I cannot emphasize how long I've been waiting to go to Royal China. The first time I heard about it was a year back, and I told myself I'd give a visit some time soon.
Well that never really happened. Why?
First time I called for my mom and I , they were fully booked for the next 2 weekends. I decided to head down with my mom the second time it was 2.45pm and I didn't know they close at 3. The third time I went it was 6pm and somehow I never registered the fact that dim sum was only for lunch. The fourth time I went... They ran out of just about all the dim sum.
So can you imagine how exasperated I felt every single time I left not satisfying my dim sum craving?! The food monster inside me was full of rage, all ready to go all hulk mode on me. (Yes I have this tendency to get extremely frustrated when not having the meal I intended to have)
Anyway, enough of the blabber. Thboy and I managed to head down for dim sum and I was ecstatic.
Sliced Fish with Conpoy Congee ($6.80)
Salted Egg with Lean Pork Congee ($7.80)
Thboy had sliced fish and I picked salted egg. We both agreed that they use the same base, but it was the ingredients that make a good porridge. If there's any kind of porridge I like it's a good cantonese style porridge.
What is cantonese porridge? It can be said that the white rice is boiled in many times its weight of water for a long time until the rice breaks down and becomes a fairly thick, white porridge. And it differs from the regular porridge you'd have at home or teochew-style porridge you'd find in hawker centers. It's bursting with flavour, and many condiments complement the dish.
I've honestly had better congee in my life, but this wasn't too bad. Of the two I'd much prefer the century egg congee (and have always had) so if you ever would like to give it a try, give that one a go.
Sliced fish with conpoy congee - 3/5
Salted egg with lean pork congee - 3.5/5
Char Siew Sou ($4+)
I was contemplating whether to get the char siew pau or this, but ended up getting the latter. Not too thick nor thin, the crust was flaky and full of butter. They were extremely generous with their filling and it was nothing shot of one of the best I've had in Singapore.
4.5/5
Chee Cheong Fan (Prawn)
I haven't had this in a long time, but these were pretty good stuff. A very simple dish, the prawns were fresh and extremely big. I find that Royal China is extremely generous with their filling.
4/5
Liu Sha Bao (Comes in a box of 3)
I make it a point to always order this at every more well known dim sum place I'm at. Reason being I'm in love with these babies and secondly, am a sucker for anything that flows out and is sweet.
But to my dismay these weren't the least bit hot when I picked them up! I expected it to be piping hot, burning my tongue as the custard slid down my throat but in delight because they were going to be so good, but no. I'm not saying they're bad, in fact I'd rank this as the 3rd best liu sha bao in Singapore (With Paradise Pavillion being the 1st and Imperial Treasure being the 2nd). It oozed, just how I liked it. It was sweet and the filling was, as usual, generous. So do make it a point to order these when you're there, especially if you love liu sha bao's like me.
4/5
Har Gao (Comes in a box of 4)
Hands down the best har gao I've had in Singapore. The skin was thin and the least bit chewy, the prawns were fresh and full of flavour with every bite, and the accompanying chilli sauce given was an added bonus.
So what do you have to do when you pay a visit? Order their har gao. I'm pretty sure you won't regret it.
4.5/5
Egg Tartlets (Comes in 3)
I'm a huge fan of all things sweet, as you cannot already tell. However these were a little disappointing. Lacking the buttery flavour I'd deem worthy of an egg tart, these were a little bland albeit the thin exterior.
3/5
All in all I'd say Royal China is definitely worth a revisit. A small restaurant which could fit about a maximum of 30 groups of people, the ambience was relaxing and the staff were pretty efficient. There's a 15% discount for UOB cardholders too. So if you ever want to find a place to have good dim sum at pretty affordable prices, go down to Royal China and give this a try.
Royal China
03-09 Raffles Hotel Arcade, Raffles Hotel
1 Beach Road, Singapore 189673
6338 3363
Opening Hours:
Mon-Sat 12–3pm, 6–10:30pm
Sun 11am–2pm, 6–10:30pm
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