Man Fu Yuan at Intercontinental Hotel – one of Singapore’s top Cantonese restaurants – has undergone a refurbishment earlier this year and it has since returned with a stunning decor and a new emphasis on Chinese tea.

While I liked their dim sum, I didn’t frequent the old Man Fu Yuan because the decoration was kind of boring. Boy was I impressed when I went there for lunch recently. The restaurant now has a nice contemporary look with classy butterfly chandeliers, exquisite hand-painted wall coverings, and natural timber floors.

With new Chinese executive chef Chan Siu Kong helming the kitchen, Man Fu Yuan has a new focus on tea pairing. Some of the chef specialty dishes with premium Chinese tea include: Wok-fried Garoupa with White Peony Tea Leaf ($30 per portion), Stir-fried Scallops with Long Jin Tea Leaf ($38 per portion) and the beautiful Pork Ribs with Pu Erh Tea Leaf ($10 per piece) which you see in the photo above.

The dim sum at Man Fu Yuan is good, but the prices are slightly higher than most dim sum restaurants. Besides the typical offerings like Prawn Dumpling ($6.8), Pork Dumpling ($6.8) and Honey Glazed Pork Bun ($5.2), they also have some interesting items like the Baked Lobster with cheese ($6.8), Pan-fried Black Pepper Venison Dumping ($5.2) and Chilli Crabmeat Bun ($6.8). Most of the dim sum are priced between $5.2 to $6.8 per basket.

If you are at Man Fu Yuan for dim sum, remember to check out the custard buns ($12 for 6). They are one of the better custard buns that I’ve had. It is also one of the few Chinese restaurants in Singapore that serves the Deep-fried Glutinous Rice Dumpling traditional style, also known as Ham Sui Kok.

Among the dishes that we tried, I liked the Wok-fried Pork Ribs ($10 per piece) infused with Pu-erh tea leaf in lemon sauce. While it was a shame that the overwhelming lemon sauce completely covered the Pu-erh flavour, the fork-tender pork ribs were heavenly.

By the time we had the Stewed Noodles with Lobster ($12 per 100g lobster), our stomachs were already almost filled to the brim. Nonetheless, we slurped down the lobster noodles and ended the meal with two desserts – Cream of Pumpkin with ice cream ($8) and Chilled Mango Pudding with Pomelo Sago ($8).

Man Fu Yuan at Intercontinental Hotel is a nice place to have a quiet lunch near the town area. Prices are what you’d expect for a fine dining Cantonese restaurant. I like the new interior, so I can see myself going back for dim sum.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Man Fu Yuan
80 Middle Road
2F Intercontinental Hotel
Tel: +65 6825 1062
Daily: 11am – 2.15pm, 6pm – 10.30pm

Note: This was an invited media tasting.

For more recommendations, please read my list of best dim sum restaurants in Singapore

It’s no secret that I love dim sum. I’ve been on a quest to find the best dim sum in Singapore and I’m happy to introduce you to my new favourite dim sum restaurant – Paradise Pavilion at Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC).

If Taste Paradise is a gorgeous fine dining Chinese restaurant with oriental decorations, Paradise Pavilion would be its westernised sibling, with a stunning French-inspired neoclassical ambience.

The restaurant on level 2 of the Marina Bay Link Mall also has an excellent view of the Marina Bay area, making it a great place to watch fireworks.

When you ask around which restaurants serve the best Beijing Roast Duck in Singapore, chances are, people will reply either Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck or Paradise Pavilion. It comes as no surprise as the latter actually constructed the wood fired ovens using apple wood from China. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try the famous Peking duck as there was only two of us during both visits, so I can’t tell you whether Paradise Pavilion indeed has the best Peking duck in Singapore.

What I can tell you is that they have good dim sum, and the lovely interior makes the food even better. You’d think that I’m an expert judging from all the dim sum places that I’ve been to, but no, I’m actually quite ‘safe’ when it comes to dim sum. When I like something, I’ll keep eating it. It’s quite clear by now that there are certain items that I’d always order when I eat dim sum – custard bun, char siew sou, egg tart, custard bun, char siew sou, egg tart…

But I am getting better at trying new things. I figured that it’s probably quite weird if I go into a restaurant and just order baskets of char siew sou, egg tart, custard bun and nothing else.

Under the dim sum menu, there are eight items under “recommended dishes” section, which I believe is a list of dim sum items that are exclusive to Paradise Pavilion. Unless I am mistaken, most of the other dim sum dishes are also available at Taste Paradise.

Among them, I’ve tried the Pan-Fried Bun with Sliced Peking Duck, Bacon & Pineapple ($5.6), Siew Mai Skewers ($5.8), Black Truffle Chicken Pie ($6), Sesame Pastry with Sauteed Peking Duck ($6) and Crystal Dumpling with Peking Duck ($4.8). I’d highly recommend the Pan-Fried Bun with Sliced Peking Duck and Siew Mai Skewers.

There was silence when the Siew Mai Skewers arrived at the table. Siew Mai on a stick looked mightily impressive. Wow. It tasted even better. The Pan-Fried Bun with Sliced Peking Duck, Pineapple and Bacon was also very good! It was simple, yet very satisfying.

My dining companion was quite taken with the Crystal Dumping with Peking Duck ($4.8), but I thought it was a tad too salty. In any case, it is one of the three dim sum dishes that has Peking Duck.

From the recommended dishes, the Dragon Beard Flaky Roll with Eggplant ($5.6) sounds really interesting, but we had too much food on both visits, so we skipped that.

I like Cheong Fun. Really, I do. But I find it a little disturbing to stuff Cheong Fun with deep-fried veg spring roll ($5.8), so we skipped that and went for the normal Steamed Cheong Fun with scallop filling ($6.3).

I know I shouldn’t judge a dim sum by its name, but I thought it was puzzling to list the Original Steamed Carrot Cake ($4.8) as one of the recommended dishes. Maybe the chefs at Paradise Pavilion have found a way to master steamed carrot cake. In that case, shouldn’t they name it as the ‘Best‘ Steamed Carrot Cake instead of ‘Original‘ Steamed Carrot Cake?

Another dim sum that came with Peking Duck was the Sesame Pastry with Sauteed Peking Duck ($6). Even though I love duck meat, we couldn’t finish the dish.

We were intrigued by the name of the Black Truffle Chicken Pie ($6). I know, we are such superficial creatures. Put anything-black-truffle on the menu and you can get our attention. Sadly, the chicken pie filling wasn’t exactly out-of-this-world good. The puff pastry, on the other hand, was amazing – it felt as though we were in pastry heaven.

The Baked BBQ Pork Pastry was good, as expected. I’ve said it before, and I shall say it again – Paradise restaurant has the best char siew sou in Singapore.

Only the Steamed Custard Bun ($5.5) from Taste Paradise can make my heart go pitter-patter, so boy am I glad that I can now get it at Paradise Pavilion MBFC too. Best Custard Bun in Singapore? Definitely!

It seems somewhat ironical that Paradise Pavilion at Marina Bay Financial Centre has replaced Taste Paradise as one of my top three dim sum restaurants in Singapore. But at the same time, I’m glad that Paradise Pavilion is the one as I’m a fan of the Paradise group of restaurants. It will be interesting to see how much further they can push the culinary boundaries of Chinese cuisine.

