Dim Sum Lunch at Ah Yat Forum!

We went for a dim sum lunch at Ah Yat Forum last week because it was a special occasion. ;)

We just ordered a few dim sum as we were rushing to leave for Singapore Art Museum afterwards. These are just some of the dim sum we ate.

Egg Tarts



We had a Danish guest with us, so we dared him to eat Braised Duck's Tongue. He enjoyed it! :D



Sorry for the blur photo! This is the Char Siew Pastry.


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Roasted Meats at Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant

Some other goodies we treated ourselves at the New Year feast:

Roasted Pork (烧肉)

My personal sinful indulgence: A crisp layer of crackling skin, followed by a melt-in-the-mouth experience of aromatic lipids, finished off by the tender meat. All compacted in a small but sophisticated package of flavours and textures. They provide mustard, but I like to eat it as it is.



Roasted Goose

Another stellar dish at Imperial Treasure, this one is me and Mum's favourite. The meat is not the slightest bit dry, and the skin crisp and bursting with flavour. Truly the epitome of all Chinese roasts! :D

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My Favourite Goose Web!!

While celebrating "ren ri" at Imperial treasure Nan Bei restaurant, Mum and Dad treated me to one of my favourite dishes: Braised Goose Web!

Fear factor to others, but favourite dish to me! :D The skin and meat is so smooth and tender it slides from the bone and glides down your throat! The strange thing is that many restaurants serve this dish with knife and fork. I find that using chopsticks is much easier.

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Seafood Noodle (Sheng Mian)

I love Crispy Hong Kong Noodle with Gravy (Sheng Mian 生面)! The crispy bits are the best, but the noodles with the gravy are tasty! The noodle is crowned with a treasure trove of goodies: Sotong, Prawns, Mushrooms, Sliced Pork and Veggies! Delicious!!

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Mum's Claypot Rice (Sar Po Fun)

A family favourite Cantonese dish, Mum really knows how to dish up one mean claypot rice! We added Salted Fish, Chinese Wax Sausages, Chicken Meat and a drizzle of Dark Soy Sauce.


This is just before adding soy sauce!


Add a drizzle of Dark Soy Sauce, and Mix! Mix! Mix!

The rice was so fragrant and the chicken tender and juicy! Mmmm... Even a noodle-eater like me simply can't resist Mum's delicious Claypot Rice! :P

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Dim Sum at Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

One of those special occasions where we went to eat dim sum at a grand Chinese restaurant. My favourite dim sum restaurant has always been Ah Yat Abalone Forum restaurant at Allson Hotel, and my family always go there during special occasions since young. Their standards are still good, and being a regular, we are known by the warm and friendly staff there. I am known as the "Goose Web Girl" for setting record high of downing 8 goose webs in a row when I was a kid.

Anyway, we decided to try out the other dim sum restaurants and decided on Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant at Carlton Hotel for lunch. We had lots of dim sum, cold dishes and a couple of heavenly double-boiled soups plus sago dessert.

Cold Pig's Trotter with Jellyfish is a must-order cold appetizer dish. It's slippery, QQ texture is delicious! I also love cold jellyfish! As you can see, I really enjoy food with a good bite to them.



Har Gao, a prawn dumpling dim sum, is a must-order for us. The prawns are really "crunchy" and plump, and the skin translucent.



Crystal Vegetable Dumpling, just the way Mum likes it: Lots of veggies and little meat!



Another favourite order: Steamed Chicken Feet!! Yes, I love feet of all kinds, be it chicken, duck, goose or pig! Meat with bones in them really do bring out the carnivore within! :D



This is something new we ordered; if I remember correctly, it is Abalone Pastry. A very unique dim sum which my Mum loved at first bite!



Shown above is some sweet pastry dim sum...



The soup Mum had (and I stole quite a bit of) is Double-boiled Winter Melon Soup. This was really fantastic. I've always appreciated Cantonese cuisine for their amazingly good double-boiled soup and superior stocks. Rich in flavour yet not overwhelming or too heavy. (:

Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant
Address:
76 Bras Basah Road
2F Carlton Hotel

Tel: 6311 8188 / 6311 8189

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Cantonese Roasted Pork

One of the must-orders when I'm in a Cantonese Dim Sum Restaurant is the Roasted Pork (烧肉). These tiny cubes layered with crispy roasted skin, oh-so-sinful fat and meat are just delectable. The combination of crackling skin, chewy meat and juicy fat is just heavenly.

I tried this in Mayim Chinese Cuisine restaurant, a very mixed Asian Cuisine restaurant. They have Korean, Cantonese, Jiang Su and Shanghainese fare including La Mian.

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Hawker: Cheng Ji Steamed Fish Head in Hot Sauce

With 200 over food stalls at the newly reopened Smith Street Food Complex, one would surely get a headache just deciding what to eat. But Claypot Chicken Rice (Sa Boh Fun) and Steamed Fish Head are the two prominent dishes here.

It can get pretty crowded at night, with many people ordering Steamed Fish Head and Claypot Chicken Rice. We came for lunch, and decided to order Steamed Fish Head with Hot Sauce from Cheng Ji, which also occupies another stall a distance away.

Despite being a freshwater fish, the meat tasted fresh and the sauce (although on the salty side) did complement the fish well. I just love the jelly-like flesh near the head area! Do beware the large bones, though.



We also ordered "Ku Lu" Pork, fried crispy pork in a tomato based sauce. This was really good. It came hot and crispy, but do eat it quickly or its gets soggy from the sauce.



Finally, there are quite a few hidden gems here, with less common dishes like this Teochew Pork Jelly. Cooking fatty pork would result in a gelatinous layer on top of the cooked broth. This dish is created by adding some meat and chilling this layer and then cutting it into blocks of strips.

Another hidden find is a German stall tucked away at the far end. They have Cordon Bleu, Pork Knuckle, Goulash and German Beer, all at reasonable prices. Just nearby (not in food complex but directly downstairs) is another German stall selling breads. I love their half-size French-style Baguette, and they have pretty interesting innovations like the Fragrant Onion Bread.

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