Shanghai La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Alexandra Village Food Centre

Zhang You Zhu, the owner and Zhao Guilan, his wife, came from Nanjing and have been in Singapore for more than 10 years. Her husband was a chef in Nan Jing before moving to Singapore and worked in a restaurant for about 10 years before starting their stall in 2011.

The queue started to form even before the stall was ready as their operating hours start from 11.30 am. I joined the queue and waited for a while ordering. I decided to go with Xiao Long Bao ($4.50) and Szechuan Spicy Wanton ($10 pieces for $4.50). 

Xiao Long Bao, typically means Little Dragon Bun, is supposed to be originated from Nan Jing. It is a steamed pork dumpling with minced pork as filling and encased in the handmade skin. We were served lukewarm dumplings that might have already steamed ahead to get them ready for the order. We did not like it as we were expecting it to be better after spotted the article from KF Seetoh of Makansutra dated 7 October 2013.

Szechuan Spicy Wanton is none other than poached dumplings served in chilli oil, it tasted more sourish than spicy but quite light and not too oily. It is quite good value for such a dish from a hawker stall. 

SHANGHAI LA MIAN XIAO LONG BAO

Block 120 Bukit Merah Lane #01-56 Alexandra Village Food Centre SINGAPORE 150123

Operating Hours: 11.30 am to 8.30 pm (Closed on Mondays)

小蔡自制手工包點 . 點心 : simple Dim Sum fare

This stall has just opened not too long ago. It actually took over a wanton mee that has been there for more than 30 years. My late Grandpa used to bring me to that coffee shop. We usually ordered that wanton mee with a bowl of wantons soup as well as the coffee there. Grandpa said they served one of the better coffee in that area. My dearest Grandpa was a simple man and his way of showing love was to make sure I will not go hungry.

There were no other customers when I was there on a Sunday. It is self-service and you are expected to wait at the stall for it to be ready. Most of the items are priced at $1.80 to $2.20, slightly cheaper than the other popular dim sum stall at Block 151 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5. We decided to go with some of their signature items like the Lobster Balls, Steamed Pork Ribs, Prawn Siew Mai, Prawn Dumpling, Fried Carrot Cake and Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf. 

The Lobster Balls ($1.80) were just those ready-made lobster balls in wrappers. It tasted just like those lobster balls that are readily available at those supermarkets. My dining companion was disappointed. We did not like it.

The Steamed Pork Ribs ($2.20) were alright though, right texture and flavor.

The Siew Mai ($2.00) tasted just fine.

Those Prawn Dumplings ($2.20) were nice, the wrapper was thin and nicely folded.

The Fried Carrot Cake ($0.80) was pre-fried so it tasted slightly hard.

The Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf ($3.50) was our favorite amongst those that we tried, it contains ingredients like chicken, salted egg yolk, shiitake mushroom and Chinese sausage.

It reminded me of those Dim Sum served in the eateries in Malaysia, simple yet affordable.

小蔡自制手工包點 . 點心 

Block 339 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 SINGAPORE 560339

Operating Hours: 7.00 am to 4.00 pm (Daily)

China La Mian : Cheap and nice Xiao Long Bao

I took notice of this stall when I was at this coffee shop to have duck rice. I decided to go with just the soup dumplings, more commonly known as Xiao Long Bao at 6 pieces for $4.00 as I was already half-full after having the duck rice and satay earlier. I placed my order in Chinese and was given a pager to come back later for collection. I waited for about for 5 minutes or so before collecting it. The 6 pieces of soup dumplings were served in the steamer basket. 

There are condiments provided at the counter for self-service. Go for the soy sauce and vinegar as well as the shredded ginger, place them in a saucer. There are steps on how to eat a soup dumpling correctly. First, take the soup dumpling and dip it into the sauce then place it on the spoon. Next step is to bite the tip of the soup dumpling off to release the soup, you could just suck it off but it is usually quite hot and finally eating it. It is best to eat the entire dumpling in a single bite. 

The soup dumplings were rather plumpish, its wrapper was thin and with well-seasoned minced pork as filling, the soup was light but flavorful. The flavor was nicely balanced by the shredded ginger and sour vinegar. It was quite good, almost as good as some of those restaurants but at a much affordable price.

