Decked out in auspicious red carpeting and traditional Chinese furniture, Royal China resembled a caricature of what a restaurant should look like in a Hollywood movie. But tacky décor aside, service was attentive and care was taken to ensure we had a pleasurable dining experience.
The roast crispy pork belly was probably one of the best versions that i have had. There was little trace of fat within the pork and the panfried-to-almost-brittleness skin cracked into tiny bits upon the slightest pressure imposed by your tongue. This is one dish where only hokkien vulgarities could demonstrate your over the top reaction; however, we were dining in Raffles Hotel, a little restraint was duly appreciated.
Tip #1: Don't bother offering the last piece to anyone, you know you don't mean it anyway.
Apart from the Cha Xiu Bao, the quality of Cheung Fun serves as a yardstick of a restaurant’s competence and Royal China passes with flying colours. Thin rice flour blanket rolls of fresh prawns, cha xiu and chopped chives, drenched in light soy sauce and sesame oil created the delightful Royal China Cheung Fun.
The shanghai style marinated fried beancurd is not a pretty sight, albeit sounding like one. Imagine me getting all ‘honey-when's-your-next-botox-treatment’ superficial over dim sum! That being said, I am glad to say what should have been renamed "Shanghai Swamp Thing" soon silenced critics with its saucy rich braised flavour which was INCIDENTALLY perfect for mantou dipping! Yup, we actually ordered extra mantous for this! It ain't ugly, it's my dim sum
With its daintily crisp outsides and chewy insides, the panfried beancurd sheet roll, stuffed with with minced shrimp would be a regular feature on our dim sum tick list. Tip #2: see tip #1 above.
Each har gow was stuffed with at least three fresh succulent prawns and popping it whole into your mouth was an experience not to be missed by any har gow lover. Athough siew mai usually does fire up my senses me, Royal China’s, topped with roe, proved irresistible for the other diners.
We were unimpressed with the century egg porridge, which was bland and a little on the watery side. The congee was uninspiring and received a befitting lukewarm response. Along the same line of mediocrity, the char xiu bao was decent but forgettable.
The braised egg noodles with live boston lobster, ginger and spring onion was the undeniable ‘stud muffin’ of the entire meal. Well hello?! for $82 buckaroos a plate, it better damn well be. Although this purse-lightening dish is said to have been the brainchild of Royal China, my first encounter with the lobster noodle took place in her rival's restaurant at London’s Mandarin Kitchen. This may sound almost sacrilegious but I wasn't exactly blown away. In fact just a few doors down the street, Four Seasons's duck rice was way more gratifying.
Anyway, based on hearsay (well, my sister was sitting sitting a good two seats away), Royal China's version was better because this time round the chef wasn't over-enthusiastic with the oil. I know what you must be thinking: Like who cares about heart problems when you are feasting on lobster? I mean you wouldn't catch me ordering a trans fat-free abalone anytime soon. As for Royal China's noodle, everything just felt 'enough'.. you know.. like tasty ENOUGH, salty ENOUGH, noodles were chewy ENOUGH.. Thus there wasn't a ‘COWABUNGA WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!’ reaction.. But that's just my opinion, ask my sis and she will probably tell you that she's up for a weekly prescription of it.
If I have to get all ogress on you and demand you save some space for dessert, I will do it! Royal China has an interesting spread of desserts and not ordering a couple to share would be your loss.
I was blown away by the double-boiled hot cream of almond in young coconut. It is served in a young coconut husk, so you should scrap the luscious flesh of the coconut and eat it together with the yummy almond cream for pleasure-maximization.
The chilled cream of mango, with pomelo and sago took resembled a liquid form of the mango pudding and tastes just as heavenly.
The chilled apple chrysamthathum tea with grass jelly and diced aloe vera could have had done with more zing but ideal for someone who was looking for something light.
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