Too busy with CNY to get my mojo going!
The Wife decided that she wanted to bring her parents out for lunch, and she loves dim sum, so we headed to
Royal China at Raffles Hotel for a meal, with the In-Laws (including sister-in-law and husband) in tow!
First off, I highly recommend you find a staircase if you decide to park at the Raffles Hotel carpark.
I got so sick of waiting for the lift and I commented that the lift was probably older than the hotel itself, resulting in a pretty audible snigger from the Ang Mor in front!
I later realised that the trio in front, said Ang Mor included, did not even press the button for the lift. The imbeciles!
But the lift IS slow. So, we took the lift to Level 3, and voila! The restaurant was right in sight!
50m straight ahead! Fire!
(oops sorry was reminiscing on Army days)
The colonial style of the doors ties perfectly with the surroundings of
the somewhat ancient Raffles Hotel. No disrespect to the pedigree of the
hotel, but it has probably seen better days.
However, beyond the doors lies a Tiffany blue interior with high ceilings. It doesn't exactly feel like a Chinese restaurant, but somehow the colour theme is very soothing on the nerves. I also don't recall any other restaurant with such high ceilings except for
Peony Jade @ Keppel Club. Creates the illusion of space, for the restaurant doesn't seem very big by my count of the tables.
Table setting is plain, I would have expected more from an establishment in a 5-star hotel.
The settings weren't even arranged nicely, looked like they just dumped the items in a general where-they-should-be spot.
Appetizer was served very promptly, and this is probably a CNY-only item. A bowl of candied items was placed onto our table. While I did like the candied ginger and orange, I get the feeling that I could easily have bought them off a stall in Chinatown.
I did not probe, but if someone can prove me wrong and say that these are done in-house, colour me impressed!
Looking at the special dim sum menu of only 8 items (only these for CNY! probably more during normal days!), this was the first thing I noticed.
Hey guys, I'm sure you meant deep-FRIED.
Seeing as the menu had only 8 items, we ordered everything except for the steamed vegetarian dumpling.
Well, we should have skipped the vegetarian spring roll as well...'nuff said.
Presentation for the the dishes was...far from 5-star hotel standard.
As you shall see.
Presentation aside, almost all of the dim sum items met with approving nods. This Crispy Prawn Dumpling Roll with Mayonnaise Sauce was good. Prawns were fresh and the mayo was sweetened by the addition of corn kernels in the mix. We ordered a second helping of this! (Mainly because the next item was out by the time we reordered...)
Actually, only The Wife wanted to order another round of this. The rest of us wanted to pass because we were too full. This Pan-fried Beancurd Skin Roll Stuffed with Minced Prawn and Dried Shrimp was only ok for me. I would have preferred the skin to be crispier instead of soggy. However, the addition of dried shrimp did give the dish additional dimension though. Worth a try if you are a fan of this dish.
Steamed Minced Pork Dumpling with Mini Abalone. I was sold when abalone was mentioned. But I was quite disappointed with the abalone. Texture was not chewy enough, and the taste was a little off as well. The siew mai itself however, was pretty good. Coming from a person who is almost halal (no pork!), this is a great compliment! Do try this is you are a fan of siew mai!
Here is the *cough cough* Deep-FIRED Mashed Potato Ball stuffed with Minced Chicken. I liked the mash, though the chicken itself didn't do much for the dish. It could have been a wonderful interpretation of Shepard's Pie, but fell short at the stuffing.
Steamed Barbeque Pork Bun with Dried Scallops. This is good! The bun is fluffy and soft, almost marshmallow-like! The pork stuffing is also sweet and tender, with the porkiness that I so hate. Also, you know that sliver of unchewable fat that is present in cheap char siew baos?
There is definitely none of that here, and even if there were slivers of fat, they melt right in the mouth! I also felt the fragrant scent of cooking wine, but The Wife did not get that
You can see the dried scallop in the 2nd picture, but I feel that it is too insignificant to make an impact on the bun as a whole. It's just there so that they can justify the CNY pricing :(
Steamed Prawn Dumpling with Gold Leaf - This is undoubtedly the highlight of the meal. Ignore the gold leaf, it is there so that they can again justify jacking up the price for CNY. The dumpling skin is thin, so thin you hardly notice it when it enters your mouth. The prawns used are fresh, succulent and sweet. The combination of paper thin skin and scrumptious prawns makes for arguably the best har gao in SG I've tasted so far. We ordered 3 servings of this!
Even the Sister-in-Law who doesn't really eat prawns likes it!
Braised E-Fu Noodles with fresh Crabmeat and Abalone Sauce - Not too bad, but me and The Wife thought that we've had better elsewhere. The crabmeat also wasn't peeled too cleanly, leaving bits of shell lodged in the meat.
Charcoal Rice with Mini Abalone, Diced Kurobuta Pork and Diced Yam - The rice was too sticky, but it wasn't glutinous rice, so it was quite odd! Honestly, nobody liked this much. The name was much nicer than the actual dish.
All in all, the dim sum dishes were more hits than misses, so I foresee that since The Wife is such a dim sum fan, we will be back pretty soon! Will probably pass on the cooked dishes though!
Price : About $35 per pax (Prices are probably steeper than usual because of CNY!)
Address : #03-09, Raffles Hotel Arcade
Raffles Hotel
1 Beach Road S(189673)
Tel : +65 63383363
Website :
http://www.royalchinasingapore.com/
