Siew mai – pork dumplings topped with whole prawn
I woke up with a craving for yum cha/dim sum today. D had recently been to Golden Peony and suggested we give it a go.
This award-winning Cantonese restaurant in the Conrad Hotel serves a-la-carte yum cha at any time, with some specials only available during Sunday lunch.
It lacked a lot of my yum cha staples – the only ones on the menu being fried carrot cake, steamed glutinous rice with chicken in bamboo leaf and char siew pau – steamed roast pork buns.
I understand that a restaurant of this calibre needs to up the ante to differentiate it from other restaurants, but the other items on the menu just didn’t appeal to someone like me who likes her staples.
Har gau – prawn dumplings
We ordered the har gau that did not appear on the menu, and they came with bright green dumpling skins – no explanation as to what it was, but the skin was a little too thick and doughy for my liking.
Diced duck in Portuguese sauce “puff”
Another order was diced duck in a Portuguese sauce in a crispy shell. This was served to us in the shape of perfect curry puff pastry – lots of layers to be seen. The filling was forgettable – a sweet goo with few pieces of duck to be seen.
The siew mai on offer was the traditional pork/prawn mix but topped with an enormous prawn. Kudos to the chef who didn’t soak these in bicarbonate of soda so the prawns are not unrealistically crunchy. This was lovely.
Fried tofu skin topped with pan-fried tofu skin and suckling pig
One special dish we ordered was a sheet of deep fried tofu skin, topped with thin slices of pan-fried foie gras and then covered with a square of suckling pig crackling – how could that go wrong?? Worked very very well, and the wasabi prawns that was also served were delicious as well.
Overall, I think this would be a terrific restaurant to have a business lunch at. For someone that just wants good old fashioned dim sum, my search continues.
Golden Peony
3F Conrad Hotel
2 Temasek Boulevard
Tel: 6432 748
Food is my happy place 
December 27th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I love yumcha so much I can have them everyday! Your post make me really hungry.
December 27th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Me too ! I miss the yumcha that I used to get in Sydney – very authentically Hong Kong yumcha….mmmm.
December 29th, 2010 at 4:12 am
Stopped in Singapore last year for one day have not got much chances to try local delicacy.
December 29th, 2010 at 7:49 am
With just one day you have to be really focused to eat local food. And surely you can get yum cha/dim sum in NZ ?
December 29th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Yup, I can get yum cha in NZ but they are not that nice in the city I live. There are more good yum cha restaurant in AKL where I need to drive around 1.5 hours.
January 30th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
I love Yum Cha too!! =) I love har gau the most of all the dim sum, and the har gao here is unique eh, wrapped with green skin. I hate thick and doughy wraps for har gao too =P
January 30th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
Christy – any recommendations for authentic and good yum cha ? I’ve been to a few around Singapore and none has made me go “wow” yet…