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.
I have been to Tunglok Teahouse at Novena before but this was the first time heading towards the outlet at Far East Square. And, it was so hard to find. A tip is to head towards the Evolve gym and head towards the yellow signage of the renovation walls and turn left.
A celebratory dinner occassion with the foodie gang, we chose to have ala-carte dinner buffet Chinese-style. Endless flow of dim sums, cooked food, fried fish and what not. Our table was filled to its edges in no time! Can you imagine that we ordered 38 dishes?! Am amazed.
full house and not all our food had arrived
The food arrives pretty quickly and this outlet seemed to have lesser patrons than it Novena counterpart. We had fish skin, fried prawn rolls, steamed pork ribs, char siew bao, chicken feet, siew mai, carrot cake and fried prawn dumplings for dim sum. All were pretty good. Then, we had two claypot items which were basically vegetables in soup. The one with nam yee soup was rather nice but nothing to shout about.
prawn rolls
carrot cake
The carrot cake flavour was nice but it was a tad too soft though. Some might feel that the radish flavour was not strong enough in Tunglok's version.
deep fried fish
A must order would be the deep fried fish. Smallish but tasty. On the other hand, the steamed tilapia was too muddy though. It was the least liked item. We also had jelly fish, oats prawns and soya prawns. Decent but can be better. The stir fried french beans was enjoyable.
蒜泥白肉 - garlic pork
cabbage nam yee claypot
stir fried french beans
The braised pork belly and beef brisket were good too. The portion was pretty generous. The meat was temder but still retained a bite.
braised beef brisket and pork belly
soy sauce prawns
There's a smoke duck with crepe wrap. Something like Peking duck but this one uses the smoked meat instead.
smoked duck pancake
There were also special items where it can only be ordered once. The shark fin soup and the chili crab.
shark fin soup (one time order)
chili crab (one time order)
The only item that we ordered again, was the fried fish skin. Was too full from barely finishing all the food that we ordered.
Thank you Kris, Justin, Ivan, Elle, Jennifer, Hence, Tracy and Tiara for the wonderful company and the dinner treat! Love you guys!
You might have heard of Grand Mandarina, as it was touted as having roasts that are worth returning for, and this was when the restaurant was barely a month-old when it opened two years ago. Read more via this link.
Celebrity Chef Benson Tong has recently came onboard as its CEO, and this multi-talented man, together with Executive Chef Eric Yeo, will be introducing a total of ten new items into Grand Mandarina's menu, for a start. That is great news as it offers more variety while crowd favourites such as its roast pork, char siew and roast duck, are all retained. Also keep an eye out for increased options for vegetarians too!
Grand Mandarina entrance
This tasting invite is my first visit to Grand Mandarina and Cantonese cuisine (粵菜) is one of my favourites. When I'm old and gray and still has enough money, I'd like to think that I'd be going for yum cha (饮茶) every weekend and have leisurely dim sum while watching the antics of the other diners. Wahaha!
Getting there: The nearest bus stop to Grand Mandarina is the one opposite of Pearl's Centre. From Choa Chu Kang, one could take bus #190 to that bus-stop. That's about 70 minutes of bus ride on a weekend traffic. Here's a YouTube video on how to get to the restaurant from that bus-stop.
Was ushered to be seated at Level 2, but if your group is large enough, then you might want to request for their VIP room for slightly more privacy. Subjected to availability. In a group of 20-25 pax and would like to sit together in a round table? No problem. Just let the staff know during reservation and they can make the necessary arrangements.
interior
Chef Eric started us off with a palate cleanser; a spoonful of plum marinated cherry tomatoes. I like preserved plums (酸梅) in general, so this was very agreeable. The saltiness of the plum brought out the sweetness of the tomatoes.
plum marinated cherry tomatoes
Next, we sampled some dim sums. First up was the "Steamed Vegetarian dumpling with diced assorted mushroom and vegetable in black pepper". The skin of this dumpling was made from scratch in-house by the chefs. Elegantly translucent, with a chewy bite.
野菌蒸素饺 (3 pieces) @$4.80++
Actually, can you believe it that I have yet to taste the famed Hong Kong cheong fun of zha leung (炸两)? Haha! Well, finally had a taste of that, and at Grand Mandarina, it has the savoury fillings of smoked shredded duck. The dish is named as "Crispy rice roll filled with smoked shredded duck and bamboo shoot". Totally would recommend this dish. A must-order in my opinion. It has withstood the amount of time we took to take pictures etc, and a bite into these rolls yielded a satisfying crunchiness that was music to the ears and a tickle to the tastebuds. So good.
烟鸭脆肠粉 @$7.50++
so crispy, so yummy
Next up, was the "Pan-fried bun filled with minced pork and cabbage". Tiny parcels of two-bites. However, this was my least favourite of the lot. Much preferred the pan-fried buns filled with not-so-finely-minced meat.
