Royal dim sum @ Royal China

Have not eaten dim sum for months so when Lin suggested that we do Sunday lunch at Royal China @ Raffles Hotel, I eagerly agreed. I tried the Royal China in London a couple of years back and could not wait to check out if this Sporean branch was up to the same standard.

There were 6 in our group which was ideal for dim sum...RY did most of the ordering - we had pan fried carrot cake, chee cheong fun (prawns and pork), shrimp dumpling (har kao), bo lo char siew pao, char siew soh, fried calamari, rice rolls in peanut sauce (pictured), some mango-fruity roll and one of their house specialities - the crispy aromatic duck. This was similar to peking duck except that here the whole duck (ie not just the skin) was baked till crispy. Our server shredded our half duck portion ($45) into small meat strands which we were then supposed to wrap in paper thin flour tortillas together with spring onions, cucumber slices and sweet sauce. Very very delicious..in fact, I think we all agreed that this version is much tastier than peking duck and seemed healthier too as it was less oily (ya ya, who are we trying to kid? :p)

Of the dim sum we had, the bo lo char siew pao (which btw, is only served on Sundays) and the char siew soh (pictured) stood out. In fact, as I am writing this, I am already trying to concoct another reason to go back there soon ;). The fried calamari and the peanut sauce rice rolls can be given a miss. The other dishes were decent and most of the items came in servings of 3 which meant we each got our own little portion of everything. We ended the meal by sharing a bowl of dessert with our better halfs. Had the yam and gingko in almond drink (orh nee) and the rest ordered the manggo dessert. Overall, would give this place 4/5 for the value and ambience and can safely say that this could be our new fav. dim sum restaurant :). Move over East Ocean :D