Gullible Travels

Royal China

POSTED ON Sunday, December 15, 2013 AT 9:28 PM \ leave a comment (0)

being a frequent traveller to Hong Kong, i often find it difficult to compare our local Dim Sum to the real McCoy, much less understand why we flock to an overpriced Hong Kong franchise (when it's so much better and cheaper in HK) or fail to realise that the standards of some old time names have dropped significantly in recent years.

there are still some restaurants that deliver a really good serving of Dim Sum locally, and Royal China restaurant at Raffles Hotel is one of them. they've got a good spread of Dim Sum options that are extremely popular for weekend/holiday lunches. the ala carte dishes are reasonably priced, which would certainly spoil patrons for choice..

standard Dim Sum fare are certainly available here, but there are some signatures that you may want to try if you do visit. i last tried XO Cheong Fun at a food court in Hong Kong, the version at Royal China is close, but a little too spicy and thus taking away the flavour of the XO sauce. if we were to compare this with the XO carrot cake served at Paradise Pavilion (another good Dim Sum restaurant), the latter comes out tops..

but what really scores a winner is their egg tarts! coming in very small pieces, this sweet pastry certainly rivals all the famous ones that you'd probably heard of. apart from egg tarts, do try their Char Siew Puffs, custard pau and mango rolls when you are here. not forgetting their scallop cheong fun or prawn dumplings (Har Gau) which turned out really smooth and not too salty, excellent.

we were not very adventurous when it comes to dessert choices, but we figured nobody could go wrong with mango pudding and their herbal Gui Lin Gao. i guess after a hearty dose of Dim Sum, some herbal jelly to wash everything down could be a welcome treat.

we were a little irked that they had to place us in an obscure corner, despite making an earlier reservation. this obviously led to us having the challenge of attracting the service crew's attention. but other than that, Royal China is a comfortable and worthwhile place to enjoy Hong Kong's favourite tea-time delicacies..

Royal China
1 Beach Road
#03-09 Raffles Hotel
Singapore 189673

Opening Hours
12pm to 3pm;
6pm to 10.30pm (daily)

Comes with very nice tiffany blue interior..