Royal China

Last Thursday, I finally had a chance to go our with Reg for lunch. It was a birthday (super belated one) treat from me and knowing that she like dim sum, I decided to bring her to Royal China! N and I went there in April this year and it did not disappoint! I was there early and had to wait for a while because parking was very expensive and she had some difficulty in find a place to park.

 Beautiful colonial inspired exterior..

Baked Char Siew Puff

 Thin, fluffy and buttery crust with a flavourful char siew filling in its core... Yummy!

 Har Gow.

Generous filling of fresh succulent prawns. Skin was pretty thin! But it wasn't something that wow-ed me.

 Love the Siew Mai! I really dislike low quality siew mai that contains minced meat/lots of fats.

This is really good. Addition of a wolfberry and a stalk of parsley made it stand out (:

 Pan-fried XO Carrot Cake. I'm quite impressed by the fact that the carrot cake is not plain carrot cake. When bite through the cubes, you could actually find mushroom and minced meat. However, I still prefer Canton-i's version. Probably because I couldn't taste any chai poh in this.

 Liu Sha Bao was a disappointment. The buns were not very fluffy and the taste wasn't very distinct. Maybe because it was infused with mango flavour? But I couldn't taste it despite it being mentioned in the menu ):

 A really interested dish! Superior soup with a mega huge dumpling. The dumpling is really special. Wrapped with thin skin, it has crabmeat, scallop and many more ingredients as filling!

 Smooth, velvety chee cheong fun (3 fillings- scallop, char siew, prawn) that glides down your throat

 The egg tarts were good! I like it that it is puny (;

Deep-fried Beancurd Skin. Dou kee is quite and some don't have impressive filling. This one is good!

Very unique dessert here.. Apple Jelly, with aloe vera (and some other fruits if I remember correctly). The cashew nuts gave the dessert a really special taste and crunch! Thumbs up!

Avocado puree with pearl in coconut, with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

While avocado and chocolate is quite a common combination. Bringing in the coconut as a third party is unusual. The avocado puree is very smooth and creamy. I thought the coconut is quite a calafare and complicates it without giving it anything special. Just the puree and chocolate ice cream is nice enough!

We spent about $89 in total.

Updated on 17th May 2013

I went there for the 3rd time and these are some new dishes that I've tried:

Roasted Pork (烧肉) a.k.a Shio Bak

The roasted pork is fantastic. Crispy skin, yet not overly salty. On top of that, the pork has a thinner layer of fat, makes it less jelat and you can just enjoy the pork at ease :D

The peanuts were gently fried (or roasted?) and the fragrance is at its optimum. 

Scallop Dumpling 

I was wondering why did I not order this dish the previous few times I visited this place. It probably did not stand out as a dish to order. But, as a scallop lover, I like this dish for the freshness of the scallop as well as the bits of caviar on it.

Egg Tart

These dainty egg tarts are so mini and so cute! The crust is light and flaky, but I would prefer the filling to be softer and smoother.

Steamed Pork Ribs

Most meh-ish dish =.= Don't waste the money

Sliced Fish Congee

My friend wanted a staple dish, if not I would give this a miss. The porridge is no doubt smooth and creamy, but at the same time, it was pretty grainy. It tasted quite plain and there were only a few slices of fish. The biscuits (similar to those found on Yu Sheng) did not do a favour for the porridge as well.

Though the food was good, I am really turned off by their service. Even after reservation, we had to wait for like 15-20 mins to get seated (when there were some big empty tables around). I guess they just did not want to utilize the big table for only 2 people. In addition, my friend had a stroller. The staff gave us such a squeezy table. Difficult to get staff's attention. 

Placed order at 2pm.... At 2.20, the food is not here..and guess what, a waitress came to us an said "Our last order is at 2.30, is there anything you wish to add on?" (in Mandarin) I looked at her and said "None of our dishes are served yet and now you asked me for last order?!"

In my mind I was thinking "How would I know if I would be able to finish the food I ordered and whether I needed to order more dishes?!" Yes, I do understand that they have to settle the accounts and close the register etc...But, the fact is that their service is slow, yet even before any food is served, you are asked to place your last order, I find that very annoying.