Luk Yu Teahouse and Restaurant

Luk Yu an unusual Chinese name for a restaurant. Its the name of a Guangdong dim sum Chinese restaurant which I believe started a branch here in Singapore. They have restaurants in Hong Kong and China so we must try. We visited the restaurant at Chinatown Point for dinner. 

The Chinese cuisines are generally good. At least for my tastebuds. We ordered the Daily Soup - which was arrow root cooked with pork ribs. Each serving was $6 per bowl. It was well boiled and delicious. Soup base was not too thick. Just nice. 

Next we had the Homemade Tofu cooked with Spinach Soup. Each piece is served at $4. It was cooked chewy on the outside and soft on the inside. Great one!

Then we had the spinach cooked with 3 coloured eggs (that is; egg, salted egg and century egg). Nice and soupy! But quite the usual. 

I had to compliment the last surprise we ordered - which is the garoupa fish fillets dish! It came served on top of soft tofu and the dish was a delight ! The dish was pretty tasteful and the gravy could have used brewed soup as the base. Hence bringing out the flavor. The fillets were soft and chewy. A bite with the tofu blends very well together. Innovative!

All in we spent about $70-$80. Simple earnest and delicious dishes. Reasonable for 5 person. I have yet to try their afternoon dim sum tea buffet. Heard its good. Let me know if you try them too. 

Luk Yu Teahouse and restaurant is at Chinatown Point #01-41/42, Singapore. Tel: 6262 1717  (http:// www.lukyu.sg)

RATING: 3 / 5

PRICE: $$ / $$$$

AMBIENCE: 2 / 5

瑞春点心 Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant

Are you looking to reminisce the good old dim sum days of Chinatown such as Nam Tong or Xin Dong Nam? I finally found one in Singapore!! And it's actually been here since 1962 but it slipped me till today...

Swee Choon is located along the busy street of Jalan Besar, just opposite the Jalan Berseh hawker centre. You really can't miss it! This restaurant opens to serve the crowd from evening round the clock till the next morning (6pm-10am Monday to Saturday, and from 6pm-12pm on Sunday and public holiday) so you know now where to go if you crave for midnight dim sum!! The restaurant occupies 3 shops and in one of them, lots of pictures of celebrities visiting the restaurant decorate their walls. And mind you their tables even extend into the back alley!

Their dim sum reminds you of those we used to eat during the 1960s and 70s. Even their ambience and decor. They serve a great variety of steam and fried dim sum. Also they have shanghai delicacies. We tried their dim sum and the verdict is excellent!! A-star grade for this little inconspicuous restaurant!!

See what we had:
Siew Mai (烧卖) @ $1.60, steam chicken with egg (鸡汁) @ $2.50, beancurd prawn roll (鲜虾付皮卷) @ $2.80, lo-mai kai (糯米鸡) @ $2.20, steamed salted egg yolk custard bun (奶黄流沙包) @ $3.30, chives roll @ $4.00, yam fritter (芋角) @ $ 2.00, fried tofu, etc etc ...

Prices are reasonable and food is really delectable!! Swee Choon Tim
Sum Restaurant is at 185, 187, 189, 191 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208882 Tel: 6225 7788 http://www.sweechoon.com

Spring Court Restaurant

How did you spend Mother’s Day? Where did you bring mom to?

Spring Court Restaurant is established since 1929. A place renowned for its Cantonese cuisine and fresh seafood, it was originally located at Great World then shifted to Chinatown but they later moved to East Coast before finally relocating back to Chinatown.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, we thought this restaurant would an appropriate wonderful place to gather and have some good food together. We were early that Sunday morning so there was not much crowd when we arrived. We had no time to plan in advance, so we were expecting to fall prey to the commercialised efforts of the restaurants in the name of celebrating Mother’s Day. Surprisingly, when we visited the Spring Court Restaurant at Chinatown, it was not what we expected.

Selected dim-sum was available on the menu and price was quite reasonable, ranging from $3.80 to about $5. The usual menu was slightly changed to include some specialties just for mother’s day. Of course, some of the more common cuisines were also excluded.

We started the meal with many dim-sums which were pretty good in my opinion. In particular, I especially liked the crispy Fried Mango Prawn Roll (@ S$3.80) which was served with fruit mayonnaise. The Deep Fried Beancurd Skin Roll (@ S$3.80) was also very crispy. The Beijing-style Dumplings (@ S$3.80) were very delicately made – about 4 pieces of tiny dumplings dipped in vinegar sauce and we were sure pleased to have ordered it. Steamed soft and wonderfully done.

We also had the Roasted Chicken (@ S$28) which was crispy golden yellow and crunchy delicious. The Bamboo Consumme Assorted Vegetarian dish (@ S$28) was Ted’s favourite. It consists of spinach cooked with mushrooms, black moss, bamboo consumme and many other vegetarian ingredients. It was a heavenly mix! To our surprise, we were also treated to a special promotion of a serving of the Beijing Roast Duck @ S$0.80 !! (This is a special promotion due to their 80th anniversary) The duck was real crispy and delicious.

As a finale, we tried the Panfried Hor-fun (@S$22). This one is definitely highly recommended in my opinion. The hor-fun is soft and is covered nicely with the egg and other ingredients such as prawn, vegetables over it. See above snapshots for what we had!

Spring Court Restaurant is at 52-56 Upper Cross Street, Singapore 058348 Tel: 6449 5030.

Fortun-ate Teahouse Dim Sum

The dim-sum by Fortun-ate Teahouse is delicious! Look at what we had.

Simple dim-sum like siew-mai and har-hou but they really whet your appetite. The best part is that we had our meal in between our shopping spree at the Wisma Atria shopping centre, Orchard Road.

Yes! The teahouse is just one of the tenants at the Food Republic located on the 5th level of Wisma Atria shopping centre. The revamped foodcourt, now managed by BreadTalk is the talk of the town. Huge selection of food set in a warm kampung backdrop. Dont think that food served at foodcourts are bad. The competitive foodcourt landscape these days benefit the customers where quality food is served at cheaper prices. Value for money - well considering that is if you are looking for cheaper alternatives amidst shopping areas! If you are on a shopping spree around Orchard Road next time and wonder what to eat, recommend for you to take a break to visit the Food Republic and have some dim sum at the Teahouse there. You may find other food gems there too e.g. Sergeant Chicken Rice. Fortun-ate Teahouse is located at Orchard Road, Level 5, Wisma Atria Shopping Centre, Singapore.