so I stuck my finger in, and poked it in a little further. I took a bite, beneath the crispy exterior, was duck shreds. Deep-fried yam croquette with minced duck.

Pan-fried radish cake

I was caught by surprise when they told me this was called the Deep-fried scallops with sugar cane. I was happily biting it off the sugar cane (read: I use it), thinking it was very prawny, and there they were, telling me it was deep-fried scallop!

Naturally I was amused, how could scallop taste like prawn? Ignoring that, the slightly-sweet-slightly-sour sauce was most excellent – it was refreshing. And the sugar cane added some brownie points to the whole artistic value.

May I introduced to you, ladies and gentleman, the scarce Harm Soei Gok, or Deep-friend traditional chicken dumpling. Honestly, I did not know about its existence before this, since many places didn’t served it due to the complexity and effort needed to produce it.

The whole, Shark’s fin within the soup, it was so big! With an equally flavourful stock, all of us agreed that the Double-boiled dumpling with Shark’s fin was a delight, well maybe not for the sharks lovers.

I liked this. I’m a char siew sou man. And I was disappointed when there was no sight of it on the menu. And then the baked fluffy skin pie with chicken and mango came. Having the same (or almost) crispy, buttery pastry skin, the interior of the usual char siew was replaced by chicken and mango instead. And the marriage of chicken and mango was a good one, those two totally complimented each other well.

Steamed prawn dumpling

How can one reinvent a dish already done to death and found everywhere? Well, they either provide premium stuffing or reinvent the skin used to wrap the stuffing. For the steamed pork dumpling, they did neither but it was still a cut above the rest. The prawn was sweet and there wasn’t an overly-porky after-taste.

My, my. It was interesting to note, a mini version of claypot rice appearing in a restaurant. Call it a classic, the Mini pot rice with chicken was nothing mini in taste; the tasty Chinese sausages, the succulent mushrooms, and the tender chicken chunks. I had it a taste without any sauce initially, then I added some of the superior sauce that came along with it, and it did wonders – it literally enhanced the taste of the whole mini pot.

Phoenix eye dumpling

There was three different types of steamed rice roll served, but I just showed one photo since all rice rolls looked the same less the fillings. It was the standard-trio, scallops, char siew and prawn. And needless to say, most Chinese restaurants definitely uses fresh ingredients, so it was really down to the rice roll to determine the winner.

And I must say, Man Fu Yuan had silky smooth rice roll, and most importantly, they were not overly-thick.

Vegetarian dumpling

Scallop dumpling with pea shoot

I never liked beef balls, or for that matter, any type of meat balls. Just the sight of it made me full, I took a bite of the beef balls with bamboo pith, and unexpectedly, it wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be. And there’s tripes at the bottom of the beef balls too.

It is a fine line between tradition and new, and I feel Man Fu Yuan balanced it very well. There are the traditional dim sum available for the purist who want their fix regularly, and not neglecting those who craved for innovation and excitement in their dining experience, the chefs played around with some other ingredients that are not commonly used in Chinese cuisine.

This marks the end of the dim sum marathon, and I must say I’ve enjoyed myself very much together with the rest; chatting and enjoying the good food.  My appreciation to Sharon, the PR manager for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Catherine @ Camemberu here
Leroy @ Hungrycow here

Man Fu Yuan
80 Middle road
2F Intercontinental Hotel
Tel: 6825 1062

St Regis hotel, the latest glamorous and prestigious hotel to open on our shore. Tout as a 6 star luxury hotel and with so much at stake, Yan Ting, a Cantonese restaurant offers to promise you a totally different dining experience.

Stepping into St Regis is quite an experience on its own, the grandeur of the hotel will simply blow you away. The splendid furnishings and the majesty furnitures are not all, even taking a lift in St Regis promises you a unforgettable reminiscence.

6 Star is not exaggerating, and from the moment you enter the hotel, it feels so good to be rich, even just for that afternoon.