I went back a week later on a Wednesday but it was closed then. I am interested to try the Pork Chop La Mian ($4), Shan Dong Fried Dumplings ($5.00 for 12 pieces) and the Red Oil Dumplings ($4.00 for 10 pieces). 

CHINA LA MIAN

Block 56 New Upper Changi Road #01-1314 Kopi Kia SINGAPORE 461056

Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant : old-school dim sum fare

This is a well-known dim sum restaurant located at the heart of Jalan Besar, in the district of Little India and it has been around for almost 50 years. They have started to serve late breakfast and lunch only recently as they used to serve just dinner and supper.

There was quite a crowd when we were there at about 8.30 pm. First, is to get a ticket from the machine at their entrance and you will be allocated a number with an estimated waiting time. It reflected on my ticket that it would be about 45 minutes of waiting before we could get a table. The waiting time was much shorter though as we were seated 15 minutes later, there is no specification on whether we want an indoor or outdoor seating and perhaps that was the reason why we got our table sooner than expected. We were allocated a table at the black alley.

While waiting for a table earlier, We have already done filling up the order chit. 

There is an old-fashioned service bell on every table. When we were about to press the bell to submit the order chit, the service staff came quickly and said, "Here I am!". The service was impressively attentive. 

The canned drink is priced at $1.80 each.

Steamed Salted Egg Custard Buns (3 pieces for $2). This was amongst the better ones that I ever had, the skin was fluffy with the salted egg custard oozing out after I took the first bite.

Har Kow (2 pieces for $2.40). The Har Kow which is also known as prawn dumpling did not quite impress, the skin was slightly too thick which I did not like.

Siew Mai (2 pieces for $2.00). I have eaten much better ones than this so this is not my favorite as well. 

Beancurd Prawn Roll (2 pieces for $3.00). This did not taste particularly impressive as well.

Rice Roll with Char Siew ($3.50). It is handmade Chee Cheong Fun topped with dried shallots and served a pool of soy sauce. I did not like it much too as I have eaten much better ones as well.

Carrot Cake (2 pieces for $2.40). This was my most favorite. It was deep-fried well to the desired crispiness but still moist within. 

Swee Choon Mee-suah Kueh (2 pieces for $2.40). This is their signature and it is a must-order. It is made of mee-suah with bits of ingredients, stir-fried then transferred into the baking tin, steamed and leave it to cool before cutting into blocks and deep-fried it. This is a very interesting dish, this was my first time eating this snack and I totally enjoyed it. 

SWEE CHOON TIM SUM RESTAURANT
183 / 191 Jalan Besar SINGAPORE 208882
Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 2.30 pm / 6.00 pm to 6.00 am (Mon to Sat)
10.00 am to 3.00 pm / 6.00 pm to 6.00 am (Sun & PH) (Closed on Wednesdays)

[Hong Kong] Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine : Hello Kitty Dim Sum

I was anticipating long queue and to the certain extent, i even made an effort to eat something light just before i came here. When i was all ready to queue for at least 1 hour or more, i was so amazed to find out that there was no queue during lunch. What happened? i thought they are newly opened for less than 3 months? i thought it was reported that Hong Kongers and tourists were so crazy about this Cantonese style Hello Kitty restaurant as this is the first one in this whole wide world to serve chinese dishes including dim sim in the shape of this famous cat? Perhaps i was just thinking too much, it might just be one of my luckiest days when there is no queue. 

We did not even need to wait for a table as we were immediately ushered to a table of 2. There were still quite a few empty tables at that time. 

And, almost everything is this restaurant has Hello Kitty printed on and that including tables, chairs, bowls, plates tea pots and so on. The interior of the restaurant is a combination of traditional Chinese with the influence of Hello Kitty.

We were presently rather quickly with their bigger than A4 size menu with Hello Kitty printed on its cover. 

Most of the dishes on their menu has a Hello Kitty touch including those Chinese dishes like Glutinous Rice, Fried Beef Horfun, Steamed Minced Meat with Salted Egg and so on. 

