[Singapore Restaurant] Celebrate Mother's Day at Yum Cha Restaurant (Dim Sum)

In case you aren't aware, Mother's Day falls on 11 May 2014 this year.  This is the time of the year for children to show our appreciation to our beloved mother who has worked tirelessly for her children.  Yum Cha Restaurant has specially created 3 dishes for this coming Mother's Day.  These 3 dishes will be available from 5 to 11 May 2014.  In total, this makes up about 70 dishes you can find in this restaurant ranging from dim sum, barbecue and roast, vegetable, noodle, congee and dessert.



For siew mai lovers, enjoy this Large Prawn Siew Mai with Double Roe.  Colourful and appetising.  Each piece is $3.50.

Do not judge food by it's looks.  For those who are more adventurous or non-meat diners, the Lavender Bun with Coconut Filling is highly recommended for you.  The bun is nicely infused with lavender taste which is made from lavender flower.  Savour it slowly with some warm tea on a relaxing afternoon.  $2.80 for 2 pieces.

Juicy tangerine, fresh strawberries and blueberries with custard cream.  Have some fruits after a heavy meal.  Each Glazed Mini Fruit Tart is $2 each.  The above 3 dishes are the Mother's Day Exclusive Dim Sum and are available from 5 to 11 May 2014.  They are available at all 3 Yum Cha outlets except between 6pm to 11pm at the Serangoon Garden outlet.

The latest Yum Cha outlet at Changi Business Park, UB Bizhub East opened in late 2013.  The restaurant is airy, cosy, modern and high tech.  Place your order via ipad provided at the dining table.  Avoid the hassle of trying to grab the attention of service staff and have control over the speed of placing orders for your food.

The common roast and barbecue items can also be found at Yum Cha.  My recommendation is the Crispy Roasted Pork and the Honey Roast Char Siew first is you do not have the capacity to try all.  The Crispy Roasted Pork is really crispy on the skin and not too much fatty fats.  The Char Siew meat is pretty lean too.

Yum Cha has a rather complete range of dim sum ranging from steamed to fried food.  The yellow-coloured buns are the Custard Buns (aka lava bun, salted egg yolk custard bun or liu sha bao or 流沙奶皇饱).  Depending on individual's taste, the custard buns (3 pieces at $4.50) has a strong custard taste vs the egg yolk taste.  Being a modern restaurant, the Fish Roe Siew Mai (3 pieces at $3.80) and Yum Cha Prawn Dumpling (3 pieces at $4.60) aren't served using push carts at UE Bizhub East outlet but over at the Chinatown outlet, it is still being served using the traditional way ie. using push carts.

For fried dimsum, the savoury Prawn & Mango Fritters (3 pieces at $4) and sweet Crispy Red Bean with Banana (3 pieces for $3.80) are pretty decent.  The roasted sesame seeds on the prawn & mango fritters added to the fragrance of this dim sum.  For non-meat diners, do go for the Crispy Spring Roll (3 pieces for $3.20), which has bean sprouts as one of the ingredients. 

Yum Cha has recently added a new dish and it is available only on weekends.  It is the Pig Trotters in Vinegar.  I am not a fan of pig trotters and this was the first time I tried this.  To my surprise, the flavourful vinegar gravy (sweet, salty, a little sourish and a little spicy) truly enhanced the taste of this dish.

Of course, there are noodles and congee selection on the menu.  There are also options for vegetarians such as Vegetarian Abalone Congee and Super Vegetarian Balls Congee.

A meal can't be complete without sweet endings (read: desserts).  The Lemongrass Jelly with Fruits ($4) is really refreshing.  Alternatively, if you are in the mood for something oriental, go for the Chinese Herbal Jelly ($3.60).  It comes with a cute little pot of honey and you can add according to the sweetness level you like.

So, go on down to Yum Cha and give your mom a good treat on this Mother's Day.

Website: www.yumcha.com.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yumchasg?fref=ts


Yum Cha at Changi
6 Changi Business Park Ave. 1
#01-33 UE Bizhub East
Singapore 486017
Tel: 6789 1717
Opening Hours: 10.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 9pm (Weekdays) and 9.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 9pm (Weekends & PH)

For details on Yum Cha Chinatown and Yum Cha Garden, please visit Yum Cha website.

Getting there: Take the MRT to Expo Station.  At the exit (facing Changi City Point), turn left.  Follow the walkway and turn right at the junction and walk towards UE Bizhub East.  The walk takes about 5 mins.

[SG Buffet] Open House Restaurant at Grand Park Orchard Hotel

Options for weekday high-tea seems to be quite limited and we can easily understand why.  Simply because the weekend crowd is generally better.  Recently, a group of friends decided to meet up over high tea and we went to Open House Restaurant at Grand Park Orchard (former Crown Prince Hotel).

The selection are mostly local delights with some Asian selection.  The food spread is quite good with a few stations where the dishes are freshly cooked and served at your table.

The choice of dim sum included siew mai, har gow, char siew bao and black bean pork ribs.  The kar gow skin was a little too thick while the siew mai was alright.



The local cuisine section has usual snacks and dishes that we Singaporeans eat at any time of the day.  That includes roti prata (Indian pancake), fried carrot cake (oriental pan-fried steamed rice cake in black soy sauce), nasi lemak (Malay coconut rice with otah, salted fried peanut and fried anchovy), chwee kueh (oriental steamed rice cup-sized cake topped with preserved radish), fried chicken wings, curry puffs, samosa and peanut pancake.

There is another section where ala carte dishes can be ordered namely claypot rice (oriental style steamed rice cooked with black soy sauce and Chinese sausage in a claypot), fishhead curry (Indian style way of cooking head of fish with brinjals and spicy coconut milk)  and sayur lodeh (Indonesian style vegetable curry that is usually not spicy or mild spicy).  Teochew Porridge is also available at the buffet line with braised peanuts and preserved cai xin.  Nothing elaborate and fanciful but the key condiments are there.

The cakes and pastries section was a little disappointing.  They look quite ordinary and the taste was average.  The durian pengat tasted a little sourish.

The black horse, which truly surprised me was this Sichuan Noodles.  It was very very good, for someone who enjoys eating food that has vinegar.  Spiciness and sourness was just at the right level.  The noodles, though it was a little thick, blended well with the hot and sour soup.  

On the whole, it was a good place for weekday high-tea.  Affordable price with a rather good spread of food.  There may also be seasonal credit card promotions.  The café staff will be able to advise.

Open House Restaurant

Grand Park Orchard Hotel

270 Orchard Road Singapore 238857

Tel: 6603 8855

Website: http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/orchard/dining/open-house/

Nearest MRT: Orchard Station

Getting there: Walk along the basement of Wisma Atria which connects to Ngee Ann City.  Exit Ngee Ann City, cross over to Paragon and then to Grand Park Orchard.

View Larger Map

Related Posts:
- Todai Singapore (Click here)
- Korean Grill BBQ Buffet: Ssikkek (Click here)