Royal China – Lunch

Located at Raffles Hotel, this restaurant is extremely popular. I failed to get a reservation for today and had to resort to having a late lunch as I was on the waiting list. They claimed that ALL tables were booked and none were available for walk in. I was told to arrive at 1:45pm and when I did, I only managed to get seated at around 2pm. The restaurant closed at 3pm. 1 hour was fine to have my meal comfortably though. I cannot imagine how packed this place would be on weekends.

Do not be fooled by how empty the restaurant looks. This was taken close to closing, when most customers have left.

I love the colour scheme of the interior. The beautiful interior alone is enough to make me love the ambiance.

Pu Er – $2.00++/pax

The tea was nothing special. However, the service was quite bad. They merely left the pot there and didn’t initiate to check on us periodically to refill our cups, even when they came over to serve our dishes.

Baked Barbecued Pork Puffs – $4.00++

This was delicious! It’s definitely the best char siew soh I’ve eaten. I usually do not fancy char siew soh but this was exceptional. The pastry wasn’t over flaky. It was just nice. The filling was good too without disgusting lumps of fats. The whole thing wasn’t too sweet.

Peking duck with Caviar (Half) – $33.00++

They started slaughtering the duck before I had the chance to get a picture, and could only snap this from afar. Pardon the grainy picture.

The skin however, wasn’t the usual egg crepe. I would prefer that over this.

The caviar.

Despite the disappointing pancake wrap, the duck skin was fantastic! It had all elements of a good Peking duck.

We had the duck meat served alone. It wasn’t a bad decision because the duck was so tender and soft it was good to be eaten alone! I usually do not like duck meat for the tough, grainy and sandy taste and texture. However this duck was totally different. I highly recommend the Peking duck from Royal China.

Taro rolls with scallops – $4.80++

I’m usually not a fan of taro but I ordered this anyway since I heard that it was good. The yam taste wasn’t too strong so it was ok for me. The deep fried nest was crispy. However, I found that it had a hint of sick oily taste, so I reckon I wouldn’t get this again if I revisit.

Royal China Special Cheung Fun – $4.80++

The fillings consist of a mixture of prawn, char siew and scallop

Scallop Cheung Fun – $4.80++

The skin was soft and smooth. It wasn’t too soggy either, so it was good. I think I’d go for prawn fillings next time. Overall the Cheung Fun was ok but it wasn’t as good as the one from 126 Geylang.

Royal China Crispy Aromatic Duck Crystal Dumpling in Chilli Oil – $4.80++

This was a waste of money. I wasn’t sure what this was, but it was under a section called chef specialty so I gave it try anyway. I do not see any dumplings in there. The duck however, was ok. The rest of the weird ingredients in this bowl were just unappealing. Don’t order this.

Steamed Layer Cake with Salted Egg Yolk – $4.00++

From my research this seemed to be a popular choice so I ordered this. It was my first time having something like this.

Instead of salty, this tasted sweet. It was ok for me and it tasted like cake (which I love). But to those who expect salted egg taste from this you’re going to be disappointed.

Stewed chicken claw – $3.60++

I didn’t try this as I never liked chicken claw, but those who loves chicken claw said this was good.

Fried Beancurd Skin Roll – $4.80++

I used to like Geylang 126’s rendition of fried beancurd skin most, but this has taken it’s position. The skin was fried to perfection without the sick oily taste. However, filling wise, I have no special comments. It was filled with prawns, by the way.

Steamed Minced Pork Dumpling with Wolfberry – $4.80++

The size of the siew mai was quite small. In my opinion, this didn’t taste special. It was just average.

Steamed Prawn Dumpling– $4.80++

In contast to the size of the siew mai, the har gao was very big! The filling was full of prawns, which was good. The skin was perfect too. it wasn’t soggy (didn’t break at all) and neither was it too hard.

The total bill amounted to $101.46, which wasn’t expensive considering how good the food was (minus the weird chef specialty). We had 10 types of dimsum and half a peking duck to share among 4, which makes it around $25/pax. It would be $15/pax without the peking duck.

*****

Ambiance: 8.5/10

Food: 8.5/10

Value: 7.5/10

Overall: do try the barbeque pork puff and peking duck.

*****

Royal China

03-09 Raffles Hotel Arcade

Tel: 6338 3363

*****

Lunch:

Mon – Fri: 12 noon to 3.00pm