Monday, March 2, 2009

Dim Sum at Raffles

I know, it’s been a long time since I actually wrote about anywhere in Singapore – so I thought I’d come back in style… with a visit to somewhere I’ve been planning on going to for ages: Royal China at Raffles.

It’s certainly a beautiful setting, worthy of its location in Singapore’s most famous hotel. High ceilings, ornate pillars and those distinctive duck-egg blue walls combine to give it a rather regal atmosphere.

We’d heard good things about their dim sum, so a few of us met up for lunch one day to give it a go. They don’t have a huge dim sum menu – only 12 items all together, so that made choosing a bit easier, although we did manage to stop ourselves from just taking one of everything (and only because we quite fancied checking out some additional items off the a la carte menu).

We kicked off with the Steamed Shark’s Fin Dumpling with Chinese Parsley, which were simply stunning and definitely a good start to the meal.

Steamed Shark’s Fin Dumpling with Chinese Parsley

We went on to pig out on the Deep Fried Spring Roll with Seafood & Cheese (sounds a little odd, tasted delicious)

Deep Fried Spring Roll with Seafood & Cheese

Steamed Crystal Dumpling with Mushroom

Steamed Crystal Dumpling with Mushroom

Steamed Minced Pork Dumpling with Abalone, Steamed Barbecue Pork Bun and Steamed Prawn Dumpling with Black Moss

Dim Sum Selection

Crispy Prawns Roll with Sesame

Crispy Prawns Roll with Sesame

and Crispy Yam Roll with Dried Oyster

Crispy Yam Roll with Dried Oyster

All of it was pretty exceptional, except for the soft shell crab we ordered a la carte - the egg yolk coating was way too strong and the crab a little mushy, I don't think anyone finished theirs, which is saying something considering how small the portion was.

The dumplings though were definitely worth coming back for - my only complaint would be that perhaps they were a little fussy – the flavour of the black moss overpowered the freshness of the prawn in the dumpling for example. But really – I’m nit-picking… in all fairness it was some of the best dim sum I’ve had in Singapore… although I still think Yan Ting at the St Regis pips it at the post. (What? I haven’t written Yan Ting up yet? Damn, I’d better get back there quick…)

Royal China at Raffles - http://www.raffles.com/EN_RA/Property/RHS/Restaurants_Bars/Royal_China_at_Raffles.htm
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 6, 2009 at 3:31 PM

    Wow, looks very good, and by the way, nicely composed food pictures as well :)

    Maybe i will try the place next week!

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  2. PamMarch 19, 2009 at 5:20 PM

    How were the prices?

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  3. The Greedy GluttonMarch 19, 2009 at 5:44 PM

    I think it was between $40-50 per person (there were four of us). That included noodles as well as the dim sum and soft shell crab.

    Yan Ting at the St Regis was slightly cheaper but we didn't have the noodles and there was a bigger crowd of us so would probably work out the same.

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  4. JoJune 9, 2009 at 11:15 PM

    Glad to see I was there to sample "the best dim sum in Singapore" at the St Regis then! :-)

    ReplyDelete