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Dim sum @ Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine

January 8, 2017 in Chinese

Because of our busy schedules, my friends and I would block out dates on our calendars in advance. However, as our meet-up date drew nearer, we couldn’t decide on our venue. I usually have many ideas, but was undecided this time. One wanted to go to Botanist Singapore but I objected since I was there just 2 weeks ago. Haha.

And 1 day before my friends and I were to meet, we decided to have dim sum. And 1 of places that came up during our brainstorm was Imperial Treasure. It’s ironic how Imperial Treasure is like a household name, yet I haven’t been there for their dim sum. My friend highly recommended Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine, and thus we decided to go with his recommendation since he doesn’t mind going back to same restaurants.

Relocated from Takashimaya Shopping Centre to ION Orchard, my friend assisted to call the restaurant. And we were very lucky to secure a reservation for 12pm despite calling only 3 hours before our meal at 9am.

And from the dim sum menu (pages 1, 2), we ordered:-

1) 笋尖鲜虾餃, $6.20 (above) – Steamed prawn dumpling “ha kau”.


2) 潮州家乡茶果, $4.50 (above) – Steamed roasted peanut dumpling in Teochew style. I really liked this.


3) 奶皇流沙包, $5 (above) – Steamed custard bun.


4) 酥皮蛋撻仔, $4.20 (above) – Baked egg tart.


5) 香芒炸虾筒, $5.50 (above) – Deep fried shrimp & mango roll.

6) 豉汁蒸鳳爪, $4.80 (above) – Steamed chicken feet with black bean.

7) 臘味蘿卜糕, $4.80 (above) – Pan fried carrot cake.

8) 叉燒蒸腸粉, $7 (above) – Steamed rice roll with BBQ pork.

9) 虾米椒酱炒肠, $8 (above) – This was not on the menu. My friend has a list of dishes which he must order when dim sum-ing, and this was one of them. And this was impressive. When we placed our orders, we split it up into 3 and this was served in the last batch. We thought we wouldn’t be able to finish the dish cause we were feeling full, but the dish was so tasty that we left nothing behind.


10) 菠蘿叉燒包, $5 (above) – Baked BBQ pork bun. A must try.


11) 燒味三拼, $28 (small) (above) – Triple combination of barbecue meat. We could choose the meats, and we went with the staff’s recommendation; Barbecue pork with honey sauce, roasted duck, roasted pork. The roasted pork was so, so good. A must order.

12) 鹹菜粉腸雜, $9.80 (above) – Pig intestine with salted vegetables. We were surprised when we were served a big bowl of soup as we were expecting a plate of stir-fried intestines. We thought the staff mistakenly served us porridge. Ha. And the soup was rich and flavourful. However, there wasn’t many pieces within. I tried to split the innards evenly among (the 3 of) us but found only 7 pieces inside. Hmm…

Honestly, I didn’t expect myself to be blown away by our dining experience. But my friends and I really enjoyed ourselves. Food was spot on. Service was good. Ambiance was great. And of course, company was perfect. Keke. I would say the spot we were sitting at contributed much. We were allocated a table by the ceiling-high window. And with the sunlight entering through the glass, the atmosphere was bright and cheery. Definitely beat sitting in a private room, facing 4 walls. Had enough of that in office. Keke.

And when my friend made the reservation, the staff informed that they needed the table back by 2.15pm. However, our friend forgot to rely the message to us. At 2.30pm, the staff came up to us and apologetically said they needed the table as the next group had been waiting for 20 minutes. Oops! Luckily we were almost done. And for that, we left the restaurant feeling very even more impressed with the service.

Highly recommended. I’m already thinking of bringing my family to Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine for dim sum. Am curious how it’s like with the other outlets of Imperial Treasure.

IMPERIAL TREASURE FINE TEOCHEW CUISINE
2 Orchard Turn, ION Orchard, #03-05, Singapore
6736 2118, Website, Facebook
Overall: 8
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Mon – Fri : 11:30 – 15:00 (Lunch)
Ambience: 8
Sat : 11:00 – 15:00 (Lunch)
Value: 8
Sun : 10:30 – 15:00 (Lunch)
Service: 8
Mon – Fri : 18:00 – 22:30 (Dinner)
Sat – Sun : 18:00 – 23:00 (Dinner)

UPDATE: Restaurant was awarded 1 Michelin star by Michelin Guide Singapore 2017.

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Dim sum @ Si Chuan Dou Hua (Kitchener Road)

October 3, 2016 in Chinese

I was arranging a catch up with my exex-colleagues (Haha. Yes, I am going into such details. Exex. =p) and I felt dim sum was more appropriate for us as compared to brunch at cafe. I was right cause my exex-colleagues unanimously went with dim sum when I gave them the options. Keke.

