Summer Pavillion Dian Xin Lunch

I'm back after another long hiatus! Work is super tiring (glad to know that I'm in the 18% of Singaporeans with stagnant pay) - this lunch happened many calls ago but I've just had the ultimate killer call on Sunday-Monday which will probably add to my eyebags and premature ageing...

The starter was this very unassuming looking dish which was deep fried diced yam. It's coated with some sugar and actually tasted much better than it looked. The shotglass on the right is some haw juice (can't remember the Chinese name) which was very sour and acidic, the perfect drink to kick off the meal and stimulate the salivary glands but I would much prefer another plum wine sherbert anytime.

Nourishing soup - came here when I was post call so I was craving for soup and decided to indulge in the Shark's cartilage soup. It's milky, warming, tasty and perfect post call food. Best of all, there's supposedly alot of collagen in this soup to combat against the oxidative stress from the night before...

Dian xin - the main reason why we went to Summer Pavillion was to eat this. It's one of the few Chinese cuisines that I enjoy. Though the menu at Summer Pavillion is very modest, the most of the dian xin you get here have a mordern twist. For example, instead of the plain fried grated yam cake (left), the yam cake comes with a layer of pumpkin. It was very moist and one of my more favourite dish. The har gao comes unadulterated - no suprises inside... Behind is some chive dumpling (had something interesing inside but I can't remember already).

Siew Mai - also unadulterated.

The green thing at the back had crab meat with mushrooms and was really quite tasty.
Another intersting dian xin they had was this triangular corn one which different kinds of vegetables inside. The corn kernels were very sweet and juicy and the skin is very thin and translucent.The obligatory char siew pau
Some fried thing - looks similar but one has bean curd skin outside

Boxthorn with 3 different kinds of eggs - I don't think boxthorn is very common here - can't remember the Chinese name for this tho... I think it tastes a bit like spinach but more delicate and there aren't any annoying stems which spoil the nice soggy texture of the leaves.

Onto the multiple desserts - sesame paste glutinous rice ball coated with ultra fine peanut powder.

Mango pomelo sago - not very spectacular cos I prefer the milky kind.

Hashima with almond tea

Herbal Jelly

Overall, the dining experience was pleasant as expected, with extremely attentive service. Of course, I would expect nothing less from the Ritz.

*Random thought: whenever I think of the Ritz, the first thing that pops up in my mind is the short story the Diamond as Big as the Ritz.

Summer Pavillion

7 Raffles Avenue

3/F Ritz-Carlton Millenia
Tel: +65 6337 8888 (Reservations recommended)

Lunch from 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (a la carte & dim sum)
Dinner from 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. (a la carte)

Lung King Hin - Four Seasons, Hong Kong

I visited Hong Kong at the end of March during my leave... Booking a lunch slot at Lung King Hin is no easy feat. My recommendation is that you book very early. As soon as you secure your flight dates, as this restaurant is immensely popular. It's a three star Michelin restaurant, and the main draw here for me is that they serve dim sum, which is my favourite type of Chinese food. Furthermore, the lunch set is affordable, unlike the western kind of Michelin star restaurant where a meal can come up to a few hundreds. The main draw for me is the dim sum, which is only served during lunch. During dinner, you'll get Cantonese dishes. The restaurant has a nice view of the harbour, and as expected of any posh restaurant, impeccable service.

Condiments - chilli, XO sauce and some black bean sauce.

Baked BBQ pork buns with Pine Nuts (Polo Pau with Char siew) (HKD$52++ for 3 pieces)- these little mini buns were nice and sweet, and as I'm a big fan of polo buns so I really enjoyed these. Though I thought that the onions were a bit too chunky and raw for my liking. I especially like the char siew polo buns from the Kee Wah bakery (which can be found next to Yung Kee and in the airport) which are really value for money (and plus the convenience) cos of the great surface area so you get more of the sweet polo crust.

Steamed Lobster and scallop dumpling (HKD $36 per piece)

All the dian xin skins (the translucent covering) were so thin and translucent, and the ingredients were very fresh. I shall just upload the pictures with minimal commentry cos the food here was really good.