Albeit being a Chinese Cantonese restaurant, the contemporary and classy feel of the restaurant’s interior certainly does not show any indication, with the exception of the 4 seasons painting, and the exquisite chopsticks and spoons plated in gold and inlaid with jade pieces.

An elegant chandelier is the highlight of the low ceiling in the restaurant. Stylish curtains and the comfy seats brings out a cozy and relaxed dining atmosphere.

The main emphasize which makes Yan Ting stands out from the other Chinese restaurant is in the pricing for its dim sum. While others usually charged dim sum by per basket or plate, Yan Ting attempts to break through the norm and bring the pricing of dim sum to another level by its per piece charging.

For Yan Ting’s A la carte menu, just like some of the more prominent Chinese restaurants, they are priced by per person, and the small servings of the food meant that there is no chance of sharing food.

Being in a 6 Star hotel, you definitely will not expect Yan Ting to be easy on the pocket, with most of the simpler dishes priced from $10 to $24 each. And with the small serving, expect to spend up to $100 for a decent meal, per person.

Appetizer

Unlike their western counteparts, most Chinese restaurants doesn’t actually serve out appetizer since the Chinese doesn’t have the emphasize on course eating. The small squid is actually quite good, simple enough to start our taste bud going in anticipation of the rest to come. And its free, so no complains there.

Cripsy radish pastry ($1.80 per piece)

This is the first time i had a radish pastry before, and i must say it is good, the crispy skin compliments well with the soft radish inside.

Oven-baked fluffy Char Siew Pastry ($1.60 per piece)

The Char Siew Pastry is indisputably the star of the show here. Take a bite into the crispy fluffy pastry, and you will discover the juicy and sweet char siew hidden within. Having one each is really not doing justice to the pastry. And i’ll rather pay $1.60 for one of these wonderful char siew sou, than to eat several cheaper ones. Excellent!

Stir-fried “cheong fan” rice roll with XO sauce ($4)

I never had stir-fried “cheong fan” rice roll with XO sauce before, and to be honest initially i mistook this dish for the fried carrot cake done with XO sauce which is commonly found in Chinese restaurants dim sum menu.

Although it tasted more like Char Kway Teow than “cheong fan”, but i find it to be quite all right, and at $4 even though the portion is quite small, its still cheaper and more worth well than the XO sauce fried carrot cake that i had at Peach Garden.

Steamed shrimp dumpling ($2 per piece)

The steamed crystal shrimp dumpling, or more affectionately known as “Har Kao” comes at a hefty price tag of $2 per piece. If you do your maths, this works out to be $6 for one basket of three Har Kao. There’s always a first time for everything, and this is really a first time where i had such expensive shrimp dumplings.

However, Yan Ting’s Har Kao is really one of the best that i had tried so far, the thin skin envelops the fresh and succulent prawns. But at $2 each, Yan Ting is really testing the limits for the first-rate dumplings.

Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumpling ($2 per piece)

“Siew Mai” or steamed pork and shrimp dumpling is always the dim sum i’ll base my judgment on how good the dim sum at the restaurant really is. The Siew Mai here passes the test, the combination of the crunchy prawn and the lean pork goes well together.

Xiaolongbao ($4 per piece)

To be frank, I never liked xiaolongbao, since i can’t really appreciate the beauty of it. Even though the xiaolongbao is a bigger rendition than your normal ones, to pay $4 for one xiao long bao, i’ll be crazy.

But, the Xiaolongbao at Yan Ting is really different from the usual ones, the pipping hot stock juice literally floods out upon a bite into the skin of the xiaolongbao. Although the xiaolongbao is quite good, but i’ll not order it again if i come back to Yan Ting. For a $4 xiaolongbao experience, once is enough.

Traditional Cantonese egg tart ($1.60 per piece)

The egg tart is done exactly the way i like it, cripsy skin with the smooth egg custard within. I lamented the fact that the egg tart is too small. And at $1.60 per piece, they are not really cheap.

Deep-fried Yam Croquette ($1.60 per piece)

The deep fried Yam croquette with diced chicken is excellent. Although the croquette is deep fried, but its not too oily, and the Yam taste is quite unique too.