For more recommendations, please read my list of best dim sum in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
Paradise Pavilion
8A Marina Boulevard
#02-01 Marina Bay Link Mall
Tel: +65 6509 9308

Within the edgy New Majestic Hotel is The Majestic, a modern restaurant with a causal yet classy vibe. The boutique hotel is located in Singapore’s historic Chinatown, a 5-minute walk from Outram Park MRT Station.

Majestic Restaurant is known for their Cantonese cuisine and it has been around since 2006. Chef Yong Bing Ngen (who also runs Jing Restaurant at One Fullerton) is no stranger in the Singapore Food scene. Previously from Doc Cheng’s and Hai Tien Lo, he led Majestic Restaurant to clinch the Asian Restaurant of the Year title during the WGS 2010.

I was at Majestic Restaurant on a Sunday for dim sum brunch. With only 13 items on the Weekend ala carte dim sum menu, there is not much choice. Most of the dim sum are priced at $4.50 for a basket of 3 pieces.

Even though I’ve eaten at many dim sum restaurants in Singapore, I have yet to taste a 10/10 Siew Mai. Nonetheless, I am happy to say that Majestic Restaurant’s Steamed Pork Dumpling is better than the average ones that I’ve had.

The Custard Bun ($6 for 3) at Majestic Restaurant comes in two options: steamed or deep-fried. Evidently, we had the steamed ones, and it was quite a moment as the molten custard flowed out. Majestic Restaurant’s Custard buns were good, but not great.

Next up, we had the fluffy and soft Steamed Barbecue Pork Buns ($3 for 2).

We also had the ubiquitous Steamed Prawn Dumpling ($4.50 for 3 pcs). As much as I think that Har Gow is boring, there’s something profoundly reassuring to see a basket on the table. The mere presence of it makes you feel that you are really having dim sum.

I had just one Char Siew Sou with buttery flaky crust and savoury Char Siew fillings. They were so good! Maybe I should have gone for a basket of four Baked Honey Pork Puff ($4.50 for 3) instead. Hmm…

I have a soft spot for Roast Duck ($20), and the one I had at Majestic was good. I think the picture of the Roast Duck tells you everything.

It was impossible to stop at one cube of Roast Pork ($12), but thank God the portion was tiny so it made us less guilty of having more.

The Deep-fried Baby Squid ($12) was a great appetiser. It was strangely addictive and we couldn’t stop eating it.

All in all, Majestic Restaurant is a stylish Chinese Restaurant and it is an ideal place for a quiet business lunch. Most of the dim sum items that we had were decent, nothing particularly outstanding. If you are thinking of visiting Majestic Restaurant for dim sum, do note that they only have 5-6 selections on the weekday menu. I’d probably come back again and order their signature dishes from the Majestic Restaurant’s main menu.

Read my list of Dim sum Restaurants | Brunch Places in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
Majestic Restaurant
31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road
New Majestic Hotel Singapore
Tel: +65 6511 4718

A couple of weeks ago, the kind folks at Hungrygowhere invited me to join them for a food tasting session, and when I heard that they were going to Summer Palace at The Regent Singapore — I agreed immediately.

Among The Regent Hotel Restaurants, I have always wanted to try the Afternoon high tea at the Tea lounge, Basilico Italian Restaurant, and of course the Cantonese food at Summer Palace Chinese restaurant.

After a quick glance at the menu, we were very excited as there’s a long list of food waiting for us. The Media Degustation menu started us with the Dim Sum platter which included a Baked Chicken Tart with Baby Abalone ($9 per piece), Shrimp dumpling with Bird’s Nest ($8 for 3 pieces), Deep-Fried Yam with Garoupa ($5 for 3 pieces).

Baby abalone and bird’s nest with dim sum? Oh boy, it’s so extravagant!

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I felt that the baby abalone was rather out of place alongside the baked chicken tart. The savory-savory combination didn’t really work for me, but I like the shrimp dumpling with Bird’s nest. A morsel of the delicate bird’s nest was placed nicely on top the open-shrimp-dumpling, while I couldn’t really taste the fineness of the Chinese delicacy – it’s kind of nice to know that we just had something supposedly good. On the other hand, the Deep-fried yam with garoupa really opened up my mind. While I had Steamed grouper dumpling before, it was my first time having deep-fried yam with garoupa, and to be honest, I’ve never imagined that garoupa could actually be used as the ingredient for deep-fried yam balls.

The Braised Superior Bird’s Nest with Lobster and Gold Leaf at $88 per serving was expensive, but it was really worth every cent. I don’t know about you, but gold foil never fails to portray the luxurious feel to me. We could taste every strand of the bird’s nest with the chunky lobster meat, and together with the (literally) superior stock – this was the highlight of our dinner.

It was a shame that the Wok-fried Wagyu Beef ($68) was prepared in huge blocks. It’d definitely be a lot better if the premium beef was sliced thinner to showcase the marbling of the meat.

I was confused when the waitress read out the name of the dishes at machine-gun-like speed. Hold on a second, which is the scallop and spare ribs? Both of them looked rather similar to me! You know, deep fried food always appear to be the same.

Okay, so there’s the Crispy Scallop with fresh pear ($36 for the normal portion), and the Deep-Fried Spare Ribs with Shrimp Paste ($22 for normal portion). In case you are wondering, we only had a tasting portion of both dishes. By then, we realized that the Chef likes to play with many different contrasting flavor combined into one dish, and the Crispy scallop with fresh pear was the prime example of that. Broken down into three different components, there was ham on top of the meaty scallop with the pear and there was a surprise layer of powdered dried shrimp enveloped between the two.

On paper, the Deep fried spare ribs was like what the name suggested – something shrimp paste. But it was slightly more than that. The Deep fried spare ribs were coated with a layer of shrimp paste, giving it the luscious and fragrance texture. Inside, it was rewarding with the meat being juicy and so succulent.

I used to have crocodile meat when I was a kid, as it can cure asthma. Even thought Summer Palace’s rendition was wok-fried, the finely sliced crocodile meat tasted somewhat more like shabu-shabu. Have you tried crocodile meat before? Go to Summer Palace restaurant for their Wok-fried crocodile meat with spicy sauce ($40).

All of us thoroughly enjoyed the Eight Treasures Fried Rice ($26) that had ingredients like scallop, roasted duck, char siew, olives, brown rice, and dried shrimp.

I know It’s kind of early to have moon-cakes in July when the actual Mid Autumn festival is in September, but the folks at The Regent Hotel gave us a sneak preview of their new moon-cakes for this year. If you are keen to sample some of the mooncakes, they will be available at The Regent Singapore from the 25th August to 22th September.

It was quite hilarious that a few of us actually arranged a date during the dinner, to come back and try their dim sum offerings. We went back for the dim sum last week, most of them was pretty good, but unfortunately my camera was sent for repair and I didn’t manage to get any photos. If you had tried their dim sum before, check out my list of Dim Sum Restaurants in Singapore for other options.

Restaurant Review
Summer Palace Chinese Restaurant
1 Cuscaden Road 3F
The Regent Singapore
Tel: +65 6725 3288

I’m eating at a much faster rate than I blog, and this is a problem when there are so many food places in Singapore that I want to blog about.

In the Singapore food scene, Lei Gardens Restaurant is known to be one of the best Cantonese restaurants, and it has been on my list of must try restaurants in Singapore.

