Old Hong Kong Legend

 <Mini Egg Tarts>

 <Deep Fried Beancurd Skin Rolls with Prawns>

 <Shanghai Meat Dumplings - Missing one cause I ate it :x >

 <Steamed Shrimp and Pork Dumpling>

 <Baked South African Abalone Puff>

 <Steam Spare Ribs with Black Beans>

<Steam Sponge Cake>

What a let down... all of the dim sum here were mediocre or below average. They were either too dry or way too hard like a ping pong ball. The only saving grace were the abalone puffs. But they didn't come cheap at $9.80 each and required a minimum order of two. The puffs were moist and pack full of mushroom flavour. The abalone on the top provided the necessary bite to the otherwise boring texture.

But wait! Upon checking with my close friend. Old Hong Kong Legend isn't famous for their dim sum, rather for their specialties. One of which would be the abalone puff. So before you give this place a miss, you might want to check out the rest of their specialties before you cast your final verdict.

Verdict
Ambience - Good
Food - Average
Cost - $4+
Overall - Worth a try

Address
252 North Bridge RoadRaffles City Shopping Centre#02-18 Singapore 179103
http://www.oldhongkong.com.sg/

Opening Hours
10:30am to 10:30pm

Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan, the much acclaimed one Michelin Star dim sum restaurant from Hong Kong made its way to Singapore a few months back. It recently opened its second outlet at Toa Payoh with 2 more to be opened by end of this year. I told myself, I'll go there with an open mind that this was another dim sum hang out rather than the standard it achieved. You know, how accurate can an Ang Moh be when he judges an Asian cuisine?

 <Baked BBQ pork bun>

 <Fried beancurd skin with prawns>

 <Shrimp Dumpling>

 <Teochew Dumpling>

 <Shrimp Rice Roll>

 <Siew Mai>

 <Beef Balls>

<Steamed Egg Cake>

Overall, the food was good and reasonably cheap. I wouldn't say that it is absolutely fantastic but it is a dim sum place you do not want to miss. The much publicized baked bbq pork bun was good at best. I had equally good ones from the other places before. In fact I prefer the ones from Canton Paradise. I quite like the Teochew Dumpling. It was light, fragrant and had a wide variety of textures hidden in it. But the best item was definitely the steamed egg cake. One of its other famed item on the menu. This one really makes the mark. It is light, fluffy, melts in your mouth, not too sweet and full of the fragrance of brown sugar.

Verdict
Ambience - Average
Food - Good
Cost - $3.50+ per item
Overall - Try it!

Address
ERA Centre Toa Payoh, 450 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, #02-02, Singapore 319394
http://www.timhowan.com/

Opening Hours
Monday to Friday: 10am - 10pm
Weekends and PH: 9am to 10pm

Dim Dim The Hong Kong Pantry

Located in a sparsely populated Marina Link, this obscure Dim Sum place actually serves good food. Any initial skepticism I had of the place vanished once the food was sent into my mouth. In fact, the place is packed full of customers on weekends. The price of each item is also decent.

<Custard Bun>

Comparable to the ones served by Paradise Group in my opinion. Not too sweet, not too salty. You could still taste both the custard and the egg within. The bun is also soft and light.

<Deep Fried Shrimp in Bean Curd Skin>

Shrimps were super plump, juicy and fresh. Every bite consist of at least one shrimp. Really generous. Though it is kinda oily, but it is still at an acceptable range for me.

<Steam Cheong Fun with Prawns>

The shrimps here were also really fresh and juicy. You can see how each segment has shrimps popping out of them? That is how generous they are with it. The rice roll is also thin and smooth. Only problem I have is which the gravy. I'm not quite sure, but it taste very different from all those I've had before and I didn't find that it matched the dish.

Verdict

Ambience - Good

Food - Good

Cost - $4.50+ per dish

Overall - Try it!

Address

6 Raffles Boulevard, B1-16 Marina Square, Singapore 039594

https://www.facebook.com/dimdim.marinalink

Opening Hours

11am to 9pm

Mouth Restaurant

 <Prawn Dumplings in 6 flavours>

<Char Siew Pastry> 

<Egg Tarts> 

<Pork Dumplings> 

<Fried Beancurd Skin with Prawns> 

<Rice Roll with Char Siew> 

<Baked Salted Egg Yolk Bun>

Overall, dim sum from Mouth Restaurant was good. 2 of which that stood out for me was the Baked Salted Egg Yolk Bun and the Squid Ink Prawn Dumplings (the black one). The bun had a generous amount of sweet salty melted egg yolk that oozes out the moment you sink your teeth into it. The bun itself which was baked held the goodness within very well and was tasty too. Not too think nor thin. For the dumpling, you could taste both the sweetness and freshness of the prawn and squid. It complimented each other really well and made it stood out from the rest of the flavours. You might want to skip the Char Siew Rice Roll though. The roll is kind of thick and the char siew lacks flavour.

Verdict
Ambience - Average
Food - Good
Cost - $3.50 to $5.00 per item
Overall - Worth a try

Address
68 Orchard Road, #02-01 Plaza Singapura, Singapore 238839
http://www.mouth.com.sg/

Opening Hours
Weekday - 11.30am to 10pm
Public Holiday & Weekend -11am to 10pm

East Ocean Teochew Restaurant

 <Deep Fried Yam Dumpling>

 <Deep Fried Silver Fish>

 <Steamed BBQ Pork Rice Roll

 <Steamed Spare Ribs>

 <Ha Kau>

 <Deep Fried Beancurd Skin Prawn Roll>

 <Egg Tarts>

 <Steamed BBQ Pork Bun>

 <Baked BBQ Pork Pie>

 <Mini Steamed Glutinous Rice>

 <Steamed Siew Mai>

 <Steamed Teochew Dumpling>

 <Steamed Custurd Bun>

 <Steamed Custurd Bun>

Address
391 Orchard Road #05-08/09 Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238872
http://www.eastocean.com.sg/

Opening Hours
10.30am to 11pm

Canton Paradise

This is my 3rd visit to Canton Paradise, I just can't get enough of the yummy dim sum dishes served there. I've eaten most of the dishes shown below, but wait! The crown jewel is right at the bottom! It's the first time I managed to sink my teeth into their signature dish. So read on. ^^

<Baked BBQ Pork Pastry> 

<Mini Egg Tarts> 

<Steam Prawn Dumplings> 

<Crispy Bacon Roll with Cheese> 

<Prawn in Beancurd Skin> 

<Crispy Prawn & Mango Salad> 

<Steam Custard Bun>

<Crown Jewel! - Crispy BBQ Pork>

Contrary to the name of the dish, there is absolutely zero pork meat content in this dish. Instead, I have a feeling that it is simply made up of super thin layers of pork fat stack on one another. They do it so well that the outside is ultra crispy with the inside still moist, not with fat but with the pork juices that simply slides down your throat. Divine!

Verdict
Ambience - Good
Food - Awesome
Cost - $15 to $20
Overall - Must try!

Address
112 East Coast Road, #B1-15, I12 Katong, Singapore 42880

Opening Hours
10.30am to 10pm