Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum ( 一点心港式点心 ) @ Kovan

I love having dim sums. Dainty in bite-sized morsels (usually), easy to share plus there's variety. Ranging from steamed to deep fried and sometimes baked. A group of my friends wanted to meet up and someone suggested dim sum, so we Googled for one that is of a reasonable price. Yi Dian Xin was suggested and readily agreed.

We met on a weekend at about 11am and the coffeeshop was rather packed. Teo Seng Eating House (潮成餐室) is a smallish coffeeshop within walking distance from Kovan MRT. About 8 minutes walk.

stall front

various photos with artists / newspaper clippings

Yi Dian Xin is nearer towards the drinks stall. To order, one just need to fill up the order form and indicate if you'd be dining-in or to take-out.

order form

wait for it to buzz

As the food may not be ready at the same time, we took what we could and the rest was delivered to our table by the friendly staff. We tried carrot cake, chee cheong fun, steamed pork ribs, chicken claws, siew mai, lo mai gai (x2), porridge, fried beancurd fritters, fried you tiao with mango, fried prawn dumplings, and lava buns (x2). Lots of food for four pax for brunch.

dim sum spread

porridge (house special)

The porridge that we ordered was indicated as Chef's choice. Basically, it is somewhat like a 艇仔粥 (ting zai porridge) with the inclusion of squid strips, fish strips, pig skin strips, and peanuts. Natural tasting, so put a few drops of soy sauce if you'd like. As expected, porridge was thick, smooth and gooey.

lo mai gai 糯米雞

My favourite of the lot, was the 糯米雞 (steamed glutinous rice with chicken, char siew, and mushrooms). Perfectly dark, tasty and chockful of ingredients. Each grain of the glutinous rice was good and none of the 生米 (uncooked rice) nonsense.

The biggest surprise was in the form of the carrot cake. The version here is soft, round and steamed. The usual Hong Kong dim sum versions are those square, pan-fried versions with diced dried shrimps and chinese sausage bits.

Another must-order would be the 流沙包 (liu sha bao or lava buns). I wasn't careful the first time and it 'exploded' onto my palm. Goodness! The fragrance of the salted egg lingered on to the fingers until it was washed off. Very good lava buns.

salted egg custard lava buns 流沙包

For Kovanites, it is good to have stalls selling quality dim sums instead of the kopitiams run-of-the-mill kind, in the neighbourhood area. Just waiting for ex-Chefs of restaurants to open up more hawker stalls in neighbourhood areas. Come to West, ok?

We observed that there is another stall in the coffeeshop that seemed very popular and with long queue. The queue for First Street Teochew Fish Soup stall was never-ending from 11am to 1pm. Let me know your feedback for those that have tried!

Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum

Address: 012 Upper Serangoon Rd, Teo Seng Eating House, Singapore 534750
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yidianxin1kovan/
Contact: 9168 5587
Business Hours: 
Daily 7:00AM to 3:00PM. Closes on Tuesdays.