Steamed fish dumpling with air-dried meat, conpoy and coriander (HDK$48++ for 3 pieces)

Steamed vegetable dumplings with bamboo piths (HKD $48++ for 3 pieces)

Steamed Shrimp dumplings and bamboo piths aka Siew Mai (HKD$48 ++ for 3 pieces)

Crispy Taro dumplings with Seafood and vegetables in XO chilli sauce (HKD $52++ for 3 pieces)

This was one of my faves. I really like to eat yam basket but it's messy and you need many many people to eat it with you or there'll be diminishing returns. This is like a bite sized yam basket, with extremely smooth yam, crispy coating and fresh seafood bits altogehter in one portion size helpings (though I could easily eat 3)

Another dim sum that I was yearning for since reading the numerous reviews online was the Baked Whole Abalone Puff with diced chicken (HKD $48 per piece). It didn't dissappoint. It's a braised whole baby abalone perched on top of a buttery pastry and the tart is filled with juicy tender morsels of chicken pieces. The abalone is even sliced diagonally into 2 for easier consumption. And the Xiao Long Pau which Ding Tai Fung single handedly propelled to popularity in Singapore. These were delicious and came on this wooden contraption, I suppose, for ease of dousing vinegar on...

They also had an executive set lunch menu which comes with 3 pieces of selected dim sum (which are some of the above but I'm not sure which). The set lunch costs HKD $450 per person though after trying both the dim sum and the set lunch, I would recommend the former without a doubt, though I am biased already since I really love dim sum and not Chinese food.

The soup of the day - can't remember what kind of soup but it's pork with something or another. The Cantonese can't do without their soups...

Pipa style BBQ duck with seafood sauce

For the life of me, I cannot appreciate roasted meats, so no comments on this.

Braised tofu with scallops and fresh mushrooms in abalone sauce

Another very Chinese style dish, which I thought was passable, the tofu was nice and smooth, scallops exquisitely fresh but it's the Chinese cooking which I cannot appreciate. Wok-fried chicken fillet with dried chillies and shallots

Steamed fried rice with conpoy wrapped in lotus leaf

This was closer to the 'dim sum' category so I really liked this. The lotus leaf made the rice really fragrant and the meat (char siew, dried scallop etc) were cut into very small pieces so the rice was very tasty and infused with the flavour from the meats. Chilled Mango and Sago Cream and Pomelo

This is one of the best Mango pomelo sago I have tried - the mango taste is really fresh and intense, and there'a even a layer of mango pudding right at the bottom. The sago balls are not the soggy kind but are very bonucy and QQ when you chew on them.

Petit Fours

The red bean and coconut agar jelly was pretty nice, but I was too full to appreciate the red bean pastry.

I also ordered 2 additional pastries to complete our meal

We had the baked cream custard puffs, which are leaf shaped and patterend. The pastry here is nice and buttery, though I thought that the custard was a bit too dry for my personal liking.

I really enjoyed the Crispy Carrot Puffs with Milk Custard. Not only do they really look like carrits, they're filled with milk custard. The pastry is the kind of pastry similar to those you get from the A1 curry puff stall, which, on a normal day. Their presentation is really interesting.

Lung King Hin

Four Seasons Hotel

8 Finance Street Central, Hong Kong

Tel. (852) 3196-8888

Wah Loke Cantonese Restaurant

My cousin hosted a weekend dimsum lunch at Wah Loke, this popular cantonese restaurant, which I've never head of till today, cos I'm really unadventurous when it comes to dimsum. Didn't know that there was such a nice dian xin restaurant so near Lei Garden at Chijmes too!Siew mai, Har Kau and char siew pau - the must have staples of any dim sum lunch.
The roasted chicken was not bad - though I'm not one to appreciate crispy skin.
The XO carrot cake was very good - with a good amount of shredded white carrot embedded in soft morsels of flour. Moist, not too oily and with a little touch of chilli.
Eefu noodles with seafood - nicely done, and again, not too oily.













Other dishes that we tried: The chee cheong fun with Prawn, which was silky and smooth. the century egg porridge, which was boiled to a smooth, milky paste, true to the Cantonese style cooking.
My favourite dish of the day is the char siew polo bun, which was simply amazing. The polo bun had a crumbly sweetish tasting top, and the bun itself was cottony soft and warm. It was stuffed with chunks of char siew and sweet sauce, and was very very delicious.

It gets really crowded especially on weekend lunches, so do make a reservation before going down. The give complimentary carpark for the first 3 hours (or $6).