They have recently undergo a makeover to freshen up the image of the restaurant. Having never visited Lei Gardens at Chijmes previously, I cannot comment on the changes, but the new interior is classy and contemporary, while retaining the touch of a Chinese restaurant. On my two visits, services were flawless, the staff members were polite and friendly, conscious of diners need yet not overly intruding.

Best Roast pork in Singapore

Friends who have been to Lei Garden always raved about their to-die-for roast pork, and now I finally understand why. Especially if the Roast Pork in question happens to be this one in the picture; succulent and tender pork with a crispy top that’s roasted to a perfect shade of golden-brown. Every bite was so good that I hated the fact that there’s only nine tiny cubes. Oh no, there’s only eight pieces left.. five.. three.. last cube! Seriously, this is the best roast pork ever!

I’m a big fan of dim sum and having been to many Dim Sum restaurants in Singapore, I was keen to try out Lei Garden to see how their dim sum would fare against the best dim sum that I’ve before.

Lei Garden’s menu has the standard dim sum items like Har Gau, Siew Mai, Cheong Fun, but unfortunately they do not have  my favorite Custard buns and Char Siew Sou.

Anyway, we ordered Steamed Pork Dumpling ($5.80), Steamed Shrimp Dumpling ($5.80), Panfried Carrot Cake ($4.80), Steamed BBQ Honey Pork Bun ($4.30), Baked Mini Egg Tarts ($4,30), Steamed Cheong Fun ($5.80) and Steamed Shanghai xiaolongbao ($5.80).

* * *

Most of the dim sums were fairly competent, but there wasn’t any particular one that stood out. In my opinion, Lei Garden’s dim sum are well-executed, they are definitely above average but personally, they probably are not among my top 5 dim sum restaurants in Singapore.

Tell me, which is your favorite Cantonese restaurant?

Restaurant Review
Lei Garden Restaurant
30 Victoria Street
#01-24 Chijmes
Tel: +65 6339 3822

Oh Yanting, how I hate you!

I first know of Yanting one and a half years back, and I never looked back. ‘Where is the best dim sum in Singapore?’ this has to be one of the most-asked question for all the dim sum lovers out there, and whenever someone ask me this, I will replied without any doubt, Yanting. The best dim sum ever.

Being label as the best dim sum in Singapore by me, it has a huge billing to live up to, but be it quality of the dim sum, ambiance of the restaurant, service of the staff, or (to a slightly lesser extent) affordability of dim sum; Yanting is almost impossible to beat.

Prices have gone up for the Stir-fried rice roll ($6) with XO sauce, it used to be four dollars, but still, I like how it went with lots of eggs and beansprouts. You don’t like the usual steamed cheong fan? Trust me, you will like this stir-fried version.

Rather than skipping the Steamed prawn dumpling ($5 for 3) and make my friend regret not having it, I decided to be nice and it was a good decision. Define a good har gau: it should have fresh and crunchy shrimp that is enveloped by a layer of skin that has the just-right thickness.

If you’ve been hanging around here for a while now, you should know well how I feel about char siew sou, egg tarts, and custard buns – I’m absolutely in love with them. People always think of har gau and siew mai when it comes to dim sum, but for me, it will always be custard buns and Char siew sou ($3.6 for 2).

Sweet and savoury bits of char siew within the golden coat of buttery flaky pastry. Perfect. The best char siew sou ever. This humble-looking pastry is what every char siew sou should strive to become.

The Steamed pork dumpling ($5 for 3) comes with predominantly lean meat topped with a mushroom and fish roe, I enjoyed every bite of it. Come to think of it, even though I always complain that siew mai is boring, but I still order it every single time. Siew mai is still siew mai after all – it’s irreplaceable.

It was a toast between the Stir-fried rice roll and the Pan-seared Radish Cake ($3.20), but since we were in a good mood, we decided to order both. Okay, here’s the deal, put incredibility a lot of radish to make the cake, and pan-seared it until golden brown, there – a simple and good radish cake.

Fluffy, soft buns, with the sweetest and juiciest char siew you can ever find. Needless to say the Char siew buns ($3.20 for 2) – one of my favorite dim sum – disappeared the moment I finished taking a photograph of it.

Happiness comes in the form of a mini egg tart.

Don’t be fool by the dainty, cute appearance, this Egg tart ($3 for 2) is not just a pretty face; it has everything more than that. My hands trembled when I picked up the petite pastry, it was warm, baked straight out of the oven. I took a sniff, trying very hard not to finish it in a bite, and then came the magical moment. The wonderfully light and buttery pastry, a smooth and not too sweet egg custard filling which was good in its own right.

* * *

Yanting has the best dim sum in Singapore.

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

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

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

Looking back my archives, I realized it’s been a while since I last blog about dim sum. Actually, I have been putting off this post for very long, I wasn’t sure if I want to blog about it. Their famous baked BBQ pork buns and char siew sou were sold out, but I reckon you can do with some dim sum.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I find it almost impossible to resist Egg tarts ($4), not when they are baked straight from the oven. How can one ever be enough? I can easily have a dozen on my own!

I wanted custard buns, but they did not have that, instead we got Baked custard pastry ($4). Surprisingly it was quite good, the custard wasn’t the flowy lava type, but who cares? Sprinkled with icing sugar, the thin and moderately crispy pastry was a perfect re-enact when custard bun meets char siew sou.

For the life of me, I couldn’t remember when I started to like dim sum. Red Star introduced me to dim sum when I was young, but it’s Yan Ting that made me fall in love over again. Coming back, it’s hard to know what to say about Steamed pork dumpling ($5.60), I mean it’s siew mai, and how bad can it get? It’s pork and prawn, and they always taste good together.

It’s a different story for Steamed prawn dumpling ($6.80 for 4) all together. For har gau, it’s either very good, or very bad. I’m very particular with the thickness of the skin, it cannot be too thin, otherwise it’d cracked easily. But if the skin is too thick, it doesn’t taste good and get stuck the teeth easily. The har gau was fairly competent, but I cringed at the price tag.

Before I say anything else, I thought that it’s fair to tell you that I normally do not like yam, with the exception to yam cake and Deep-fried yam roll ($5.70). There’s just something which makes deep-fried yam so irresistible.

If you ask me to pick between steamed or fried carrot cake, the answer is obvious, I will definitely go for the latter. Why will anyone in their right mind choose the healthy steamed way over the sinful-but-delicious fried ones? Unless, there’s the steamed rendition taste really good, or there’s no fried ones available. In this case, it was a combination of both, Wah Lok’s Steamed carrot cake ($4.50) was pretty decent.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I’ll never order Steamed pork ribs ($5.60) on my own accord. Perhaps it’s just me, but I’ll never come to appreciate chewing on tiny ribs with no meat, not unless you are talking about huge baby ribs. Now that’s another story all together.

* * *

Answering my own question, I will probably not come back to Wah Lok for dim sum again. Even though all the dim sum were pretty competent, but it lacked the draw without their char siew sou and baked char siew bao. And not to mention that their prices are much higher than what it used to be before. You know the good thing about being in town? There are plenty of better options in the same area.

How about you? What’s your favourite dim sum place?

