Royal China

We missed our reservation on Sunday because we couldn't get up so early, so K made another reservation for us yesterday. 

We didn't expect the place to be located in such an atas looking place even though I knew it was inside Raffles Hotel. I expected it to be more of like the usual Dim Sum restaurants, but you actually have to enter the Raffles Hotel grounds and walk quite a bit before you reach Royal China.

They have a tiffany blue interior setting but it does give off a imperial chinese feel even though it's not like gold and stuff. The place was quite empty when we reached, but it soon filled up. So a reservation is really necessary I feel.

Bare with the dim pictures okay, the place was actually quite dark and it was hard to get a decent picture with enough exposure.

They have two separate menus, the white long menu is for tze char dishes while the squarish blue menu is for dim sum. The dim sum choices are really not a lot, only about half a booklet, and the rest are all like set meals and stuff.

I did a bit of research online before we went and this are the things that we ordered.

Barbeque pork puffs.

K found this okay only but I really liked it. The puff part was very soft and kind of melts in your mouth, the meat was also really tasty and they were quite a bit of the honey sauce which I really liked.

Imperial Cheong Fun?

It's actually the first item you see on the cheong fun list, I forgot what they named it. It comes in three different flavours, perfect for trying the different types of cheong fun they have. The flavours consisted of prawn, scallop, and the roasted meat. The prawn one was damn fabulous, the prawns were so soft and succulent and we even ordered another dish with just the prawn flavour later on. I liked the scallop one too, very big scallops used, but the roasted meat one was just okay. Still nice but not so memorable compared to the other two.

The famous Liu Sha Bao with Mango!

I really really liked this! The combination sounds weird but it actually mixes very well together. It's like salty with a tinge of sweetness. A lot of people recommended this dish online and I totally agree! 

Look at the filling oozing out!

The pau was a bit dry though, so it makes you quite thirsty after a while and it tends to stick to your teeth. And I found myself just sucking out the filling. Haha. Wonder if it's possible to make the skin thin like xiao long bao.

Ji Zi Siew Mai.

I think the highlight was the ji zi on the top because it's different from other places? But this wasn't worthed it in my opinion. Super small in size and the skin was so dry and hard. Felt like those that have been left exposed to air for quite some time. But the inside was still juicy and succulent. Would have preferred it if it was like, at least twice bigger in size with soft skin as well.

Dumpling in Chilli Oil

This wasn't that good, too spicy, and the chilli wasn't the small chopped up type that I liked. And K felt that it has an alcoholic taste? Not sure where that was coming from. But I would say that so far of all the places that I've tried, Din Tai Fung still does this dish the best.

Har Gow!

Super nice! The skin was so soft and thin and the prawns were big and juicy, and each har gow had like two  prawns in it so the portion was quite big. Really liked this. 

Prawn Cheong Fun

We ordered this later on. Actually I feel that all the prawn dishes did not disappoint. The prawns used were really big and fresh, so if you don't know what to order, stick with the prawns and you'll never go wrong.

Chicken and Mushroom Porridge

This was okay only, nothing spectacular, but still well-cooked nonetheless. Maybe it's not my kind of porridge, would much prefer to have century egg porridge with pork over this. The chicken was very smooth, not tough and chewy at all. Didn't really liked the mushroom though. This is the cantonese style of porridge where it's so well-cooked you don't even see the individual grains of rice anymore. 

So, is it worth it?

YES! Nice ambience and great food! And the prices were alright too, it came up to be about $50 for 8 dishes and we were so super full after that, felt more like we went for buffet. But the service can be a bit slow, especially since we were sitting at the corner, feel like they are a bit short-handed, but if you're not in a rush everything should be good!