The popular Dim Sum dishes are those have the face of Hello Kitty created on it like the Salted Egg Custard Bun and Prawn Dumplings are extremely popular.

You could see Hello Kitty on almost everything and everywhere right in this restaurant.

And that including the cover on the packet of wet tissue.

First to come was the Char Siew Pastry for HKD $48 (3 pieces). It was supposed to be in the shape of the head of Hello Kitty with bits of sesame seeds sprinkled on top then decorated with the plastic stick with the ribbon of Hello Kitty at the top. 

Apparently, these pastries did not taste as good as we expected it to be. The pastry was rather light and flaky, it did not taste particularly buttery. The filling consists of minced Char Siew was slightly too dry and not as flavorful.

Next, came the Steamed Prawn Dumplings at HKD $68 for 4 pieces. And, amongst the 4 pieces, only 1 piece has got the eyes and nose of Hello Kitty with the ribbon and the other 3 pieces have got only the ribbons on it.

I took quite a bit of time to take the pictures and maybe these Steamed Prawn Dumplings were left it for a bit too long, the skin was slightly harden though it was still moist beneath. It was cute to look at but the taste was not too memorable.

The Salted Egg Custard Buns were served next, it consists of 3 pieces for HKD $62. It might have been left it for a bit too long, the Salted Egg Custard within was not as flowing and the skin was slightly dry. 

The last dish that came was the broccoli with prawns served along with the egg white, mushroom and rice for HKD $128.

The rice itself was a bit not moist but slightly dry and a bit hard. Those egg white tasted bland and the texture of those broccoli was not soft enough but those prawns tasted quite fresh though. The overall taste was quite disappointing.

We ordered a Mango Pudding for HKD $58. It consists of a layer of jelly that have got slices of strawberry and mango in it then topped with a piece of chocolate in the shape of Hello Kitty. It was served with condensed milk in a small container together with a few pieces of blueberries, a slice of strawberry and few cubes of mango. We did not particularly enjoyed this though.

Their exact location is about 3 minutes walk from the Jordan MTR.

HELLO KITTY CHINESE CUISINE 中菜軒

Shop A to C, Lee Loy Mansion, 332 - 338, Canton Road, Kowloon, HONG KONG

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 11.00 pm (Daily)

Lai Kee Homemade Pau . Dim Sum : Chicken Nest Pau (鸡窝包)

Their Chicken Nest Pau (鸡窝包) is the reason why i took notice of this dim sum stall in a coffee shop nestled in the neighborhood estate of Bukit Batok, within walking distance from Bukit Batok MRT station. The last time when i eaten Chicken Nest Pau was in Johor Bahru and i liked it so much that i even took away a few from there to have it at home. Though this was not my first time eating this unique dim sum dish in Singapore but i have yet to find a good one so far. 

Ah Lai, the owner, he used to be helping his relative in Malaysia before started his own stall in Clementi and eventually expanded to 4 outlets now. He is not making all of these dim sim by himself but hired dim sum chefs to do it in the central kitchen. There is quite an extensive choices for different types of dim sum on their menu but i was there just for their Chicken Nest Pau this time. 

It is quite reasonably priced at $3. If i remember correctly, the size was not as big as the one that i used to eat in Johor Bahru.

The skin though fluffy was a slightly too thick.

When pulled part of the skin slightly, ingredients like slices of canned mushroom with pieces of meat fallen off.

If you look at it carefully, you could see bits of salted egg amongst the other ingredients. 

All these ingredients seated on a lump of glutinous rice. All in all, i enjoyed it but i could not say this is the best that i ever tasted. I felt it would be better if they are not using the canned mushroom as part of the ingredients. It might not be quite economical for them to do so if taken the difference in cost into consideration unless the customers are willing to pay a higher price. 

I am definitely interested to come back for their Kong Bak Pau and Amy Yip Big Pau next time. 

LAI KEE HOMEMADE PAU . DIM SUM

来记自制包點 . 點心

Block 207 Bukit Batok Street 21 #01-118 Food Park Coffee Shop Singapore 650207.

Operating Hours: 6.30 am to 9.30 pm