With that, we decided on Si Chuan Dou Hua. I’ve always wanted to go for their nostalgic dim sum (since 2 years back), and it was pure coincidence that my exex-colleagues and I were meeting up when Si Chuan Dou Hua was having their nostalgic dim sum. Such luck. =)

And when I called to make reservation, the staff surprised us with the good news of an ongoing promotion; We would only need to pay $25 instead of $38 per person! That said, Si Chuan Dou Hua needs at least 4 people for their dim sum buffet.

With 2 seatings for the buffet, we went with 11.30am to 1pm over 1.30pm to 3pm.

Si Chuan Dou Hua is located within PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road which was a 10 to 12 minutes walk from Farrer Park MRT station. And I have to admit I wasn’t expecting the hotel to be so dated. Especially when I compared it to PARKROYAL on Pickering which I was at just a few months ago.

And from the ‘nostalgic dim sum buffet feast’ menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), we ordered:-

1) Marinated cucumber with dried chilli (above) – Don’t belittle the dried chilli. This was really spicy!

2) “Siaw mai” with diced abalone (above)

3) Prawn dumpling with coriander (above)


4) Steamed vegetable dumpling with black truffle (above) – This was pretty good! We went for seconds even though we had many more on the menu which we didn’t get to try.

5) “Hakka” dumpling with turnip (above) – This was pretty interesting. I liked the skin which was chewy and stretchy like our Japanese rice cake (mochi).


6) Crispy sesame glutinous rice ball (above)


7) Crispy glutinous minced meat with shrimp dimpling (above) – I liked this!


8) Deep-fried peanut cake in “teochew” style (above) – A must order. And yes, one can (perhaps) see the trend that I like chewy ‘skin’. Keke.

9) Baked egg tart (above)


10) Pan-fried wild mushroom dumpling (above) – This was worth ordering too.


11) Pan-fried duck meat bun with goose liver sauce (above) – A must order. This was really good.


  

12) Signature pork belly roll with yam (above) – These were mini in size, so my exec-colleagues and I went for seconds cause it was too small to satisfy us properly. Keke. A must try.

13) “Char siew” bun with preserved vegetable (above)


14) Steamed beancurd skin roll topped with minced fish (above)

15) Steamed spare rib with diced pumpkin and yam (above)

16) Minced meat dumpling with sour and spicy stock (above)

17) Stir-fried sliced fish with celeery in si chuan spicy sauce (above)


18) Fragrant yam cake with waxed meat (above)

19) Crispy roasted pork (above)

20) Teow chew stewed duck (above)

21) Soya chicken (above) – This was disappointing.

22) Stir-fried carrot cake (above) – A must order. I liked that the carrot cake was also served in big chunks.

23) Braised pig shank and quail egg in vinegar and ginger (above)

24) Poached seasonal vegetable with dried scallop (above)

25) Double-boiled cartilage soup (above)

26) Minced meat porridge with cuttlefish (above)

27) Chilled almond jelly with red bean, chilled osmanthus jelly with honey, yam pudding (above)

28) Glutinous rice cake, baked honey comb cake (above)

29) Cream of fresh mango with pomelo (above)

30) Double-boiled pear and white fungus with osmanthus (above)

31) Homemade bean curd with wolfberry (above) – Of all the items offered for the desserts, this was my favourite!

Will I recommend Si Chuan Dou Hua for their nostalgic dim sum buffet? A definite yes. It was very value for money, with so many dishes offered. But make sure one should be punctual. Rather… I should better say, “just start without the latecomers.” For real.

I was late. I only managed to reach at 11.50am. My bad. And my exex-colleagues chose to wait for me. But with the last order (for earlier seating) at 12.30pm, the 40 minutes was not enough for us to attempt trying everything on the menu. In fact, we didn’t even have enough time to finish our food when we crazily placed our 3 rounds of orders between 12.20pm to 12.45pm.

Yes! Special mention to the manager who was taking care of our table. At 12.20pm, she noticed we had only ordered 1 round. The other tables were already at their fourth round. She came up to us and asked for our additional orders. She even extended our last order from 12.30pm to 12.45pm. If it wasn’t for her, my exex-colleagues and I probably wouldn’t have noticed how time was passing us by so quickly as we were too engrossed in our catch up and missed out on so much Si Chuan Dou Hua had to offer for their dim sum buffet.

And yes, we got to sit till 1.30pm (the latest time possible) before having to give up our table for the next seating.

SI CHUAN DOU HUA @ KITCHENER ROAD
181 Kitchener Road, PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road, Level 2, Singapore
6428 3170, Website
Overall: 7
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 7
Mon – Sun : 11:30 – 14:30 (Lunch)
Ambience: 6
Mon – Sun : 14:30 – 18:00 (Hi tea)
Value: 8
Mon – Sun : 18:30 – 22:30 (Dinner)
Service: 8

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Dim sum @ Spring Court

September 2, 2016 in Chinese

It was one of those days when my friends and I happened to walk past Spring Court and my friend exclaimed “This is the famous popiah place.”

