270. Bao Today

Egg Century Porridge @$4.80

Braised Chicken Claws @$2.50

Sweet & Sour Pork Rice @$6.50

A tad too sweet.

Fragrant Glutinous Rice @$2.80

Xiao Long Bao @$3

Prawn Dumplings @$3.50

"鹿鼎记" (Lu Ding Ji) Deer Meat Buns @$4.80

I was curious how would the deer meat buns taste like. Deer meat is more tender than pork and could have very well taste great but it didn't. The deer meat fillings was dry and all stuck in a lump. The bun was rather tasteless and the crust was also dry. The big name and yet the disappointed results.

Banana and Bean Paste Pastry @$1

I did not see the banana but every bite was filled with the taste of banana. Most probably smashed together with the bean paste. $1 a piece was relatively cheap and could well make a nice snack.

BBQ Pork Rice Rolls @$2

Bao Today's Special Black Sesame Buns @$1.80

Didn't eat this, comments reserved.

Paper-wrapped Chicken @$2

Didn't eat this, comments reserved.

Fried Mango and Prawn Pastry @$2.80

I find it a tad too oily.

House Special Brewed Tea @$1.50
Nothing special but just Pu'er tea.

Overall bill worked out to be about $42. It was cheap, it would not have been this amount if they were eaten at a restaurant. But, the quality was also what you have paid for. I personally felt the dim sum was below average. The dim sum were served in smaller portions too. It was more of like food to fill the stomach (for the amount we have ordered) but didn't satisfy the tastebuds. I felt that the dim sum were like made ready in a factory and then sent over to the restaurant.

Bao Today

6 Raffles Boulevard

Marina Square

#02-234/235/236

Tel: 6336 2237

249. Sydney - Emperor's Garden Restaurant

Chinatown is located right opposite Paddy's Market. Identified by the Chinese-textiled roof entrance. Emperor's Garden Restaurant is the first Chinese restaurant at the entrance. It doesn't look like it's in Sydney ya?


Egg tarts with crispy crust. They have the non-crispy crust too but I will go for the crispy ones. Asked for 2 times before I got my tarts. I thought the Cantonese makes nice egg tarts but not always so. It was just a pop-sized mediocre tasting egg tart. The custard wasn't sweet enough. Nor was the wow factor there. Crispy crust was a tad dry.

The rice rolls filled with prawns. The rolls was tangy but I felt they were made thicker than what we usually have. I didn't like thick rice rolls because the soy sauce didn't soak well into the rolls and made them taste bland.

Char siew buns, the all-time favourite at dim sum tables. We can find 2 types of char siew buns on the market if you have noticed. I meant the way of the buns were kneaded. What we see in the pic here was like a flower face bun, with holes to see through the innards. The other type being the conservative type, all wrapped up and you see nothing but a red dot to signify its identity. I personally preferred the former. The skin for flower face type was more fluffy but if the bun maker isn't skilled enough, you find yourself having the bun's skin stuck to your teeth. The one I had at Emperor's Garden was pretty good. The skin was fluffy and it didn't stick to my teeth. Char siew filling wasn't too dense or overly sweet.

Siew mai. The texture would have been better if it was made smaller, smoother if some prawn paste was added.

Prawn dumplings (In Cantonese, har gou). Very fulfilling innards. Prawns whole and some pork and celery were added. Prawns were tangy. It tasted better than our mini har gou.

You can see the dim sum wasn't really exquisitely made like we had at Royal China, Wah Lok and etc. The dim sum were maybe placed slightly higher than those Hong Kong Cha Can Ting. Only 2-3 trolleys were on the move. Not many choices of dim sum to choose from. Though food was decent, taste was mediocre, the price was rather steep. Bill worked out to be approximately >AUD30+. It was a treat from a friend so not so exactly clear of the total amount. A few steps away, there is East Ocean restaurant.

Emperor's Garden Restaurant

96-100 Hay St

Haymarket

Sydney NSW 2000

237. Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant II

Mini egg tartlets @$3.20

It was surprisingly good, better than I had expected it to be. The crust was thin. I disliked buttery crust, especially those that made the throat dry. Custard was not too sweet and the texture was soft and yet firm.

Beancurd wrap

It had mushrooms and shrimps wrapped in beancurd skin. I personally didn't like to eat beancurd skin but this tasted nice. The beancurd wrap was first fried before it was steamed. Usually, there will be a greasy oil taste if the oil that was used to fry the food was reused but for this, there wasn't.

Salt and pepper tofu cubes @$4.80

I loved this. The tofu cubes were fried till crispy on the exterior and the tofu inside was very silky. They simply melted in my mouth. The only thing I felt could be improvised was the garlic they had used. Does salt and pepper dish consists of garlic?? Anyway, they had added garlic and I supposed the garlic was over fried a little which resulted in a mild charred taste. But it tasted alright if the garlic bits was not eaten. Pepper taste was not very evident though.

Spinach in stock

It was good. I had it the last time so I shan't repeat my comments again.

Cheese baked oysters @$7 per se

The oysters were fresh and cheap. Have them the cheese baked style somehow didn't wow me. The amount of cheese and mayonnaise was too much and covered the taste of the oysters. The overall taste was pretty bland too. Maybe I should not have ordered cheese baked style at restaurants where chefs were more apt at Chinese dishes. Have them fresh could have been better.

