宴庭 St Regis Singapore – Lunch

When you look up dim sum places in Singapore, this would be a popular result. I finally got to try it. Compared to Royal China and Taste Paradise, this restaurant is way classier, fine dining style. If you’re dressed down you’ll probably not blend in well. The menu is presented in mostly English and the servers speak English by default. The seats are luxurious velvet upholstered arm chairs and basically, it is not your usual noisy Chinese restaurant (think Crystal Jade where everybody is making a din). The ambiance is similar to that of Paradise Pavilion. The dim sum selection is not as extensive as that from their counterparts. However, they do have the main popular items so that is not really a problem. The prices here are relatively more expensive too, but if you have the Astor Card (50% off max) it may regulate the prices to what is normally expected.

Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings ‘ Siew Mai’ – $6.00++

Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumplings ‘Har Kao’ – $6.00++

Char Siew Bun

Steamed Chicken Claws with Black Bean Sauce – $5.00++

Steamed ‘Cheong Fun’ Rice Roll with Dough Fritter – $10.00++

The dough fritter was totally hard throughout, crackling, rather than chewy. Not the kind which I anticipated. If you like hard crunchy dough fritters maybe this is for you, but for me, my vote goes to Man Fu Yuan for this dish.

Fried Carrot Cake

I would prefer the carrot cake from the hawker stall I regularly get my fix from. I do not like this. The carrot cake was on the soggy side. Taste Paradise does it better.

Roast Pork – $20.00++

This roast pork is quite different from the usual. The skin is flaky crispy rather than the usual breaded looking crispy, and overall it was good with the meat part really tender. However, the pricetag for this is really quite overboard. Imperial Treasure Teochew Cuisine’s roast pork is still the best and only costs $9.00++

Oven-baked Barbecued ‘Char Siew’ Pastry – $5.40++

These are really good, one of the best around! However, I would say it’s on par with Royal China’s and Taste Paradise’s, which both has really good char siew sou.

Peking Duck

There’s nothing to complain about this, but it just wasn’t special enough for me to give it special mention. Definitely passable, but nothing extraordinary.

Peking Duck

Having the meat chopped and served comes at no additional cost here, which I appreciate because I don’t understand why some restaurants actually charge for chopped meat to be served. The duck meat was quite tough however, not the best around.

Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Bun – $5.00++

I was hopeful for this as I think custard bun has become my favourite dim sum item, but I was immediately disappointed by how tiny it was – it was probably only 2/3 the size of what I usually get! However it was fine taste wise, just that it is not the best and not worth the premium price.

Mini Egg Tarts – $6.00++/3pc

These egg tarts were good, but for $2.00++ a pop the price is really too much. The pastry was a bit too oily, making it less flaky than it would be if they controlled the oil.

Generally, the food was alright, with nothing bad really, but for this kind of premium price, that’s the least to expect. Nothing was extraordinary in my opinion, and it would definitely not be a place I’d strongly recommend. Perhaps if you have the Astor Card, it would be really worth a visit.

*****

Ambiance: 8.5/10

Food: 8/10

Value: 6/10

Overall: one of the better dim sum places in Singapore

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宴庭Yan Ting

29 Tanglin Road

Level 1U The St. Regis Singapore

Singapore 247911

Tel: 65066866

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