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.