And very frankly, I think Red Star needs no further introduction. When discussing where to head (off to) for dim sum, Red Star will always pop up.

But a little history of Red Star Restaurant for any curious souls. =) Red Star was opened by chef Lau Yoke Pui, one of the four Heavenly Kings (四天王) of Cantonese Cuisine. As extracted from fellow blogger ieatishootipost‘s post:-

So how did these Four Men of culinary legend come to be? Well, they were all disciples of Hong Kong Master Chef Luo Chen who was the Head Chef at Cathay Restaurant in the 50′s….. and the Cathay was the Grand Dame of Cantonese Cuisine. These four Singaporeans started training under Chef Luo as apprentices and worked their way up to be Chefs. When the master felt that their Culinary Kung Fu had reach the limits of what could be achieved in his kitchen, he sent them out to spread Cantonese Cuisine to a wider audience….. Chef Lau Yoke Pui was the one who headed Red Star which was eventually taken over by Chef Sin Leong and Chef Hooi upon his passing.

Red Star does not accept reservation. So it will be good to come early cause some of their dishes run out by afternoon. Upon arrival, we immediately joined the queue which was on the immediate right after the entrance. Although the queue was long, it moved pretty fast and we were allocated a table within 20 minutes.

And because the restaurant was really busy on weekends, instead of waiting for the push carts to come to us, we were searching for the push carts that had the items we wanted. But a good thing about their order-card is that the dishes’ names were spelled out on it. So it allowed us to see the full range of dim sum offered, and one can always decide what new items to try too.

And from the push carts, we ordered:-

1) Ha-kau (虾饺), $4 (above)

2) Siew-mai (烧卖), $4 (above)

3) Fried prawn dumpling (明虾角), $4 (above)

4) Chicken feet (凤爪), $4 (above)

5) Glutinous rice (荷叶饭), $4 (above)

6) Egg tart (蛋挞), $4 (above)

7) Scallop rice roll (带子肠粉), $4.20 (above) – Other flavours included prawn ($4.20), B.B.Q pork ($4), chicken ($4) and beef ($4).

8) Nai wong bao (奶皇包), $4 (above) – We went searching for liu sha bao (流沙包), but the staff must have misheard us and gave us egg custard bun instead of salted egg custard bun. So yes, one may want to be careful.

9) Cha sao bao (叉烧包), $3 (above)

10) Jin long ji (金龙鸡), $8 (above) – While searching for our items, one of the staff recommended this as one of their signature dishes. So we decided to try, and it was indeed not too bad. Skin was crisp thin while it seemed that they have further treated the meat by mincing it! The meat had a unique texture, being similar to that of paste.

11) Durian roll (榴莲卷), $4.20 (above) – Again, one of the staff recommended this when we mistook her push cart as one with the rice rolls (肠粉). And when we decided to try one portion, the friendly auntie said “These run out very fast. I will save one more portion for you cause you will definitely come back for more.” And she was right. These were so good that we had to go back for more cause no one in the group of 6 (of us) wanted to share our roll. Ha! They were very generous with the durian fillings too.

12) Honey dew with seigo (蜜瓜西米露), $4.20 (above)

13) Logan almond beancurd (龙眼豆腐), $4.20 (above)

I won’t say the food was fantastic. It was pretty average with a few dishes that shone. Like the egg tarts, jin long ji (金龙鸡) and durian roll. But, I would recommend Red Star for the ambience.

Red Star must be one of the few restaurants which provide a nostalgic experience by transporting us to older days with its decor. Think carpeted floor with red velvet chairs. And in a way, my friends and I better appreciated our dim sum with us having to hunt down our food by searching for the correct push carts. Ha.

And if one plans to drive, do try to park at the level nearer to the restaurant (level 7) so that one could just take the staircase. It was a pain for us (who took public transport) waiting at ground level as there was only 1 small lift which was always packed.

Related posts:

Dim sum @ Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine Dim sum @ Swa Tow Restaurant Dim sum @ Royal Pavilion Dim sum @ Empress Dim sum @ Spring Court