Wah Lok Cantonese restaurant
76 Bras Basah road
2F Carlton Hotel
Tel: 6311 8188

It has been a long time since I last step foot here, my family used to refer Holiday Inn Atrium as “the black glass hotel”.

The air was sucked out of the room when the salad lobster ($9 per 100g) appeared; her sheer beauty took our breathe away, and for the next few second, we were wondering what to do, then one of us took a pair of chopstick and took a bite. And then the whole lobster was gone in a flash.

When in a Chinese restaurant, roasted pork is always a good indicator of the standard of the food. Unfortunately it was sold out when we went for dinner that night, but luckily we still had the suckling pig ($80 for half). Beneath the crispy skin, was the most delicious roasted pig ever, but it was the layer of fats in between that’s so sinful, but good!

I finally found a sweet & sour pork ($16) that’s good enough. I’ve been looking for one to satisfy the sweet-sour-pork-fan-in-me, and I must say Xin Cuisine’s rendition was done nicely; the crunchy pork was coated in the glossy sweet & sour sauce. The sweetness was further enhanced with the addition of lychee and apple instead of just the typical pineapple and cucumber.

And when we thought the salad lobster was good, the baked lobster with foie gras was even better. Thick, creamy mayonnaise sauce with generous chunks of foie gras, baked with the fresh, juicy crustacean. Just the thought of foie gras, and lobster, swoon! You get the idea.

Using the same sauce as the baked lobster with foie gras; the cod fish (not on the usual menu) was nicely seared on the outside and you could taste the freshness inside. We eyed it for a while and then we dug in. Removing the ginger garnish, I shoveled a corner of the fish into my mouth in one bite. The cod was perfect; it tasted good on its own, but it’s even better when we had it together with the sauce.

The Salted crusted baked Kampung chicken ($48 for whole chicken) was specially prepared in advance, and from what I understand, the difference between the normal bred chicken and kampung chicken was that while the former was caged up feeding on grains everyday, the latter gets to “run about” and exercise, which made the meat more tender and tasty.

And the main draw of the kampung chicken here was the infusion of the salted crusted into the chicken, and although it’s meant to be done this way, but we felt that it was slightly too salty for our liking.

First thoughts, the Braised 5-head abalone ($36) looks amazing. Drizzled with superior oyster sauce, there’s a reason why abalone is one of the top delicacy in Chinese cuisine. The abalone was braised until it was so soft, yet retaining a chewiness texture. It was good!

Since I had deep-fried ice cream before, I wasn’t so fascinated this time round. But still we couldn’t help not ordering it as it’s on the menu anyway. A split second into the pot of oil, was all it need for this beauty. Any longer and it would be ruin.

There was the chilled mango coulis pomelo sago ice cream ($10), and the chilled mango pudding ($6).

And since it’s the Mid-Autumn festival, we had some mooncakes too!

You like chocolate? You like mooncakes too? So how about some Mini snowskin mooncake with Champagne chocolate and pandan ($40 for 6 mini pcs)? Champagne chocolate centre with a pandan flavoured lotus paste – it’s one of those things that you either love it, or hate it.

On first look, I thought that this was the traditional mooncake with lotus paste, but it was not. Creamy moist custard filling is wrapped around a salted egg yolk and yum – I like custard! A sprinkle of edible gold flakes makes it irresistible, it’s a sin to eat something so pretty. Xin’s Mini special egg custard mooncake with egg yolk ($42 for 6 mini pcs)

The vibrant purplish blue snowskin made it very outstanding, and no, it’s not coloured flavourings. The blue pea flower was used to naturally infused and produce the beautiful colour. My family absolutely adored the Mini snowskin Peranakan mooncake with durian ($42 for 6 mini pcs); two mini mooncakes are definitely not enough for durian lovers.

My folks enjoyed the dinner of course; lobster with foie gras, suckling pig, abalone, I’m hungry now just by looking at the photos. I will probably go back to Xin Cuisine again, to try out their dim sum (it wasn’t available during dinner time).

My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the Ivy & her staff from Xin Cuisine for the wonderful dinner. This is the third and final restaurant with DBS Foodster, my previous two dinner was at the Queen & Mangosteen, and Umami Japanese restaurant. You can find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here.

Xin Cuisine
317 Outram road
4F Holiday Inn Atrium
Tel: 6731 7173

Weekends are the best time for dim sum, it is when everybody is free to have a long lunch, and what can be better than to yum cha?

My friend wanted to try the Beancurd prawn roll ($4.50), and I have never been a big fan of beancurd skin. Since a lot dim sum has prawns, we decided to go for the Char siew cheong fun ($4.50). The savoury light sauce always enhance the flavour of the cheong fun.

After trying so many different har gau ($4.50), it has somewhat become rather ordinary to me. I know it’s the dim sum queen; all right if you must, fresh crunchy prawns held firmly within translucent skins. But I’m indifference to it, at least for now.

I was craving for custard buns badly, and to my delight it’s listed on the menu; but the initial euphoria half evaporated when the captain said that it’s been replaced by the Baked custard buns ($3.50 for 3). So feeling half skeptical and half excited, we approached it. Judging from appearances, the baked buns look like those hard, baked pastry kind. We took a bite, and it was astonishing so soft! I would prefer those molten custard on any other day, but this was just as good!

Siew mai and har gau always come together in pairs, there isn’t one without the other. But unlike the har gau, I’m not so sick of Siew Mai ($4.50 for 4) since it has a combination of porky and prawny bite.

I’m insanely in love with Char siew sou ($4 for 3). The ones here reminded me of my old flame; the buttery crispy flakes, the oozing oh-so-sweet juice from the char siew. Delish! You know like they say, your first love is always the most memorable, if I’ve not had better before, I’ll say this is quite good. But then again, I’m biased against char siew sou.

The fragrant glutinous rice ($4.50) enveloped within the leaf; the salted egg yoke bursting through your tastebud with it’s strong and distinct taste, the little bites of chicken shreds, a pity the Chinese sausages were missing here. Almost perfect.

Pan-fried carrot cake ($3.50) used to be a favourite of mine, but after trying several half-hearted versions, I’m leaning towards some of the better steamed ones that I had. Packed the carrot cake full with relish, lots of them. Then lightly-seared it until golden brown, leaving a crispy surface with soft relish beneath it. Sounds easy? Do one for me.

Actually I’m undecided if I will come back to Asia Grand for dim sum again. And it’s not because they are not good, the variety of dim sum available was very comprehensive. But the main reason was the existence of a better option just directly opposite them. I’ll probably drop by again for their Peking duck, which is definitely much cheaper than the one I had at Peach Garden.

Asia Grand
331 North Bridge road
#01-02 Odeon towers
Tel: 6887 0010

I’m pregnant. Or at least I think I should be. Otherwise how else do you explain the fact that I’m constantly craving for food? Of course guys don’t get pregnant, so there must be worms inside my stomach. Okay I shall stop here before the whole controversial topic gets out of hand.

Anyway, I’ve been craving for dim for some time now. Fine, I lie. I’m always craving for dim sum. For those of you who have read my blog long enough, you’ll know that char siew sou and egg tarts are among my favourite. But this time, I was actually pining for custard bun.

And that’s the only reason I come to Peach Garden!

