Yum Cha Restaurant

Hello! (:

I decided to do another post before the long weekend comes to an end. This national day weekend was nothing short of fantastic! (: I really appreciated having time off to rest and spend time with people I love.

Anyway, Jeffrey wanted to have dim sum for lunch last week. Admittedly, we'll usually head to Holland Village's Crystal Jade Kitchen (because it's nearest to our place) whenever either or both of us have a craving for dimsum. However, I suggested going to Yum Cha Restaurant for dimsum since Jeffrey and I wanted a change.

I've only been to Yum Cha once before our visit last week. Trengganu Street/ Temple Street is filled with shophouses that sell Chinese delights such as dim sum, porridge, Chinese desserts etc. These little shophouse outlets sell affordable and tasty Chinese food and I would strongly recommend exploring these little food lanes in Chinatown for a Chinese food tasting adventure. Compared to these little shophouse outlets, Yum Cha is comparatively more commercialised in the sense that its main target patrons are tourists. This is very telling from the Chinesey interior decoration of the restaurant as well as the fact that the entire restaurant is fully air-conditioned. Naturally, diners at Yum Cha will have to pay more for additional dining comfort but it's a relatively small price to pay (in my opinion) if you do not wish to battle the outdoor heat.

Yum Cha is located on the second storey at Block 20 Trengganu Street. You can spot Yum Cha's signboard quite easily from the small main road that separates this row of shophouses and the multi-storey carpark.

You'll be greeted with this huge signboard once you reach the top of the steps.

The Ala Carte Menu aka non-dimsum menu. My previous visit to Yum Cha was at night and I don't remember seeing this menu. Maybe they've different menus for lunch and dinner. Jeffrey and I only ordered one dish from this menu because the main purpose of our visit was to satisfy Jeffrey's dimsum craving!

I like Yum Cha's teapot icon (: I think it's quite clever of them to make the word "Yum" rise out of the spout.

The drinks list/ service buttons. I didn't think that the buttons actually work so we decided to try one of them out. We pressed the button which says "bill" when we were done with our meal and one of the waitresses actually came with the bill! (: Splendid! I think this button system will come in handy during their rush hours.

Fried Carrot Cake ($3.50). Compared to the pieces of carrot cake served at Crystal Jade, these were unexpectedly small! However, Jeffrey liked them so much that he finished all three pieces before he proceeded to other dimsums. He said that they were very crispy on the outside and they taste different from those served at Crystal Jade (maybe because those at Crystal Jade are panfried instead of deep fried).

BBQ Pork Rice Flour Roll ($3.50). These cheechongfun rolls were also much smaller than those served at Crystal Jade. Personally, I prefer the ones served at Crystal Jade because the cheechongfun skin tastes softer and the sauce is also less salty.

Scallop Pea-Shoot Dumpling ($4.50). This item was highlighted in red in their dimsum menu, which I suppose means it's a recommended item, and I'm so glad that we ordered it because it's simply out of this world. If you like prawns and scallop, you'll love this dish. The prawns were juicy and succulent and the scallops were fresh and tender. It's definitely a must-try! (:

Yum Cha Prawn Dumpling ($4.50). This item was also highlighted in red and it didn't fail to live up to my expectations. I suppose they probably use the same kinda prawns in their dimsum dishes so the prawns in these dumplings tasted similar to those in the scallop pea-shoot dumplings.

Xiao Long Bao ($4.20). It's pretty normal so don't expect too much though it's a "red item" as well. Jeffrey says that Ding Tai Fung and Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao serve much better xiaolongbaos.

Fish Roe Siew Mai ($3.50). I didn't like this dish because I felt that the meat was too hard =( The middle portion was devoid of taste and it was quite a pain to finish.

Black Pepper Beef Hor Fun ($12). If you're craving for horfun or something a little spicy, you should order this dish. There were many slices of beef and the amount of pepper was just right. A nice complement for the dimsum dishes.

Black Sesame Ball with Fine Peanuts ($2.80). I'd a hard time choosing dessert because there were so many items I wanted to try! In the end, I settled for this because Jeffrey said that he's quite full already. Anyhow, I think they accidentally put the wrong filling into our little balls because instead of black sesame, we got peanut balls with fine peanuts! Peanut overdose! Heh but thankfully they tasted pretty okay so we overlooked this little mistake.

Crispy Red Bean with Banana ($3.50). We didn't order this dish because Jeffrey doesn't really like red bean or banana but I remember this dish being a hit with my family! It's really quite exquisite (: It's like eating some kind of Chinese "banana pie" and it's a real treat! Try it! =)

I think we'll definitely go back there in future to try other dimsum dishes. Yum Cha's dimsum menu is pretty extensive so I think it's a great venue for dimsum outings (: Alright that's all I've to share for today. Will update again soon! (: Have a great week ahead!