Steamed Wild Mushroom Roll ($1.60 per piece)

We ordered the steamed wild mushroom roll out of curiosity from the name. There’s two to three different type of mushroom, well the mushroom roll is not really my call.

Hong Kong BBQ platter ($16 per serving)

BBQ pork, roasted duck, and crispy roasted pork makes up the Hong Kong BBQ platter. Note that its $16 for one portion, andthree of us ordered 3 portions, which adds up to $48. Ripped off is the only word to describe this.

The crispy roasted pork is not too bad, but it comes in only four small cubes. The roasted duck is really ordinary, and the BBQ pork or char siew, does not justify the exaggerated price tag of $16 for 4 cubes of roasted pork, two slices of roasted duck and three slices of char siew.

For $48, you can have a whole duck, with healthy servings of char siew & roasted pork. This is totally what you will not expect coming from Yan Ting, however the truth is there for all to see. This is somehow an anti-climax for the rather excellent dim sum that we had.

Total Bill was $150.20 for 3 person, which works out to about $50 per person. But if you work out the sums, excluding the BBQ platter which was $16 per portion, the amount for dim sum is actually about $34. Although we didn’t have that much dim sum, but i still find $34 to be acceptable given the high quality dim sum we had.

6 Star dim sum comes at a price, although some of the dim sum did not really justified the price, but overall the dim sum was nothing short of excellence. I’ll definitely try Yan Ting again, even though its a extravagant experience, but like they say, good things come with a price. Just that in this case, its a heavier price.

Do note that if you decided to give Yan Ting a try, you must be careful and not over ordered, that is unless you got a deep pocket. Service is good and professional, with the staff knowing when to approach us, and when not to disturb us. Yan Ting certainly test my limits for good dim sum, although i am still skeptical about their A la carte menu. Give that a miss and try their dim sum! And dim sum is only available during lunch, not dinner.

Yan Ting
29 Tanglin Road
The St Regis
Tel: 6506 6888

Yan Ting is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Peach Garden is one of the most well-known restaurants when it comes to Chinese fine dining in Singapore. It currently has five branches at Novena Gardens, Thomson Plaza, Hotel Miramar, Orchid Country Club, and OCBC Centre 33.

Reservations are highly recommended, especially if you would like to have a window seat. The dim sum menu has over 20 items to choose from. Otherwise, you can go for the set menu at $38++/pax.

Most of the dim sum items come in basket of 3, but as there were eight of us, they were flexible enough to allow us to order 8 pieces instead.

The baked BBQ pork pastry, or char-siew sou was good, but I’ve had better ones elsewhere before.

The Fried Carrot Cake with X.O Sauce – one of Peach Garden’s signature dishes – was slightly crispy on the outside, and very soft on the inside. But I couldn’t taste much of the X.O sauce, and to be completely honest, I am not sure if I’d pay $8 for it.

The baked mini egg tarts were decent with flaky crust and smooth egg custard.

Another highlight was the Siew Mai. I would say it was quite good, with predominantly lean meat, and crunchy shrimp.

The Har Gau, on the other hand, was okay but not fantastic. I didn’t find it very outstanding although it was definitely in the above average region.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun is one of my all time favourite dim sum items, and Peach Garden’s rendition was actually one of the better ones that I’ve had.

The signature dim sum of Peach Garden is without a doubt, the Steamed Custard Bun. The beautiful golden yellow custard filling oozed out when I poked a hole into the bun. I’d come back to Peach Garden just for this.

Initially, I thought that it was quite expensive to pay $7 for one spare ribs. I had to eat my words when the staff served it to our table. The BBQ sauce went very well with the Baked Spare Ribs, and we finished everything.

Overall, Peach Garden at OCBC Centre 33rd floor is a nice place to go for dim sum. It offers a bird’s eye view of the beautiful skyline, and most of the dim sums are reasonably priced.

Peach Garden
65 Chulia Street #33-01
OCBC Centre
Tel: +65 6535 7833