I swear that they’ve the best Custard buns ($3.60 for 3) among the ones that I’ve tried so far. The molten lava custard flowed out when I poked a hole in the bun, with a hint of salted egg yoke, the yellow custards within the tiny, soft, pillowy buns were SO GOOD! We ordered two each, and still it wasn’t enough. I will come back to Peach Garden just to takeaway their custard buns.

We couldn’t resist not ordering the Peking duck, and the slight promotion at $48 instead of the usual $60 helped too. The crispy skin was thinly sliced and placed within the pancake; every piece was drenched with some sweet sauce, and served with spring onion. One piece each, definitely wasn’t enough.The second dish was done with the ee-fu noodle ($10), shreds of duck meat fried to greatly enhance the flavour of noodle, with the remaining of the duck in the form of two delicious drumsticks. Crisping on the surface with the legs and everything intact, coated golden reddish-brown. They look good. They smell good. I love duck drumsticks, they are so sinful, and good. I’ll take up the whole thing, gnaw it right to the bones and not waste every bit. Delicious.

The branch at Novena does not have their full dim sum menu during weekdays, so in the end we only manage to try about 5 dim sum. It was maddening that’s all we got when I’m craving for the whole array of dim sum. The beancurd roll ($3.60 for 3) was like the typical ones, prawn fillings wrapped within beancurd skin and seaweed.

In dim sum context, I crown Siew Mai as the king, and Har Gau ($3.90 for 3) as the queen. But somehow I do not enjoy eating Har Gau anymore, well it’s just prawn wrapped inside skin isn’t it? I know how much effort the chefs put in to make each and every piece of har gau, but still, I couldn’t help feeling that way. Give me my char siew sou, give me my egg tarts.

Honey, they shrink the phoenix prawns!

I remember the prawns on top of the Siew Mai ($3.90 for 3) here used to be much bigger. Well even though the prawns were downsized, but the siew mai was still prawny with a crunchy bite.

A messy affair. Always the case when we have the deep-fried prawns wrapped in vermicelli ($2.40 for 3).

* * *

It has been a while since my last visit to Peach Garden, and honestly I only remember them for the XO carrot cake ($10), and their wonderful custard buns. We didn’t have the carrot cake this time round since I felt that while it’s good, but it definitely didn’t justify the hefty price tag. I will come here, just for their custard buns (Nai wang bao).

Peach Garden
273 Thomson road
#01-06 Novena Gardens
Tel: 6254 3383

I’m craving for dim sum, and what better way to get everybody hungry with me, by blogging about dim sum! Char siew sou, custard bun, egg tarts, siew mai, give them all to me!

Crispy prawn dumpling, spring roll, pastry filled with smoked duck, beancurd sheet filled with shrimp, Sweet & sour wanton

Meet my love, char siew sou. We re-re-order this, and I ate the most of it since everybody was full from the other dim sum. But me? I couldn’t never say no to you.

Jellyfish with cucumber

Vietnamese vermicelli

Century egg porridge & Fish with conpoy porridge

Even though we had a lot of dim sum which came with prawns, but I enjoyed the Crispy prawn thoroughly; dipped inside the mayo sauce, it was good stuff!

Pan fried cheong fun with dried shrimp

The Spare ribs with spicy pepper and salt were excellent for the folks with heavy taste-buds. Almost of us found it to be too salty, but another friend was totally immune and it even tasted bland to her!

I had only high praises for the Har Gau during the last time I had it, however on this occasion, the har gau skin already cracked before we ate, it wasn’t good, and we’d made it known to the restaurant.

Among all the different baos available, I only had eyes for custard bun and Char siew bao. I was sorely tempted to get second helpings, if not for the other dim sum that we’ve not tried.

Meet the king of dim sum, Siew mai.

Carrot cake

If there’s another item which I always looked out for, it would be the Glutinous rice. The fragrant of the glutinous rice floated in the air when we opened the leaf; the saltiness of the salted egg yolk, the flavourful Chinese sausage, the tender chicken bits, everything added up for a very delicious glutinous rice.

The Crystal dumpling was similar to the soon kueh, but a pity there wasn’t any sweet sauce available that day!

Chicken cheong fun

If you are a regular reader of my dim sum posts, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of the Spare ribs on dim sum menu. And surprisingly the spare ribs here were quite unlike the norm – it was meaty!

Chicken claw

Spinach dumpling

Spicy wanton

Beancurd sheet with black bean sauce

Shrimp coated with mashed taro

Mushroom coated with shrimp paste

* * *

Wan Hao’s new weekday dim sum buffet is available during Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only, reservations are a must. Prices are $36++ and they are having one-for-one promotion, which means that this unlimited dim sum buffet with 32 items to choose from, is available at a very reasonable price of $21 after taxes.

Even though there wasn’t any particular outstanding dim sum, but everything was pretty decent. And I believe if you are looking for a dim sum buffet, it will be difficult, if not impossible to find another place which can beat Wan Hao at such prices. And we are talking about a 5 star Chinese restaurant here, forget your Zhou’s kitchen, Dragon Gate; those places that offered dim sum buffet under $20. This is the cheapest deal you can get if you want to gorge yourself silly with decent dim sum, maybe other than Pine Court at Meritus Mandarin.

Read my previous visit to Wan Hao here, and the other dim sum posts here. And Catherine’s post on Camemberu, Maureen’s post here.

Wan Hao Chinese restaurant
320 Orchard road
3F Marriott hotel
Tel: 6831 4615

We searched for the button with the 37th label on it, and pressed. Zoom, the elevator, or I preferred to call it the express lift-off, shot up into the sky. Looking downwards as everything became miniature – we were so insignificant. I was actually quite scared when I took a peep. It shouldn’t be, since I’ve been to higher ground before, but still. It always happened. Ding, we reached 37th level, welcome to Hai Tien Lo.

The Steamed shrimp dumpling ($4.80 for 3 pieces) was pretty with the chopped celery giving it a tinge of green.

It must be short-sightedness, but it often occurred with carrot cake. Somehow I always missed out the word steamed, when I ordered carrot cake. So instead of my favourite fried carrot cake, we were surprised when they served a steamed rendition; but it was good! I like how the sauce brings out the flavour of the soft and nice carrot cake. Okay, the full name, steamed carrot cake with preserved meats ($3.90 per portion).

The Steamed pork dumpling with fish roe ($4.80 for 3 pieces) was a piece of art. The curvy lines, with her yellow outfit, topped with the pretty bright orange fish roe.

This was a special, they called it the dim-sum-of-the-week. Sophisticated yeah? It was essentially a shrimp with fish roe on top of a mushroom. An innovative way to do the overdone-to-death prawn in dim sum.

Surprise number two came in the form of pan-fried rice flour roll with crispy conpoy ($3.90 per portion). Well actually it’s not much of a revelation since I asked about the fillings beforehand. Or rather, the lack of fillings. I like the slightly char pan-fried surface of the rice roll with all the crispy toppings. The rice roll on itself was rather bland, but drizzled with the gorgeous sauce; it was good, no, it was tasty!

Since my favourite char siew sou wasn’t available, I just had to make do with the Steamed barbecued pork buns ($2.80 for 2 pieces). White fluffy buns, with sweet char siew fillings, what’s there not to like? I like it sweet, extra sweet please!

Instead of the usual prawn filling, Hai Tien Lo’s rendition came across as the Deep-fried sea perch wrapped in vermicelli ($5.40 for 3 pieces).