Famous? Popiah? Spring Court? But, but… It was my first (time) hearing of them. How can! So when my (bigger group) of girlfriends decided to meet up, I just had to suggest having dim sum at Spring Court. =p And with that, a phone call was made to reserve for 10 people on a Sunday.

And getting to Spring Court by public transport was relatively easy and straight forward. It’s a 5 minutes walk from Chinatown MRT station.

As taken from their website, Spring Court started way back in 1929. Although they have relocated a few times before finally settling at the current Chinatown location in 2005, one could tell they chose to keep their traditional Chinese restaurant decor. Which frankly, I preferred it this way. It’s nice to enjoy our dim sum in a nostalgic setting. It teleports one to another time dimension. No? If only they had push carts. Ha.

And from the menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13), we ordered:-

1) Prawn dumplings (ha gow), $5.80 (above) – This was really good. Although the skin could be thinner, this was simply a joy to bite into as each dumpling contained 2 succulent prawns! Yum.

2) Pork dumplings (siew mai), $5.20 (above)


3) Deep-fried pumpkin dumplings, $4.50 (above) – This was pretty good! I would imagine gluttonous rice flour was used as the skin of the dumpling was chewy.

  

4) Crispy chili crab buns, $5.80 (above) – Wasn’t too impressed with this. The filling within was a little dry. Could have used with more sauce within.


5) Sesame red bean balls, $3.80 (above) – A must order.


6) Custard buns with salted egg, $4.20 (above)


7) BBQ pork buns, $4.20 (above)

8) Mini egg tarts, $3.80 (above) – This was not on the menu. 1 of my girlfriend really wanted egg tart, so we checked with the staff if they happened to have any. And the staff surprised us with a “yes”! So I guess it’s a lesson learnt that it doesn’t hurt to ask. =p And these were not too bad.

9) Steamed beancurd rolls, $4.50 (above)

10) Phoenix claws with bean sauce, $4.20 (above) – I didn’t really like this. It was too heavily coated with the sauce. Or was I not used to the meatier claws. Hmm…


11) Glutinous rice with lotus leaf, $4.20 (above)

12) BBQ pork rice flour rolls, $5.80 (above)

13) Stir-fried carrot cake with XO sauce, $5.80 (above) – And judging how the carrot cake was served, one could tell the chef portioned it with a bowl. So yes, this was one bowl worth of carrot cake. Haha. And this was really good. I like that the pieces was big! Unlike the smaller pieces which we normally get from hawker centre. A must order.


14) Spring court crab meat popiah, $7.50 (above) – Unfortunately, I didn’t like the popiah. It was too huge such that the ratio of filling to popiah skin was very non-proportionate. And because it’s so huge, one can’t fit an entire slice into one’s mouth to enjoy an explosion of flavours.

15) Yam ring with prawns, $32 (L) (above) – This was good. The yam ring was executed well since that it was crispy on the exterior, and soft and mushy within.

16) Roasted peking duck served in 2 ways:-




(A) Crispy skin rolled in pancake (above)

(B) Meat fried with ginger & spring onion (above) – The duck meat was a little gummy. We didn’t really like this.

17) Panfried thin noodles with seafood, $38 (L) (above)

18) Beancurd, Complimentary (above) – And there was an ongoing promotion where we would be entitled to free desserts if we followed Spring Court on their instagram. So yes, that instantly brought out the auntie within us. Haha. And this was really good! I am surprised this isn’t on their menu. The bean curd was very light on the palette. I could have easily finished 3 bowls on my own. A must try!

19) Red bean soup, Complimentary (above) – And this would be another ask-and-one-may-be given case. While getting all excited about the complimentary desserts we would be getting, 1 of my girlfriend asked if they had red bean soup. To which the manager said he could get her a bowl. And again, this was pretty good!

20) Sweet yam paste with gingko nuts, $22 (S) (above)

21) Red bean pancake, Complimentary (above) – Similarly, we were entitled to a complimentary pancake because we liked their Facebook page! Haha. And oddly, this was not on their menu too. Hmm…

Will I recommend Spring Court? Well… The food didn’t exactly knock me off my feet and service was a little slow. The restaurant saw a constant stream of customers, and it was difficult to get the staff’s attention when we wanted to order more food.

That said, my girlfriends and I enjoyed a pretty decent meal of dim sum. We were eating so much that we sat that for a full 3 hours. Haha. We probably witness 2 turn overs? And coming in group of 3 would be the best since the dishes were served in 3s with the exception of a few.

SPRING COURT 詠春园
52-56 Upper Cross Street, Singapore
6449 5030, Website, Facebook
Overall: 6.5
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 7
Mon – Sun : 11:00 – 14:30 (Lunch)
Ambience: 6
Mon – Sun : 18:00 – 22:00 (Dinner)
Value: 7
Service: 6

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