Yan Ting @ St Regis Singapore

Yesterday was 元宵节, the 15th day of Chinese New Year. I spent the entire week eating to be honest and at the rate I go, I'm going to put on 5kg at the end of this year. Vain Pot is going overseas for a work trip so we spent the weekends shopping in town. I also discovered that if I think about ice cream in the Orchard side of Orchard Road, there's no special ice cream I can come up with besides Llao Llao. All the nice sweet desserts are congregating at Orchard Central, Orchard Gateway and 313 Somerset.

We finally tried Yan Ting at St Regis after shortlisting it 2 years ago. There was a time we were dim sum crazy and tried the really good dim sum at Royal China. Ladyironchef rated Yan Ting his top two dim sum alongside Royal China, so we really wanted to try the premium version of quality dim sum. The article was written 2-3 years ago. In any case, I promised Vain Pot I'll bring her to try however, given the myriad of food selection in Singapore along with our individual weekly cravings, we kept putting this visit off. So it's with great excitement that I'm finally fulfilling a promise and trying a much anticipated dim sum.

We kick started our meal with Shrimp Dumpling with Ginseng Soup ($14/pax). The soup was rich in flavour and the shrimp dumpling definitely met expectations that it was well prepared. Shrimp was fresh and crunchy and the entire dish was an exquisite experience.

We also tried the Char Siew Bao ($7 for 3), Steamed Scallop Dumplings with Spinach ($9 for 3), Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings ($9 for 3), Dumplings filled with Celery, Lotus Root and Mushroom ($7 for 3) and Mini Egg Tarts ($7 for 3). The Char Siew Bao met expectations, it was soft and fluffy, char siew was marinated with slight sweetness making the dish just right for the palette.

The rest of the dishes on the other hand while well executed really lacked the 'wow' factor. It probably matches every competently done dim sum at many known establishments but it didn't give me the satisfaction of having eaten dim sum. In fact, this experience kind of made me swore off premium dim sum in the future. It's too overrated and the price premium has nothing to do with the quality of the chef but rather the service and premium ingredients used. I'm not sure if this has to do with a drop in quality standards since it's rated a top dim sum 2-3 years ago.

Will I be back again? Not for the dim sum. I noticed that my surroundings were eating the other mains so if I'm feeling rich and indulgent I might come back to try the mains. As for dim sum, I'm sticking with my all time favourite at Royal China.

Yan Ting 
The St Regis Singapore, Level 1U, 29 Tanglin Road
(Please note that complimentary parking is offered for spending of a minimum $100)

Chin Mee Chin Confectionary

This weekend is a very rushed week. I was just telling Vain Pot that I'm so overwhelmed with work I didn't have time to make any balloon sculptures. As a big fan of living an enjoyable and exciting life, I feel particularly proud of myself this week because I still managed to head to somewhere meaningful with Vain Pot for a comfortable 1 hour meal. It's simple and easy to do. I get especially riled whenever people who have more time on their hands don't even bother to come up with something more exciting than window shopping and movies week in and out whenever they initiate a meet up. Buay sian meh?

Our choice of leisure this week is to pamper ourselves with some simple old school comfort food. Kaya bread on toast and soft-boiled eggs. Vain Pot loves this place a lot while I don't really fancy coming here for a number of non-food related reasons. Chin Mee Chin Confectionary specialises in traditional bread on toast with kaya or butter spread and soft boiled eggs. They also are wildly popular for their cakes and egg tarts. The place is so popular, you'll have to share tables.

The cakes which mostly go for a dollar are soft and fluffy. They are also rich in flavour and easy to eat. I would like to highlight the egg tart which I find very different from egg tarts I find elsewhere. Vain pot especially likes this one. The crust taste more like a cookie crust and the egg in the center taste a lot more like custard than your usual soft yellow creamy eggs. The egg custard and cookie tart gives it a uniquely CMC taste that makes the tart very popular among CMC visitors. Be sure to go early because there's a chance the tart may go out of stock due to strong demand.

The traditional kaya toast with soft boiled eggs is also clearly a winner. The toast is very old school, look at the buns, it's made in house freshly baked using the charcoal grill we see on TV for shows depicting that semi-modern era.

The eggs are big and fat. See the yolk still so big despite breaking. It makes for an extremely filling meal despite its simplicity. The total damage is only $10.80 with drinks included. A simple yet awesome way to kick start a weekend. I don't only eat atas food okay! Haha! My friends tend to feel that my definition of enjoyment is to spend a lot of money which doesn't necessarily have to be the case if you bother to look hard enough.

So will I come back here? I'll be very honest. I'll only come back when I wanna give Vain Pot a treat after a stressful week of work. I don't like the parallel parking here. I think the hygiene factor sucks and the attitude of the old timers extremely bo chap sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself when I ask them questions about my orders or the food. (For example, they screwed up my eggs order and served me 3 eggs instead of 4. I even had to chase for that 1 elusive egg myself even after they acknowledge its their mistake) So I'll only suggest visiting this place if you can look past all the non-food negative points and just want cheap and good comfort food.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionary
204 East Coast Road