Should you be coming here for the first time, would I suggest that you enter via Temple Street, stay close to the right side and keep your eyes looking at the horizontal sign boards all the way until you see the logo of a tea pot and the words Yum Cha? Then when you've done that, you make a turn into the building that houses a hotel and take the lift up to the second floor.
It can be a little confusing to find at the first, but it is a welcoming place and you won't be wishing you were elsewhere once you are inside. The staff are friendly, fast and efficient. They greet you boisterously, and even if there's a queue, it doesn't take long before you are directed to your own table.
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| .. whilst you queue.. |
Yum Cha is a place that feels Cantonese inside out. I don't mean just an atmosphere or a vibe that was created Cantonese. It's easy to cut through that and unveil the layers. What one feels here is the Cantonese soul, a spirit brimming so full of energy, enthusiasm and lively , so much so that you can easily forget that it is Singapore where you're eating at.
My Co Diner and I went a little ballistic this time when we were there. Maybe it was because we were still in the CNY period, and you want to splurge just a little bit more when you're in the heart of the festivities.
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| salted egg prawn balls |
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| char siew sou |
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| siew mai |
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| prawn dumplings and cheong fun |
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| guo tie |
It was very good, all of it.
Besides all that you see above, I think we had char siew pau and cheong fun too. The salted egg prawn ball was unique, with more prawn than salted egg (it was very tiny, actually). Then the char siew sou, which is basically char siew in pastry, but the pastry is light and the char siew seems to be a tad sweeter. We had the siew mai and the prawn dumplings and the guo tie. Here the siew mai is a pretty solid ball of meat but steamed so right that it is tender to the tongue.
We liked the guo tie. Technically it's not a Cantonese thing- we have our wantons and sui gao- but here they do it wonderfully well and a hint of other provinces is as fine, is it not? :) Actually, the Co Diner liked it more than I did but I think the Co Diner has a subtle love for all sorts of dumplings anyway...
What's lovely here is the spirit of yum cha that seems to be found in nearly every Chinatown worldwide. This is a place where two or ten can come, and whichever table you're at, there will be this sense of intimacy with your fellow diners. This is a place where there will be pots of tea and little bamboo baskets and little plates and wait staff pushing trolleys of steaming food around. This is a place where you can choose to have a quick meal, or to sit and sit and chat and chat and keep on sipping pots of tea. :)
