What's best than having a good dim sum meal on this public holiday morning? I have made a reservation. The lady at the entrance was very polite. The baby blue and white environment gave a very cosy feel. Old Shanghai tunes played in the background. Other than the oldies, the place wasn't so Shanghai style. In fact, I felt it was more of a modernised classic setting. When we have settled down, a bowl of braised peanuts was served to each of us. Pretty different from other places where the braised peanuts would have been placed in the middle of the table to be shared.
The siew mai is a must-try! The fillings were of tangy and succulent prawns, mushrooms and also meat. The filling was different from the siew mai I had at other places. They have added more ingredients. Definitely a hand-made siew mai. The siew mai whole was very tasty.
Beancurd skin roll @$4.80
It wasn't too oil-laden. The filling was good. They added veggies in their filling which gave the crunch. Crispy on the exterior and fulfilling on the interior. Together with the sweet vinegar sauce, sedap (delicious)~!
Chicken Claws @$3.60
The chicken claws was just so-so. I felt it wasn't soft enough. I didn't see any black beans. I felt the chicken claws would have taste better if it was cooked with black beans. Black beans will enhance the flavour of it. Lacked the wow in texture and taste. The one from WahLok was much better though they didn't use black beans either.
Shark Fins Dumpling @$8.80/pax
The clear golden broth was very good. Paid $8.80 and I could get a decent piece of fin, I think it was pretty worthwhile.
Vermicelli with braised brinjal @$22
I didn't know brinjal could be cooked with vermicelli. The combination was awesome. Must-try! But I felt it was slightly salty.
Their signature rice rolls. 3 fillings - char siew, scallop and prawn. No idea why they called it their signature rice rolls because the fillings was nothing special or different. But the skin of the rice rolls was very smooth.
Egg tartlets @$3.60
The tartlets were a 1 mouth bite size. The flabby custard was not too sweet. It was slightly expensive to cost $1.20 each. Also, it was a little dry.
The tartlets were a 1 mouth bite size. The flabby custard was not too sweet. It was slightly expensive to cost $1.20 each. Also, it was a little dry.
Shanghai Dumplings/xiao long bao @$4.80
The skin was quite thin. They added veggies in the fillings. It was slightly salty.
Carrot Cake @$4 The carrot cake was a disappointment. Too sweet. It wasn't crispy enough though the exterior looked like any minute later on the frying pan would have char it.
The chinese sausages added in the carrot cake were very thinly sliced. Generally, I didn't like the taste of the chinese sausages because they were extreme in taste - too sweet and salty. I couldn't really taste the radish in the carrot cake.
Crispy duck @$18
This is a dish that has to be ordered first if you do not want to miss it. An hour before I reach Royal China, a lady called to ask if I wanted to make advance order on any of the 3 items - Sio Bak, Crispy duck and some chicken soup (forgot the name). These 3 were the fast-selling dishes.
So, I placed advance order on the sio bak and the crispy duck (1 serving. If you have more people, you could order half a duck/whole). The crispy duck was fried till crispy. The waiter shredded the meat easily with a fork and knife. No cutting was done. The knife was just used to hold down the meat. He used the fork to shred.....the meat was so crispy that all the waiter did was crushing on the meat and I could hear the 'crack...crack' sound even when I was sitting a distance away. The crispy duck was presented to us, wrapped like the peking duck. Instead of a whole slice of duck meat, we had shredded crispy duck meat. All I felt was the duck meat was very crispy and nothing much special in taste.
Sio Bak @$12
Okay....the sio bak was undeniable a fast-selling item. Must-try! The crust was so crispy. Woo...the chef has a hand with crispy stuffs, the crispy duck and this sio bak. The sio bak wasn't very fat. The lean:fat meat was perfect.
It went well with mustard. But hey, I found out it tasted just as well with raw/cane sugar too. Before this, I only know that mustard was served with sio bak....but at Royal China, they served you raw sugar too. Try it out!
Rice rolls fried in XO sauce @$8
Rice rolls fried in XO sauce @$8
This was recommended by the waitress who took our order. It was pretty tasty too. But due to the XO sauce, I find it a little oily and salty.
Fried fish coated with wasabi mayonnaise @$22
It was 1 of the daily specials. Must-try! Usually it was wasabi prawns. But it was fish this time round! The fish was coated with a dough and fried till crispy. The exterior was a bit like eating fried fritters but not so crispy. I like the wasabi mayonnaise they have created. The wasabi was pretty mild but didn't loses its taste. My mum actually thought they were kiwi fruits.
Pumpkin Puree with black glutinous rice @$8
This is something to die for! Must-try! One serving was not enough. Actually I felt the serving was pretty small. Served in a cocktail glass, a scoop of vanilla ice-cream topped with the black glutinous rice and surrounded by the pumpkin puree, mango fruit diced and nuts.
The puree was so delicious! I think mango puree was mixed with pumpkin puree. The black glutinous rice was dried like raisins. Overall, it was divine. Nothing more needs to be said. I would say if it was cheaper, I would have ordered more. I felt for that quantity, it was too expensive.
Give me one more, pls....:P
Looks delicious! Nice photos!
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