A diM SuM affAiR

Tucked into dim sum buffet at Mandarin Oriental on a hazy lazy Saturday afternoon.


An ala-carte buffet with free-flow of dim sum items and priced at $48+++ (works out to about $57 per pax after all the taxes and stuff), you also get a choice of ONE soup, appetizer, main course and dessert. For $118, all the items are free-flow plus the champagne too. 


I went for the former $48 since I don't really hankered for champagne in the afternoon and seriously I was there for the dim sum, the other items am happy with a single choice each (plus, how much can you stomach within the stipulated 130am to 3pm duration?).


Mandarin Oriental was dressed in deep dark wood, comfortably lit and very spacious. With oriental (duh!) accents and decors with overly being intrusive of cheena, I was quite impressed with the hotel. The dim sum place is call Cherry Garden and although I made a reservation for 2 about a week earlier, the place wasn't really packed with ample empty tables around.


Service was polite and efficient (though it was hard to capture the servers' attention initally). The dim sum IMHO was above average with some winner and some passables. Sorry for the lack of pics, as I was too busy savouring those delicacies to whip out my cam. :P


What I LOVE:
The crystal dumpling filled with fresh juicy prawns and topped with silvers of shark fin
The very soupy (drool) xiao long bao with an external thin slice of carrot base
The shao mai topped with a mini slice of tender abalone
The thick yet sweet fish broth soup
The cripsy netted roll filled with apple slices and prawns. To dip with yummi wasabi sauce that is not too choking.
The fluffy char siew bao with very fragrant meat (that is not overly fatty)


What I did not like:
The beef brisket though tender was abit too strong on the beef aftertaste
The fried carrot cake with bean sprouts which looked like the normal chai tao kuay you get in hawker centres (which seriously the latter tasted to much nicer)


The interesting:
The avocado cream + walnut ice cream dessert presented in a glass jar, decorated with a single aloe leaf and made an impressive fairy-like entrance with frothy dry-ice.

Would I go a 2nd time? Definitely! Any babes wanna go with me and do dim sum? :p