This is part of my ongoing Singapore Food Tour series on my
globetrekka blog.
You may think after reading my previous reviews that I only go for expensive places (namely the
Yan Ting and
Brasserie Les Saveurs restaurants both at the
St Regis Hotel, which this review will do nothing to change. There are a number of reviews in the pipeline that will hopefully change this balance.
The first of the less expensive category I previously covered on FlyerTalk was John Thai at Balestier Food Court and you can see the
full technicolour review here.
Back to the the subject of this review. The Royal China restaurant at the Raffles Hotel is not that well known, but is certainly well worth a visit.
The set up at the Raffles is quite interesting. They have a number of their own restaurants which are famous in their own right, but they also lease out space to other businesses. I guess business-wise it may make sense. They spread out the risk to others who then have to make money to survive.
This particular Royal China restaurant is part of the larger Royal China Group which has restaurants mainly across London, but also has branches in Hong Kong, Dubai and Bangkok. The website is not particularly informative about what they are serving neither in the form of menu or in terms of pictures. The website does show some images of the actual restaurant itself, but is actually pretty limited (read: disappointing).
The restaurant can be found on the third floor. If you follow the signs you can’t go too far wrong
. The signs will take you towards the escalators. I certainly advise this over the stairs, especially in this tropical heat. If appropriate to the restaurant, I do put on a pair of trousers and the Raffles certainly calls for it, even if not everyone believes so.
From the third floor, you can get some nice views of the internal courtyards — this one is particularly interesting, as in the top left corner you can see the bling that is the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. I’ve stayed there, so look out for an out of sequence review of that hotel. Never stayed at the Raffles though. It is such an iconic hotel, I’m sure I will have to stay here at some point.
I don’t know if I think the entrance is too basic or classy. I like the sign, that’s for sure. The colour combinations do work very well. However, I think the actual door entrance is a bit run down. The pale colour could be mistaken for dirty white — almost like it’s not been cleaned. Also the lions at the front I think are bit smaller than expected — I know many families that have the same sized lions in their houses. The Welcome mat? A bit tacky really.
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All that being said, once you step inside, you realise that if there was appearance money, it was spent where it matters — the restaurant itself.
The decor is very tasteful. The blue make the whole venue look very classy. Not garish at all, almost a powdered blue look.
Of course there are quite a number of tables, but given the setting it is usually quite quiet and an ideal venue for a special occasion. I was just taking some people who were visiting town and wanted to try some dim sum and had never been to the Raffles Hotel, so I managed to kill two birds with one stone.
Like many restaurants they have a specials menu – in this case they call it “Chef’s Special Recommendation”. I’m not sure how often this changes, but I’m pretty sure the duck and the crisy pork belly remain on there at all times!
This is the point at which I let the pictures of the food do the talking. I was impressed with everything here. The only two things I didn’t like were the dumplings in chili sauce and scallop wrapped in shaved carrot (unfortunately I've been unable to get the links to the photos here). I’m sure that they were really well executed, they just didn’t do it for me. I’ve tried to label the food as accurately as possible, and I apologise if it’s not exact.
Char Siu Sou(叉燒酥)
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Siu Yuk (燒肉)
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Ha Gow (蝦餃)
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Prawn stuffed in beancurd skin
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Vegetable dumplings
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Deep friend meat with taro dumpling
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Char siu bao (baked)
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Shumai (烧卖)
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Egg tarts
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