Address: 2 Temasek Boulevard, Conrad Centennial Hotel, Singapore 038982

This place was just featured as a Wong Ah Yoke favourite pick for Tim Sum. For those not in the know, Wong Ah Yoke is a prominent food writer for our national papers. He gets to sample good food, write reviews and gets paid for it… sigh, some people have all the luck. Me? I fork out my own money, write unappreciated pieces on this blog during my precious free time and barely make enough from the online advertisements to cover my server hosting expenses…damn it.

The flip side is that I can write crap and nobody would notice the difference. blubber blubber..she sells sea shells on the sea shore..blubber poink. See…

I was at Golden Peony to give a treat to my sister who was leaving Singapore for work. I am not one to give treats to my sister but I think her leaving for about 2 years to a faraway land would probably warrant one in anyone’s book. We asked our mother along as I was too manly (I belong to the old school of believing that sisters are purely for bullying..no new age sensitive emoting for me) to eat lunch with just my sister and myself.

The place had nice ambience. It was also amazing the number of people taking their lunch at a leisurely pace on a weekday afternoon at almost 2pm. I spotted a few groups sipping their Chardonnay in their big fancy jackets with bowties…bowties! Two groups of people could carry off a bowtie ensemble - international spies ala James Bond or Chippendale/exotic male dancers wearing nothing but that. Trust me when I say the above mentioned groups do not belong to either category.

We started with the fried stuff of the Beancurd Skin Roll (S$4.80) on the left and the Fried Taro (S$4.50) item on the right. Both were quite nicely done but I thought the Beancurd Skin Roll fared slightly better as it was not as dry as the latter.

We tried some new dishes which included the: Dumpling with Fish Filling (extreme left, S$5.80), the Squid Ink with Scallop Dumpling (middle, S$5.80) and the normal Har Gao offering (right, S$5.80).

I did not like the Fish Dumpling. Dim sum should either contain prawn, meat or some derivative. Fish should never ever figure in it.

The Squid Ink Dumpling looked weird. However, it was surprisingly tasty. The skin of the dumpling was smooth and silky. I am not sure whether the Squid Ink played a part (question to self….when and how did someone figure to eat squid ink? Would inventive chefs in future turn to breaking open their Montblanc pens and using the ink there for premium dishes?).

The Siew Mai (S$6) on the extreme right was the day’s most expensive item. I do not know why that was so. Was the pig that the pork came from fed with the most refined swill? It was quite good anyway.

The glooey stuff you see on the right is a scallop dish that I cannot recall having (since I am not paid for this article..I am allowed certain leeway in terms of the editorial content). It was quite palatable. Do go try it!

We ordered the Xiao Long Bao (S$5.80) on a whim. I have always loved the blend of vinegar, ginger and the soupy contents of the dumpling. This dish satisfied all my criteria.

Thus concluded my treat. Stay safe, PP. I may just give you another treat when you get back. = )