椰菜生煎包 @$5++
minced pork fillings
Dim sums were good to start the meal, and now we were ready for the top stars of the restaurants. The roast platter that consist of a portion of roast duck, and two portions each of roast pork and char siew.
Roasts Platter of Crackling Pork Belly (@$18++ per portion), Signature Crystal Char Siew (@$18++ per portion) and Roast Duck with Summer Truffle sauce (@$32++)
perfectly caramelized fatty char siew, crackling roast pork, roast duck with tender meat and crispy skin
Understandably, the roasts were very enjoyable. Good ratio of fatty meat for the char siew, slightly on the sweeter side, thin crispy skin for the roast duck with tender flesh and perfectly crackly skin for the roast pork. For non-poultry dish, one could try the "Deep fried Chilean Seabass with crispy fish skin served with egg white crumble and golden broth". Plus points for presentation and an attractive hue of golden for its carrot broth. Had enjoyed this dish quite a bit.
芙蓉鳕鱼 @$26++ per pax
Liked that the edge of the fish was so crispy and its flesh so firm, yet has a slightly oily mouthfeel. The colour of the dish was already appetizing to the eyes and the combined taste did not dissappoint. Well executed.
well executed
If you prefer something meatless, one could try the "Steam wild yam in Imperial sauce". Wild yam/mountain yam/淮山 is usually more commonly found in soups. The version served here is as a cold dish, and the sauce is tangy soy-vinaigrette type. Appetising and most likely will do wonders for the body.
Steamed wild yam (淮山) in Imperial sauce @$12++
Next up, would be the finale for the main course. New item on the menu and it is called "King prawns in Coconut, coconut crustacean broth with silken longevity noodle". The description is pretty apt.
King prawns in Coconut, coconut crustacean broth with silken longevity noodle @$26++
Take deep breaths and inhale. The coconut fragrance was very evident from the smell. A sip of the soup, will kick in continuing actions of non-stop scooping and slurping of the flavourful, robust broth. Bordering on sweetness, but one just can't help but to slurp it up. The noodles were akin to mee sua and very soft. Best thing, each strand carries a good amount of soup when you slurp it up!
The prawn was of a reasonable size but the star of the dish, was really the soup. Wonderful!
For the finale, ended with something sweet. Not just any desserts but one that literally shined. Yup, a sweet local dessert of durian pengat, adorned generously with glittering gold flakes and served with coconut ice-cream. Was told that Chef made it for special occassions, so it may not be available to the general public. However, if really interested, you may want to check with the restaurant in advance.
Special Desserts -雪中送炭 (price unknown)
Personally, I really enjoyed the crispy cheong fun with smoked shredded duck, the roast platter, the deep fried chilean seabass, the coconut crustacean broth and of course, the exquisite-but-not-for-sale dessert of "sending charcoal in the midst of snowstorm".
Thank you Grand Mandarina, Benson and Chef Eric for having us.
Chef Eric Yeo and Benson Tong
It was a great introduction to the cuisine offered at
Grand Mandarina. And, Chinese cuisine is best enjoyed with family or a
group of friends.Bon appétit~ 食飯!
Was in the mood for some dim sum. What's my current must-have for dim sum in a non-buffet setting? Simple steamed cha siew bao (叉烧包). Its centre must've burst forth to reveal the delicious lustrous fillings of sweet cha siew. The darker savoury variant is preferred but nowadays, most are of the reddish variant cha siew.
At Old Hong Kong Kitchen, this week's cover charge was the braised sweet beancurd skin.
cover charge
For our drinks, the service staff recommended the rose tea with goji (枸杞) berries. Ok. But it was such a tiny pot with equally small dainty cups, that we had to have it refilled multiple times since there were four of us sharing this. Very light tasting, slight sweetness but missing the fragrant rose smell.
rose tea with goji berries
Let's roll out the dim sums! Ooh, we ordered 7 baskets of stuffs to share amongst the four of us.
boluo (菠萝包) bun
If bo luo bun means pineapple bun, then how come it doesn't contain any pineapple? 'Coz it just look like a pineapple with the baked cruncy top, that's all.
Those crunchy bits at the top, what are they made of? Recipes indicated that it's made of cake/bread flour, caster sugar, butter, egg yolk, milk powder, evaporated milk, condensed milk and baking powder.
The above Q&A was just to satisfy my own curiosity.
deep fried prawn beancurd roll
The deep fried item was crunchy and served piping hot. The sauce does enhance the taste. Quite nice.