* * *

With the to-die-for magnificent view of the marina area, dining at Hai Tien Lo was definitely something that evoked the visual senses together with the taste buds. We chatted, appreciated the skyline, nibbled at the dim sum, drank more tea, and I’m so in love with dim sum! xoxo

Hai Tien Lo
7 Raffles Boulevard
37F Pan Pacific hotel
Tel: 6826 8338

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

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

The first of the many to come, Wan Hao Chinese restaurant at Marriott hotel.

Now what can I say? I totally love roast pork belly! The dish is often an indicator of the standard of a Chinese restaurant; Wan Hao’s rendition was nicely done – crispy top with a thin-and-nice layer of fats. “One cube definitely wasn’t enough”, I protested! But hey, there’s still thirty more dish to go!

Although I couldn’t exactly tasted which seven spices were use, but the combination was seductive to the palate, the Seven spices sea perch fillet.

And just before you are thinking Chinese restaurants are boring and served the usual-you-know-what food, the Hokkigai and salmon sashimi would certainly prove you wrong! Just look at the thickly-and-generous slices of the fresh sashimi. It-is-to-die-for.

For the tasting at Wan Hao, only Catherine of Camemberu fame and myself was present among the five of us. And she absolutely loved the Jelly fish with cucumber. Tangy and Q, it was a refreshing appetiser.

Like the no-smoking campaign slogon which asked you to say ‘No‘ to cigarettes, I could never say no to roast duck. My interpretation of a good roast duck: crispy skin with a layer of fats and tasty duck meat. This one had it all, and say it with me, Oomph-la-la!

Vermicelli with pork fillet. There wasn’t anything spectacular but this is just one, good, comfort food, which stood out among the delicacies we tried.

Beef tendon with white radish

In my humble opinion, Wan Hao has the best Ha Gau among the four places that we tried. All of them used top-quality fresh prawns, but what made the one here stood out was the the skin; some places would do it too thick, and some too thin – it was done perfectly here. Bravo!

I actually preferred the spring roll filled with smoked duck meat to the roasted duck. The smoked duck meat lived up to its name – the very smoky taste within the crispy spring roll.

While some people found that the addition of fish roe to the top only served as an adornment; I thought that it’s fine so long the tiny orange eggs wasn’t in excessive to overwhelm the taste of the siew mai.

I ain’t a big fan of asparagus – the word alone put me off; but I had to try this translucent pretty-looking asparagus dumpling, which tasted decent.

The sea perch fillet with garlic appeared squeaky-fresh; it seemed to be flipping on my plate! The golden mushrooms and tofu were integrated with the sea perch, and I love it!

I knew it was close. I could smell it. The strong alcohol scent. You can smell it from far away. The drunken prawns were as suspected, very strong in liqueur taste; the prawns were big and fresh. I must emphasized, the quality and freshness of the ingredients at Wan Hao was really what set them aside.

Bean curd sheet filled with shrimps

The presentation of the Scallop and asparagus with spicy XO sauce was faultless. Succulent and juicy scallop.

The mere presence of duck shreds greatly enhanced the flavour of the congee. And not to mention there’s sliced fish maw, squid too! All the natural goodness in the bowl of Congee.

It was sensational. Tender, let me tell you, the whole experience: the chewing and swallowing, we couldn’t speak. There was a lump stuck in my throat; I just allowed myself to quietly finished the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this.

I was struck in awe of the flavour and texture of the meat, this was certainly my most memorable and favourite dish of the meal. And I couldn’t bear to speak of its name, Kurabuta pork, all the way from Americaaa!

The meal was a late boomer. Just when I thought that the few dishes in front were all good, it got better and better. Or maybe they were saving the best for the last, either way, the Chilli prawns with crispy buns had the “made in Singapore” brand stamped all over it. Spicy, fresh, with the mini mantao bun to dip in to the sauce, it was a superb interpretation of prawns done in our local favourite Chilli crab. A Singapore classic.

I could not, believe how tender the meat actually was. It literally melted in my mouth – I know this phase sounded exaggerating and often over-used, but trust me, it’s true for the Beef tenderloin with black peppercorns. Oh my! I would gladly go back another time just for the kurobuta pork, chilli prawns, and the beef tenderloin alone.

All right, back to the basics. Not many places can do a mean version of the Ee-fu noodles. All of us agreed that this one was just right in terms of the oilyness and bite. Not too oily, not too dry, just exactly how we liked it.

For the first time, I was actually sorry to see the desserts coming – for it signalled the end of the wonderful meal. But Wan Hao dessert did not disappoint as well, the first to arrive, the Lemongrass jelly with lime sherbet was equally pleasing in aesthetic senses. Very refreshing, and a fine finish for us.

There was a big fan of the mango pudding among us, and he was right! I took a nibble without adding in any milk for the original taste; even eaten alone the smooth and creamy texture of the aroma mango was evident.

If you know me, you must know that I’m an anti-durian person. For the sake of sharing with everybody, I popped one durian mochi inside – the mochi was very sticky, the smell of the fabled durian king of the fruits wasn’t very apparent until I took a bite of it, and that’s when I say, Shit!

I love egg tarts, and I always questioned the fact why Chinese restaurants always do their egg tarts in mini sizes. And like the manager of Wan Hao put it, the small bite was just right, anything bigger it would be too much. Crisp golden brown pastry with equally good egg fillings.

* * *

I must admit, I’m impressed with Wan Hao Chinese restaurant. The freshness in the quality ingredients, with the management’s emphasis on this, plus the service of the staff, were all top-notch. I’m not talking about their good service because it was a tasting session, after we finished our meal, we went down to their bakery; the staff was very knowledgeable about their bakes and was very professional.

The 31 items which we tried for this tasting session was half of their weekend brunch buffet which had 70 items, priced at $55 per head. For the sheer quality and variety, the sum is fair, will I be back? Definitely, See you there!

I entered the Marriott hotel on an empty stomach, and I left with a full one; I’m a happy man. My appreciation to the folks from Wan Hao for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read Catherine’s review on Wanhao here

Wan Hao Chinese restaurant
320 Orchard road
3F Marriott hotel
Tel: 6831 4615

Wan Hao is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

We are all old friends, yet we never met before. We visit each other on the web, that is how we “meet” everybody. Food brings us together, finally we can put a face to each other instead of just a nickname. From online, to offline, our food blogger outing.

While waiting for everybody to arrive, we ordered some fried dim sum for the photo shoot first. Hua Ting have more steamed items than fried ones, and the baked chicken & mango tart ($3.90) headed the list. This reminded me of the one that I had at Man Fu Yuan, and personally I felt it was well executed with the sweet mango zing and crust pastry.

I am not a big fan of bean skin roll dim sum, but since this was one of the few fried item and came highly recommended by the staff, we ordered the Deep-fried bean skin with prawn ($4.80).

Oh, the prawns were fresh. Yes they were. But, but the skin was too thick, and well they are not the best Steamed crystal prawn dumpling ($4.80) I had before.

There was the option of doing it steamed or pan-fried. But who could resist yummy-sinful fried food? Not us, we went for the pan-fried carrot cake with canopy ($3.90). Eat first, worry later! For some unknown reasons that continue to evade us, we are seeing restaurants not frying their carrot cake enough. Is it for the health conscious customers, or is it because it requires more oil? I wished they will just pan-fried it longer.

