I'm one of those peeps that prefers to spend her nocturnal hours holed up in the safety and comfort of her room. Seldom; very, very seldom do I venture beyond my door to see what the city offers during her wee hours, and so when late one night I was feeling peckish and didn't want fast food, someone suggested going to 126 for dim sum.
I thought he meant the address.
After all, It IS located at 126 Sims Avenue, but the name itself is in fact a play on words, numerals and what the restaurant really is, because if you're hungry late at night, finding this restaurant after having passed Lavender and the Kallang River and the Merdeka Bridge, will be how the numerals 126 describe so aptly in Cantonese- "I've 'found food!'
126 creates an impression on you the very moment you step in. Many places tend to have wide entrances and lots of space. Not this place. The entrance is narrow, so narrow that you have to squeeze your way past a cashier counter on the left, huge steamers on the right and wait staff in between who're waiting to take out the steamed dishes. And then you're greeted- not with a polite welcome so typical of Chinese restaurants- but plastic flaps that you push through to get to where the tables are.
Here they treat you as if you just came here for a meal a couple of hours ago. Basically, you're so familiar that they don't even bother to greet you. Instead, you're immediately directed to whichever table is available. If you've got a party of five, well, you've got to wait. If you're a party of two, well, there's a table right there at the back, so go on ahead. And in their hands they're balancing a tray or three plates whilst they direct you with a jerk of their head or a dramatic gesture.
This is not a place to be isolated. Neither is this a place for huge tote bags, gym bags or backpacks. If someone is seated outside, and there's an empty table inside, to that empty table you go, even if it means squishing past more diners, tip-toeing your way in and asking to be excused for your impertinence.
This is a place for random conversations about the food with strangers, because more often than not, even after you've placed your orders, you'll find yourself ogling at the food that they've ordered. Which, of course, leads to a discussion about the merits of one dish over the other and whether you should add to the order, or wait till the next time.
As rapidly as we were seated, as rapidly we placed our orders, and as rapidly our drinks came. I got the barley and winter melon. It came in a round plastic takeaway container (that's how they serve drinks here) with lots and lots of little pieces of winter melon cutely hidden amongst crushed pieces of ice. I had great fun digging around for them.
The cheong fun (腸粉) came- all thick and floury and chewy with ingredients popping up delicately in the middle of all the rolls and a most surprising sauce. Thick, salty and sweet, making the cheong fun differently flavored from any others that I've tried.
I thought he meant the address.
After all, It IS located at 126 Sims Avenue, but the name itself is in fact a play on words, numerals and what the restaurant really is, because if you're hungry late at night, finding this restaurant after having passed Lavender and the Kallang River and the Merdeka Bridge, will be how the numerals 126 describe so aptly in Cantonese- "I've 'found food!'
126 creates an impression on you the very moment you step in. Many places tend to have wide entrances and lots of space. Not this place. The entrance is narrow, so narrow that you have to squeeze your way past a cashier counter on the left, huge steamers on the right and wait staff in between who're waiting to take out the steamed dishes. And then you're greeted- not with a polite welcome so typical of Chinese restaurants- but plastic flaps that you push through to get to where the tables are.
Here they treat you as if you just came here for a meal a couple of hours ago. Basically, you're so familiar that they don't even bother to greet you. Instead, you're immediately directed to whichever table is available. If you've got a party of five, well, you've got to wait. If you're a party of two, well, there's a table right there at the back, so go on ahead. And in their hands they're balancing a tray or three plates whilst they direct you with a jerk of their head or a dramatic gesture.
This is not a place to be isolated. Neither is this a place for huge tote bags, gym bags or backpacks. If someone is seated outside, and there's an empty table inside, to that empty table you go, even if it means squishing past more diners, tip-toeing your way in and asking to be excused for your impertinence.
This is a place for random conversations about the food with strangers, because more often than not, even after you've placed your orders, you'll find yourself ogling at the food that they've ordered. Which, of course, leads to a discussion about the merits of one dish over the other and whether you should add to the order, or wait till the next time.
As rapidly as we were seated, as rapidly we placed our orders, and as rapidly our drinks came. I got the barley and winter melon. It came in a round plastic takeaway container (that's how they serve drinks here) with lots and lots of little pieces of winter melon cutely hidden amongst crushed pieces of ice. I had great fun digging around for them.
The cheong fun (腸粉) came- all thick and floury and chewy with ingredients popping up delicately in the middle of all the rolls and a most surprising sauce. Thick, salty and sweet, making the cheong fun differently flavored from any others that I've tried.
 |
| cheong fun and its sauce |
 |
| char siew paus |
The char siew paus followed up next.
We'd made a deliberate order on this one, because no first time visit to a dim sum place is complete without trying out its paus. You could call the order an ordinary one, but they're not done the same style that you find sold in the coffee shop steamers. Here they were soft and fluffy and light and airy at the same time, and they were the sort that you could easily eat with chopsticks. No need to worry about the char siew dropping all over. :)
We also had the oysters and scallops.
I didn't get a picture, but trust me, they're really good. The fried oysters were huge and fresh and juicy. And the scallops were just as good. Tender, soft with the distinct texture and taste one gets with scallops, made all the more lovely by the fact that scallops aren't a frequent staple on most dim sum menus.
That's pretty much what we ordered this time. (I prefer my suppers light, filling and fun.) But we'll order more when we come again.
Come here again, we will, because here it isn't just the food that charms you. It isn't just the fact that you're out having a late night dim sum supper that creates the novelty.
It's the whole atmosphere.
See, one could go anywhere to have dim sum. That's not uncommon.
But to have a place in Singapore that exudes the energy, decor and experience of quaint yum cha places in Hong Kong, now, that's new to me. You can literally see the whole place as it would be in Hong Kong. You can feel the energy amongst the staff as they meander busily amongst the packed tables, multi-tasking along the way. You can see it in the lights, the exclusive room at the back with its own sliding doors. You can feel it with your fellow diners who are packed in such close proximity to you.
I thought about Tsimshatsui. Really, I did. I thought about how amazing it was that I could feel the atmosphere and energy of Hong Kong in my surroundings, in my food, in the staff, in the presence of my fellow diners, as if I were eating in Kowloon at 0023 hours with Mandarin, Cantonese and Singlish spoken by my side.
That's what 126 does to you. And no wonder too, because right above my head was a plaque of black wood, and on this plaque of black wood were the carved Chinese characters of "Kowloon" painted in gold.