Sunday, May 23, 2010

No Signboard Seafood Restaurant @ Vivocity

Porridge with Century Egg and Pork 皮蛋瘦肉粥
[below left] Steamed Prawn Dumplings or Har Gow 蝦饺
[right, below] Steamed Minced Pork Dumplings with Crab Roe
or Siew Mai 烧卖
Steamed Rice Roll with BBQ Pork or Char Siew Cheong Fun 叉烧肠粉
Steamed Spicy Chicken Feet or Fong Zao
Sharksfin Dumpling Soup or Poon Tong Gow 鱼翅灌汤饺

Standard dim sum dishes my family orders when we explore a new Chinese restaurant for dim sum include all-time favourites like Century Egg Pork Porridge, Steamed Prawn Dumplings, Steamed Pork Dumplings, Steamed Pork Ribs, Steamed Chicken Feet and Steamed BBQ Pork Buns.

To beat the usual traffic crawl into the carpark this Sunday, we set out early and stepped into the restaurant promptly told by a staffer that it was 3 minutes before 11am - perhaps a sign that they were not quite ready for customers. Does 3 minutes make such a difference - couldn't they just seat us first? The restaurant was empty when we arrived and as per normal practice, they directed us to a table at the full glass panels facing the rooftop of Vivocity. Not my favourite place considering the glare of the sun if you are facing the panels. I quickly settled with my back against the glare.

We recently found that this place has Sharksfin Dumpling Soup for dim sum but as it takes 30 minutes to be ready, we ordered it soon as we sat down. It was worth the wait, arriving after we finished everything else.


The verdict:           
Century Egg Pork Porridge          
- Satisfactory [but my 3 teens prefer Crystal Jade's porridge though  nothing has taken the place of the one they loved at the now defunct Charming Garden]
Steamed Prawn Dumplings
- Dumplings stuck to each other and the skin tore when taken out of the bamboo baskets [at Crystal Jade, we would have ordered at least 3 baskets]
Steamed Pork Dumplings
- Good texture, colour and taste
Sharksfin Dumpling Soup
- Unanimously, this was the only dish that brought us to the restaurant for dim sum as many other places including Crystal Jade doesn't have this. Served 30 minutes after order @ $6 a bowl. The seafood and sharksfin flavours come through satisfactorily and the dumpling skin is just right.