The first page of the menu comprises of the signature dim sum Hua ting serves, yet i was surprised not to find the Steamed siew mai with shrimp roe ($4.80) there. I felt that it was better than their har gau. And oh yes, there was also mushroom mixed within the siew mai.

There was nothing to fault for their Steamed BBQ pork bun ($3.90). I love my char siew bun, and when there was no char siew sou, I comforted myself by indulging in every moment of this.

Drum roll! Announcing the award for the best performer for the meal, I presented to you, Deep fried scallop pastry with onion and garlic ($4.50). My personal favourite out of the 12 dim sum that we tried that day. The pastry literally melted in my month when I took a bite. And I simple love the strong garlic taste within.

I will also like to mention the good service of the staffs at Hua Ting. While I was causally asking my friend what was inside the Steamed dumpling in Teow Chew style ($3.90), one waitress who was walking by overheard us and stopped to explain. While she couldn’t get all the ingredients in it, she went to the kitchen to ask and came back to tell us. So here it is, peanut, turnip, mushroom & celery.

You definitely will have tried char siew and prawn cheong fun before. Okay, how about scallop? Aye most restaurants have that too! All right, I give you Steamed cheong fun with sliced fish ($4.80). Now that’s something new isn’t it? It was a unique and bold creation, and while personally I still preferred char siew and prawn for my cheong fun, you need to give credits to the chef for trying something new.

Steamed soya bean skin rolls with chicken and mushroom in superior oyster sauce ($4.20). With such a long name, I was caught dumbfound and the staff had to kindly explained a few times what it was. It was actually the same as the deep fried bean skin we had earlier. But somehow I like this one more, the oozing out of the oyster sauce when I took a bite into the bean skin rolls. Oh my.

The others wanted lo mai gai, but there was none. We just have to make do with the Steamed glutinous rice with abalone ($5.20) and it was competent enough. There was the grimicky tiny abalone on top to up the prestige level, but I felt it would be better to give me Taiwanese sausages instead of that.

Not many restaurants use duck for their dim sum, it is always like what I mentioned, char siew, prawn & scallop. Therefore we chose the Pan fried shredded duck rolls ($4.20) out of curiosity.

I never like ordering Steamed pork ribs ($3.90) in dim sum restaurants. I felt they were overpriced, and under-portion. Honestly I will rather order another steamed char siew bun to give me more meat. I’m a carnivore!

Total bill was $120 after a 15% credit card discount for 6 person. We tried 14 out of the 20 dim sum available, and that’s quite a lot! I was confused between Orchard hotel with Orchard Parade hotel, so do check your maps before going down.  In my personal opinion, the staffs at Hua Ting merit the good service tag, all of them were friendly and knowledgeable. Thank you!

The six of us ended up somewhere for more desserts after this filling dim sum lunch. When floggers come out to eat, there is always food, fun, joy and laughter. Oh yes, Dslr, snap snap! Look out for my next post on the after-desserts that we had!

Hua Ting Restaurant
442 Orchard Road
Orchard Hotel
Tel: 6739 6666

Read about my dining companion post:
Catherine @ Camemberu
Evan @ Bossacafez
Julia @ AromaCookery
Leroy @ The Hungry Cow
Nic @ Black Tie, White Lie

An oasis of blue, with a glimpse of gold. Royal China. There are places which you will proudly recommend to your friends when they want suggestions for food, and I raved about the best dim sum before. Indeed, my fond memories of the exquisite Chinese-tapas still lingers in my heart. My perennial return was long overdue.

But perhaps it was my mistake not to check with the restaurant before going, that I didn’t realise they had a special dim sum menu for the Chinese New Year period. With just a selection of 12 different dim sum, all priced at $6.80++ instead of the normal price, I did feel being rip-off, but that’s Chinese New Year for you, and it was my fault for not checking beforehand.

In place of the usual red roe on top of the steamed minced pork dumpling with abalone ($6.80++, usual price $4.80), we had tiny abalones instead. Right, the siew mai was up to standard, but I’ll not say the same having pay two dollars extra for the tiny abalone on top.

From the outside, the steamed prawn dumplings with black moss ($6.80++, usual price $4.80) looked the same. The exotic ingredients kicked in with the addition of black moss (fa-cai), an ingredient that is never missing from Chinese New Year menu. I certainly understood the significant of the auspicious ingredient, but I must admit that there wasn’t any enhance in the flavour of the har gau.

The Crispy prawn rolls with sesame ($6.80++) was one of the item which I did not try before, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Fundamentally prawn roll with mango, fried crispy with the sesame stuck on top. A dip into the mayo dressing completed the whole taste.

My love, the Baked barbecued pork puff ($6.80++, usual price $4). Royal China’s rendition was very good, with golden butter flaky skin and juicy red char siew. The only problem, this was exactly the same without any addition of “exotic ingredients” and I had to pay almost three bucks more for it.

Total bill was $43. 90 for 4 dim sum, 1 appetiser, and of course the other charges. Was I disappointed by the second visit? Certainly, counting by per piece, it’s close to $2.60 each, even more expensive than Yan Ting. But you can’t fault them for the quality in dim sum, it’s just that I’m sore over paying more than usual for my char siew sou. Will I go back again? Certainly, I still have good impression of them even though this was a bad experience.

And one more thing which I was not pleased about. For those of you who had been there, you’ll know that in their middle seating area, it used to be square tables with the nice white chairs. But they had removed them, and placed round tables with ugly brown chairs instead. I presumed this was done to increase the seating capacity,  but the different furnitures was certainly not pleasing to the eyes, and the seating arrangements were not comfortable at all. After checking with a friend who went after the cny period, it seems everything is back to normal.

One thing’s a definite. We will find out the next time I revisit the place.

Royal China
1 Beach Road
#03-09 Raffles Hotel
Tel: 6338 3363

There are a few things in life which you can never forget. Your first love, the first time flying on a plane, the wonderful taste of food, and of course, my first visit to the prestigious 6 Star St Regis Hotel, and not to mention, the most expensive and excellent dim sum that I’ve there.

I can never forget the taste of Peking duck after trying it for the first time a couple of years back. The perfectly crispy skin with a thin layer of fats beneath. Yan Ting’s Crispy Peking duck ($60 whole duck) served with traditional condiments arrived within minutes after making our order. Instead of wrapping in the typical pancake, the chef decided to use flour skin instead.

Like the usual practice for Peking duck, the remainder of the meat was done in other methods. The one that we had was diced duck meat, which came across as salty. It would be a great compliment with a bowl of white rice, but other than that, there wasn’t much hint of the duck meat. I wondered where the rest of the duck meat actually went. And the second serving ($27) came at a cost of 3 bucks per head.

While I didn’t try any “San Bei Ji”, or claypot chicken with basil & golden garlic ($20 for medium serves 4) before, the rendition here was satisfying. The fragrance of the meat announced the arrival of the dish, the chicken was tender, with some fatty meat and the tasty sauce was the icing on the cake, or rather chicken.

The question mark on my face was evident when I couldn’t figure out what the vegetable on the table was. I was told, the Dou Bei ($26 for medium serves 4) was the superior cousin of the more common Dou Miao. An expensive plate of greens this was, for the seemingly average taste of the vegetables.

