The Royal Mail at the iconic Ascott Raffles Place is the latest venture by restaurateur Michel Lu. It offers a modern take on classic British cuisine. The menu is compact, and the main focus is on its roast prime rib.

I am going out on a limb to say that it is easily one of the best prime ribs that I’ve had in Singapore. If you love steak, you must make a trip to The Royal Mail.

From the starters menu, there are tantalising options such as Caviar & Sea Urchin ($36), and Momotaro Tomato & Aged Parmesan Tart ($15), but what you cannot miss is the Blue Swimmer Crab & Avocado ($22), which comes with chunks of crab meat and sweet Roma tomatoes.

For main courses, we had the Roast Prime Rib ($48 for 200g, $58 for 280g, $66 for 340g), served with Yorkshire pudding, garlic potato mash, buttered peas, and creamed corn. It was stunning. The beef was tender, juicy and moist and I was swooning with every bite. It was that good. The prices are also very reasonable. It is very good value for the quality of meat.

We also ordered Mashed Potato with Bacon & Scallions ($8) and Creamed Spinach with egg ($8) to share.

Also worth trying is the Roasted Spring Chicken ($36), which was generously portioned and skilfully cooked, full of flavour and natural juices.

The Butter Roasted Cod Fillet ($36) was decent, but forgettable. Granted, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t mind-blowing either.

The Cape Grim hormone free Grass-fed Prime Beef Fillet ($48 for 180g), accompanied by sauteed French beans and garlic potato, was also done to a high standard, but I very much preferred the prime ribs to this.

After finishing our main courses, we moved on to desserts. The Eton Mess ($13), touted as the signature dessert, was underwhelming. We thought that the combination of strawberries, meringue, salted caramel and Devon cream was ordinary and did not justify the price tag.

Luckily, the other two desserts were more satisfying. The Banoffee Tart ($13) with salted caramel sauce was delightful. And we easily finished the Caramelised Upside-down Tarte Tatin of Pears ($16).

The Royal Mail is a fantastic addition to Singapore’s dining scene – they are one of the better mid-range steakhouses in Singapore. The restaurant is perfect during the day for a business luncheon – they have a fantastic three course set lunch at $38++/pax – and equally fitting in the evening for a romantic dinner date.

The Royal Mail
2 Finlayson Green
Ascott Raffles Place
Tel: +65 6509 3589
Mon to Fri: 12pm – 3pm, 6.30pm – 11pm
Sat: 6.30pm – 11pm

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