Not too long ago a friend told me of this new place at Tai Seng that he had discovered.
Just as I had been wondering what cuisine it was- tai Seng is known to have quite a variety- he told me that it were dim sum Hong Kong style, and almost at once I said I was eager to try.
Dim sum, if you know, is one of my favorite foods this side of the world.
It is the kind of food that you can have any time of the day, that you can go eat at whichever place you want, and regardless whether you want a restaurant-style dim sum, a coffee shop dim sum, a hawker style dim sum, or even a to-go dim sum, this cuisine of 'small bites' never disappoints.
The place here at Tai Seng was a coffee shop type of dim sum with cha chaan teng vibes.
Funny thing was, you didn't feel it, nope, not until you entered and right up on the wall and window there were these decor of colorful neon lights.
I suppose they intended to make you think of Kowloon.
Can't say that they didn't.
But this evening I was here for the food, and so straight into the menu we went.
Of the steamed variety they had, of the fried variety they had quite a lot, and it was hard to choose, but eventually, we narrowed everything down to all these we had.
One of the first few dishes to arrive was the cheong fun and the yam puffs.
A part of me had wondered whether the yam puffs yew kok were a worth dim sum to have- they seemed quite ordinary- but one small bite later and I soon realized that this was remarkably good.
Not only did the skin have a bit of faint chew, the filling was warm and solid and flowed out easily from the dumpling into my mouth. Warm and comforting the filling was, but it did not burn.
The cheong fun too was similarly good.
Anyone who has ever eaten dim sum knows innately the strength of a good dim sum.
For one thing, there must always be cheong fun on the menu.
After that the quality of the cheong fun must not be compromised.
Yes, there can be different types of fillings, and different types of fillings can have different kinds of standards, but the rice roll must be thick as possible, the texture of the rice roll itself as smooth as possible, and there must be that bit of chew that gives you the feels when you bite into it.
This one, I think, was char siew.
Either that, or prawn, and yes, it did taste good.
The other dishes of steamed dim sum came altogether at the same time.
There was the basket of salted egg lava buns all cute and round and warm. There was the basket of xiao long baos which we'd ordered because we both have a love for these little dumplings and I was eager to try the soup.
Then of course there was the star steamed dish of lotus leaf rice.
And a plate of XO chai tow kuay that he ordered because he felt like eating some.
The xiao long baos were good.
I had been unnecessarily (again) afraid that they might be too hard and cold, but no, not here.
Where at some places the skin of the baos might be thick and chewy or dull looking, these here had a bit of chew complementing the soft, warm, mushed up mound of minced meat.
It tasted just right.
Same as the soup did.
There is a simplicity to their dishes that is hard to describe.
I don't mean that their dishes are simple, I mean that they are wholesome with a touch of simplicity in their look, feel and taste.
There's a feel of the tradition in their dishes.
Like the lotus leaf rice.
A part of me had thought it would be no different from the lor mai kai of glutinous rice and chicken same as what you get from the coffee shop's drink counter, but nope, this one was wrapped snug in lotus leaves and steamed to the perfect degree.
The rice inside was warm and moist and soft.
They weren't glued together like how the coffee shop types were.
Best of all however were the ingredients.
I loved the bits of meat and bits of mushrooms inside. Warm and soft they were to the bite, full of taste they were to the tongue.
The eating was fun too.
I had a great time using my chopsticks to pinch out the rice bit by bit.
It took a while for the chye tow kuay to arrive, but when it did, wow, was it good.
With chonky, chewy pieces that were so easy to pick up and so lovely to chew, it was lovely just feeling the light wok hei of the chye tow kuay as I bit into each piece. You got that feel of the burnt burnt taste (from the pan or the wok), but you also got a light, clean hint of the soy sauce and the XO.
What's funny is that I had at first wondered if the XO might be overwhelming- like too strong the %- but so glad am I that it wasn't like that at all, and I ended up loving the zhng of the XO over all my pieces of egg, and kuay.