Wah Loke Cantonese Restaurant

76 Bras Basah Road

2F Carlton Hotel
Tel: +65 6311 8188

Bosses - Vivocity 3

After being highly impressed by their half price dimsum buffet, I decided to try this place for dinner with my family. I can't quite remember the prices of the dishes cos I went there over a week ago but didn't have time to blog cos of PATHOOOO>.<Appetiser - Wasabi Prawn. The prawns are very fresh and juicy, and the wasabi has a slight taste of mayonnaise. Sharks Cartilage Soup ($12.50 per person)- I really like shark's cartilage soup cos it's creamy milky and tasty, and it leaves this slightly sticky collagen-ish feeling on my tongue. It's cheaper than Peach Garden, which serves one portion for $15.This is the triple egg with shanghai xiao bai cai - it's the clear soup kind and tastes quite average -I much prefer the one with the cloudy eggy soup.This is a $15 high class oyster omelette - lots of oysters and topped with some crispy fried unidentifiable thingDrunken chicken (which was quite good, $17 for half i think?) and Scallop braised fried rice ($18, super ex!). I didn't really like the braised fried rice cos it had alot alot of sauce.
Yummy desserts - almond pudding with nata de coco, mango pomelo sago, tang yuan with almond cream.


Apart from their efficient and good service, I didn't find the food fantastic - just another crystal jade /ding tai fung kind of restaurant but pricier...

Bosses
Vivocity

Bosses - Vivocity 2

It's such a wonderful (cheap) thrill getting stuff on a bargain - It really puts me in the mood for Great Singapore Sale.

For that cheap thrill, we ventured into Vivocity (which by the way, is infested with kids now).
We went to Bosses for their 2.30 - 5pm half price tea time special. They've changed the time since my last visit there. They don't serve water (I don't mind as long as it's half price, but I do if it's full price). Instead, they want you to drink their speciality teas which come in very nice but unpractical teacups and glass teapot. The cups are really hot when you pour the tea in and you must wait for a substantial amount of time before it cools. We tried the Dragon Pearl Tea (cos it sounded nice) ($4) with unlimited refill.My favourite signature custard buns with salted egg ($2.40, prices here after the discount)Be careful if it's your first time eating it - the molten cholesterol will spurt out if you take a big bite. The bread is soft and fluffy, and the custard is runny, and the sweet custard and salty egg yolk is fantastic.Prawn Ball with Goose Liver ($4)
The prawn has been minced, and is juicy and fresh. But you'll have to go through alot of prawn to get to the little morsel of goose liver.
Ah here it is. It's a very small piece (compared to the ball) of goose liver and it's tinged yellow, i suppose because of fatty liver degeneration?
Har Gau (Shrimp Dumpling) ($2.25) The skin was nice and thin, and it had alot of prawn inside. Yum!
Sticky Rice Shu Mai ($2.40)
It's a nice change from the usual siew mai (but I prefer the normal one). The glutinous rice is very oily, and there is laap cheong (sausage) inside.We were being adventurous and tried the Green Tea Xiao Long Pau ($3)
The meat isn't too fatty (which I don't like) and it didn't have that very yucky aftertaste.
The skin was thin, yet it wasn't dry, and none of the xiaolongpaus burst when we were trying to pull them out.One of the dishes that I really enjoyed was the Shrimp and Bean Curd Rice Roll (Chee Cheong Fun) ($3.25). The skin of the cheecheongfun was smooth and soft, and inside there was a crispy deep fried beancurd skin wrapped around a juicy prawn. It's very unique.

Desserts were the Red Bean and Banana Souffle ($3). Tastes like the Crystal Jade one.Fluffly souffle and sticky red bean filling.The art of eating Souffle - don't breath out whe you're eating it.


Mango Pomelo Sago Cream with Palm Fruit (attap chee) ($2.25)

I love this dessert, but today, it wasn't chilled well when they served it.

The mango is really fragrant and the soup bit is creamy.

My new favourite dessert - Almond Beancurd with Palm Fruit ($2.25)

This has to be one of the best almond beancurd that I've tried. Most places have almond beancurd which is a cross between beancurd and jelly. But this is really the almond beancurd. The texture is exactly like bean curd, a bit like pudding and the almond taste is very rich. Its topped with coconut cream.
Our total bill (including Peanuts ($3.80 so super ex!!!!!)) and towels and taxes was $40.95.

I guess this is a place that I will visit during the 50% off tea time special, cos I really can't imagine myself paying $8 for the Goose Liver Prawn Ball and the tiny liver (its like finding a needle in the haystack).

Bosses

No1 Harbour Front Walk

#02-156 Vivocity

Tel 63769740