Black vinegar pig trotters

It was not exceptionally good but acceptable. I didn't want to say it was just mediocre because I know I have tasted worse off ones. Either the black vinegar was too sourish or too bland. This was alright. I felt it lacked the oomph. Wasn't cooked long enough. It was considered to be one of the side dishes for dim sum, I supposed only available during the dim sum hours.

Crabs with vermicelli

Delicious! The vermicelli was very well-flavoured with the crab. Crab meat was firm and juicy. Yummy! My previous visit, the crabs were priced at a exceptionally low price, even lower than those available at the tze char stalls at coffeeshops. It was a great deal to have the crabs but I didn't have them the last time. So, I did this time round but the price went up and it was equivalent to those at the coffeeshops but hey....we had them in a restaurant so it was still considered a good deal.

Fried banana balls with red bean

I liked this for the great combination. It was not too sweet. Having been fried, the banana would have excreted a slight sour taste but the use of the sweet red bean paste covered up the sour taste and made the whole fried ball a great snack. The exterior was crispy and the thin bread crust wasn't oil-laden.

This meal was eaten some time ago. Lost the receipt and thus some of the prices were recalled based on memory. But I did remember that our bill didn't exceed $100. Overall, the food was decent and good. They were affordable as well.

See previous entry.
http://foodiesqueen.blogspot.com/2009/02/228-ah-yat-seafood-restaurant.html

195. Genting Highlands- Hao You Ji

[好友记], a place for cheap dim sum for everyone. The dim sum are cheaper than what we can find in Singapore. The environment is not that of a restaurant. It is quite like a big dim sum foodcourt. Not those chi-chi dim sum restaurants nor is it anywhere similar to those HongKong cha chan teng. Not here nor there.

Siew Mai @RM4.30

3 siew mais made us wait for at least 1 hour. It was on our 1st order and by the time we finished the 2nd order, siew mai wasn't even served. A few of us were bent on having the siew mai. When it finally arrived at the table, I felt it looked quite pathetic and thus didn't trigger my taste buds.

Otak spring roll @RM4.30

Crispy on the outside. The otak which was wrapped inside was not too spicy. In fact, I felt it was not well-flavoured. The otak taste was rather mild.

Char siew pau @RM4.30

Not so skillful, I thought. The skin of the char siew pau will stick to teeth. Fillings tasted alright though.

Char siew rice rolls @RM5.30

Prawn rice rolls @RM5.30

The char siew rice rolls was served mild hot. The rice rolls stuck together, it was more like eating rolled up thick kway teow. The prawn rice rolls were not even hot at all. I wondered if the rice rolls were steamed or not.

Har Gau @RM5.30

Big prawns wrapped up in the thin skin. I felt the har gau was the most decent dim sum among so many.

Thai beancurd skin roll @RM4.30
Didn't get to taste this. Comments reserved.

Fried carrot cake @RM4.30

It wasn't hot nor was it crispy on the exterior. Just a very plain slice of carrot cake. There weren't much ingredients added to the carrot cake either.

Salad Prawn @RM 4.30

Their salad prawn was in fact the har gau being fried. The skin was crispy but also a tad floury. The steamed har gau's skin which was drapped with flour to be fried came out weird. The skin was thick.

Century egg congee @RM 4.30

The congee was decent. Not much ingredients. Luckily, they did not add a lot of pork in the congee. I felt too much pork would ruin the congee's texture.

Overall, I felt it wasn't a very ideal place for dim sum. Though the dim sum were cheap, the taste was not any better than those we had at normal coffeeshops.

Hao You Ji

Genting Highlands

153. Chop Hean Kuan

People's Park Food Centre. There are a few famous stalls. One of which is the Liang Tou Fu stall, always a long queue. Frankly speaking, I have no idea what is so nice about it. I have eaten it before and I felt it was just so-so. Today, I tried out the dimsum which is very near to the OG's entrance.

Handmade dimsum. Pork buns, char siew pastries, siew mai, egg tarts and a few others. They have occupied another stall a few stalls away as their manufacturing base. I saw 2 chefs making the pork buns and also the queue at the dim sum selling stall. So, I joined the queue.

Given its surroundings, Chop Hean Kuan looked like an old dimsum bakery but it is still standing strong.

The pork buns (bao) selling each at $1.60. Ever since the price of eggs hike up, many bao makers took the tiny slice of egg out of their baos. Most of the baos are egg-less. I'm so glad that Chop Hean Kuan is still selling their baos with the slice of egg. The skin was quite good, it didn't stick to my teeth. However, the pork filling was a tad too oily. Oil dripped like the soup from xiao long bao.

The crust of the egg tart was different from the usual fluffy type we had at dimsum restaurants. It was a traditional baked crust. Slightly burnt on the edge of the crust. The custard was quite good. Flabby and not too sweet. Overall, it was just so-so.

The siew mai is a must-try! It may have looked so ordinary but it was very good. Surprisingly, the siew mai was tangy. The meat was not very finely minced which thus gave texture to the siew mai.

Chop Hean Kuan
People's Park Food Centre
#01-108