We also tried the Crispy garlic pork ($28 for medium serves 4). The pork ribs were crispy, and had a strong garlic taste. The dish also came across as a tad salty. Nonetheless, we dutifully whipped clear the plate of the ribs.

I can never forget my penchant for cod fish. Taking a bite of the Deep Fried Cod Fillet coated with Crispy Cereal ($28), the fish immediately melt-in-the-mouth, with the cereal giving an added crunch. There’s barely enough for all of us a piece each.

I ain’t a big fan of scallop, so this line could be pretty bias. The Pan Seared Scallop filled with Shrimp Mousse ($32 for medium serves 4) was big in size indeed. However, the scallop was overwhelmed by the strong shrimp mousse taste.

I can never forget my mother’s rendition of French bean. I’m of the belief that simplicity is beauty. Using garlic to stir fried the vegetables can always bring out the fragrance of the garlic without covering the freshness of the greens. So I was rather sceptical initially when i saw the Wok Fried French Bean with Minced Pork and Chilli ($20 for medium serves 4). But it did proved me wrong with the wok hei of the beans. And the minced pork didn’t complicate the taste.

Instead of the typical deep fried prawn with mango, the Deep Fried Prawn filled with Fresh Mango ($36 for medium serves 4) came with a twist. Prawns and mangos were wrapped in beancurd skin, and deep fried. To be frank, I dislike beancurd skins, especially those served during dim sum. But this one was decent, the mango could be sweeter though.

With the name Chef Chan Signature Baked Spring Onion Chicken ($28 for medium serves 4), the dish certainly was bundled with expectations. You can’t go wrong ordering the signature dishes, or so it seems. The chicken was plain ordinary, and definitely didn’t warrent the hefty price tag.

I can never forget the best char siew sou ($1.8 per piece) I had before, from Yan Ting of course. Dim sum is not served during dinner, but we made a request to the manager, who to our delight, agreed to ask the chef to make it for us specially. Maybe we were saddled by the huge expectation that we had, but we are guessing it’s most probably because of the shorter baking time, that the char siew sou didn’t turn out to be as good as before. Nonetheless, it was good of the restaurant to do it specially for us, and I’ll be back again for it.

Total bill was $362.85 for 9 person, after a 25% discount using the Astor card. This came up to about $40 per person, which was totally cheaper than what we expected. And if we didn’t drink tea ($40), and no desserts ($48), the add up will probably be around $283 or $30 per head. With the ambience of the place, the prestige of the restaurant, and the decent quality of the food, the price was definitely reasonable. I’ll definitely be coming back for their dim sum, Yan Ting IV. There are a few things in life, which you can never forget after all.

Read about my dim sum visit to Yan Ting here
& Yan Ting snowskin mooncake here

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

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

We walked along the narrow street, wondering where was our destination. The road seems so distant, the future so vague. Just like the route we took, there’s much hurdle to be clear. At long last, we arrived, Dim joy.

Culture of all walks of life, our very own roots. Dim Joy offers a perspective much more than just eating dim sum. Its about the art of appreciating dim sum, the approach in understanding our culture. I like the small details they look into, like how they have tiny notes on the teapot to teach people about the correct method of teapot refill, like how they print their own manuals on the chopstick cover to educate about chopstick etiquette. Small little things like these, make a whole lot of differences.

Nestled in a shop house on neil road, the restaurant quaint and tranquil environment made me feel at home upon entering. There wasn’t much people on a weekday lunch, we had the whole lovely place to ourselves. This is just a place where you can seat down and chill for the whole day.

The simplistic approach to the chief, King shrimp har gao ($4). The whole taste was very subtle, the prawns were fresh, but the skin was again, too thick. While it wasn’t fantastic, dim sum just isn’t dim sum without har gao.

There wasn’t much difference with the Barbecued pork & celery in rice rolls ($5) too. It was way too short if i were to compare it with elsewhere. There was also the option of having the rice rolls in claypot, but i dismissed it as gimmick. I wanted a good steamed and savoury rice roll in light sauce.

There were bits of char siew which could passed off as bacon strips. And we were wondering how cool it’ll be if there’s bacon rice rolls. Nonetheless, the taste was again, very subtle and tame if i may just use the word. I didn’t quite enjoy the celery within too.

I was eagerly anticipating the Honey-syrup char siew bun ($3). With such a sweet name, we were like bees attracted to the beauty of the honey pot. The white pillowry bun was soft and fluffy, very good! But the char siew fillings could be better. While its sweet with honey-syrup infused, the fillings were too little, and i’ll prefered it to be more moist, like their char siew sou.

There is also Siew mai ($3.50 for 4), another dim sum staple. Chewy, shrimpy and not too oily. Value for money definitely, and its the only one that comes two by two. The ratio of shrimp to pork outnumbers greatly, with only a small portion of lean pork meat.

I always choose Pan-fried radish cake ($3) over its steamed cousins. I love the slightly charred surface of the carrot cake, but this one wasn’t charred enough. Well unlike most carrot cakes which are very filling, this one wasn’t very starchy, and had a different taste from the ones which i tried before. The jury’s out on this, you need to make your judgement.

Personally, i ain’t a big fan of the beancurd skin roll ($4.50) but my companion wanted to try this, so here we go. Instead of the typical prawn fillings, this one was all about mushrooms. The skin was a bit raw, and taste almost like beancurd, well it’s made from beancurd after all. The wholesome, vegetarian fillings within the beancurd skin roll didn’t work for me. But my companion rather enjoyed her helpings.

Now, my choice. The char siew so ($3.50) bears a great resemblance to our festive pineapple tarts. Golden brown in colour, with the buttery egg-graze taste on the pastry. While it didn’t come in the form of my favourite flaky skin, Dim Joy’s rendition was unique in its own right.

This time, the sweet honey infuse char siew fillings were more generous, and it was very moist within the pastry. But the char siew did lacked certain texture, and given time to improve, it’ll be better.

We were half-decided on ordering the Custard bun ($3) since we heard it wasn’t that good. But we decided to try for ourselves, taste after all is a very subjective thing. The vital factor for a good custard bun, the oozing out of the golden custard fillings. This one did, the molten custards flowed out of the bun, just like the lava erupted from a volcano. The salty egg yolk taste wasn’t strong enough, the bun was soft but, there’s some fine particles which we guessed was course sugar not dissolved properly. I had the best, and the worst before, this one would be good given some minor tweaks.

While i know Lingnan is an area in China, i couldn’t see the link what the place got to do with the Lingnan egg tart ($3.50 for 4). The best part about Dim Joy during weekend was there wasn’t much people around, so everything was made freshly, rather than pre-made. We waited 25 minutes just for the egg tarts to come out freshly baked. The egg fillings were nice and wet, but the pastry lacked the buttery undertone.

Total bill was $42.35 for 2 person. I must say, with 9 dim sum between us, the prices are fairly reasonable given the standards of the dim sum. I’ll definitely make a perennial visit again, and for that, See you there! And just for some background information, Michelle Saram’s the partner behind Dim Joy.

It also helped that Dim Joy served dim sum throughout the day, even during dinner. Most places don’t serve dim sum at night, so it’s a nice place if you are craving for dim sum after the sun set. I heard they are packed during weekend, so avoid the crowd come on the weekdays instead.

Dim Joy
80 Neil Road
Tel: 6220 6986

Dim Joy is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore