Address: 391 Orchard Road, Ngee Ann City #04-19, Singapore 238872
Tel: +65 67352388

The entrance of the restaurant just shouts out, “be prepared to spend loads of money on rather small quantities of food served in oversized plates and with elaborate cutlery.” As it was, I was accompanying my girlfriend and her family to their mother’s day celebration dinner. If you happen to notice a trend of me going to pricey restaurants only when I am with my girlfriend’s family, please note that it just happens to be a coincidence (really!). Also, to my family, I promise to make up for the missed mother’s day dinner. Promise.

In the interior, there were familiar scenes being played out of extended families paying homage to their matriarch. I have noticed that you would not see such adoration of the male counterpart during father’s day. That counts towards another disadvantage of being born a guy - aside from having a shorter lifespan, prostate cancer, senility, looking silly during male menopause, National Service (only applies to guys in Singapore), etc, etc.

We were seated at a bench! A classy one but nevertheless, still a bench. A rather unusual setting for a chinese dinner. Brings me back to my primary school days having recess in the tuckshop (or canteen).

It is quite a given that Chinese restaurants would force their appetisers on their patrons. Two sets of broiled nuts or something (S$6). Those nuts cost more than what I spend on my normal meal.

Our meal started off with the Prawn Ball (S$36). Oversized prawns with a coat of salted egg yoke. The prawns were fresh and succulent. The salted egg yoke rich and full bodied in taste. Loved it.

The next dish was scrambled egg with conpoy (dried scallop), crab roe and meat (S$40). Quite possibly the most expensive scrambled eggs that I have the fortune of having. Prepared and served at the table, each portion of egg was ladled onto a lettuce and presented to the diner. The whole experience was surreal. Mundane ingredients packaged into an exquisite session.

The Winter Melon Soup with Seafood (S$60) followed. A common practise nowadays with Cantonese restaurants is to serve the soup in the hollowed out winter melon fruit. The soup had large quantities of prawns, scallops and assorted seafood, along with the flesh of the winter melon. A bit too salty for my liking.

The Mixed Vegetable with Mushrooms (S$20) and the Beancurd with Chicken and Conpoy (S$16) came in quick succession. At this point, I was rather overcome with the generous portions of conpoy, seafood, scallops, mushrooms and other quality stuff I had taken. I was frankly bloated.

The last dish was the Pork Rib seasoned with Salt & Pepper (S$16). I was looking forward to this item. I need a healthy serving of meat to complete my meal. The plate of golden reddish-brown pork was promising. However, my first bite revealed a rather tough consistency to the flesh. A verdict of disappointing was returned.

A nice dining experience altogether. I felt there could be an improvement in the serving order of the dishes. You know, soup, the egg, meat, prawn and vegetables to end… However, the quality of the food was not out of this world. Although it is definitely a grade better than your normal Crystal Jade restaurant. Maybe I had too high an expectation in view of the prices seen here.