Next, serve me a soft fluffy cha siew bao with delicious moist savoury sweetish pork fillings. Yummy.
cha siew bao
pan-fried turnip cake (萝卜糕)
3 treasures chee cheong fun (三宝猪肠粉)
The turnip cake and cheong fun were pretty run-of-the-mill. The turnip cake lacked the chinese sausage fragrance. The cheong fun sheet was nicely chewy and not too thick but the fillings distribution was not quite even. This version has scallops, prawns and cha siew in its own strips.
Alas, by the time I remembered about the har gao, the dumpling skin had already hardened. =(
Nevertheless, this har gao was packed tightly with firm prawn in it.
har gao (虾饺)
Just when we thought that was the end of lunch, out came the deep fried yam puffs. Oops, everyone had forgotten about this order.
deep fried yam puffs (芋头角)
The yam/taro dumplings were nicely done with adequately crispy outershell and biting into this dumpling yielded a very nice prominent yam taste to it. But, since we had so many items prior with the same cha siew fillings, this was unfortunately rendered towards monotony.
The meal cost about $76 for 4-pax. The dim sum items ranged from $5+ to $6+ each.
Located at Level 1 of Westgate, Jurong East. This outlet was opened last December 2013. It's been 10 months since, and here's an account of a first-time visitor. Neither have I been to Tim Ho Wan's original outlet in Hong Kong where its Michelin star shines.
Visited on a weekend, during tea-break time, close to 4pm. Shop was bustling but there was no queue. Got our table within 5 minutes.
Paper menu on table, take your pick and write it down on the order-chit. Pass it to the service staff and food shall be served within minutes. Fast and efficient. For a family of 5 (adults), we had 13 items and 2 bowls of congee to share. That was like 3 plates per pax. Wow. Haha, guess we wanted to try it all! (almost)
食点心
write your orders here
3 dishes that's under Chef's Recommendation
Started with a bowl of congee, of chopped bits of lean pork, century and salted egg.
light tasting bowl of congee (@$4.20)
For contrast in texture, have the congee with a plate of Chef's recommeded crispy fish skin with garlic.
crispy fish skin with garlic (@$6.80)
The crunch from the fish skin was quite shiok. Sis ordered the glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf.
lotus leaf glutinous chicken rice (@$5)
chicken thigh meat, lean pork, chinese sausage and mushroom
Flavours for the glutinous rice was good, but too much rice compare to filings ratio.
pan-fried carrot cake (@$4.50)
vermicelli roll stuffed with pig's liver
pork dumpling with shrimp (@$5)
The cheong fun with pig liver was different from expectation. Thought the liver would be mushy but it was slightly sprightly and chewy. Think I'd stick with shrimps and char siew version of the cheong fun for now. Carrot cake was nice and fragrant but lacked the chinese sausage and dried shrimps kind of oomph.
spring roll with egg white 赛螃蟹春卷 (@$4.20)
beef balls (陈皮牛肉球) with beancurd skin (@$4.20)
Spring rolls were well-fried but couldn't really discern the ingredients inside the rolls. Beef balls were tender but a tad soft. Thankfully, the taste of dried tangerine peel is not too strong. Subtle yet distinct enough. Quite enjoyable. Not too sure about the role of the beancurd skin here though. There wasn't any sauce for it to soak also.
chinese tea @$1.50 per head (refillable)
Beancurd skin rolls is also something that I'd order when having dim sum. The version here at Tim Ho Wan was three nicely padded rolls and lots of sauce.
beancurd skin roll with pork and shrimp (@$4)
well steamed, adequate ingredients
Coming up, plates to munch that doesn't fill you up. The chicken claws and pork ribs.
chicken feet (@$5)
pork ribs (@$4.20)
One word to describe the pork ribs: 滑 (smooth). Seriously, smooth. But has small bones, so eat cautiously. The chicken feet is not fall off the bones tender, yet can be easily 'tackled' (解决). The sauce for both were pretty light. Mild flavours, more on texture.
The last are reserved for the last two heavenly kings; 四大天王之二.
steamed egg cake (@$5)
baked bun with bbq pork (@$4.50)
sweet bbq pork
Felt that the baked bbq pork bun was more value for money (in comparison to the rest of the dim sums here). Baked till crisp outer layer that's non-greasy, with strongly flavoured moist sweet bbq pork fillings. The 马来糕, or steamed egg cake was a tad sweeter than expected and was rather enjoyable. Less fluffy than expected, more moist and can taste the brown sugar. Think it'll pair quite well with a cup of coffee.
Service staff was efficient, and worked swiftly to clear off plates that are empty. Liked that there are conscientious staff, whom would finish topping up the tea before attending to the needs of other customers. Generally quite friendly too.
Felt that the flavours at Tim Ho Wan Westgate, tend to be on the lighter side of things and its prices are best suited for dining in a group or at least with a partner.
Expect to spend between $10 to $20 per pax when dining here.
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