missuschewy – Singapore Food & Fun Blog

Hello! My name is Zhi Hao and for those who have a tough time remembering chinese names, you can call me Charles too. Wonder how I got the name Charles? Just say Zhi Hao in an accelerando manner and you will know why. :p This is my first attempt to blog on behalf of Charlene. Actually all along I had the intention to do so but I was worried that I may not be up to it. After much encouragement from Charlene, I have decided to do so and to experience Charlene’s hobby – to take photos and blog about food.

Why did we go to Royal China? On my birthday, Charlene planned the itinerary of the day and Royal China was our first stop. I have to say that the interior of the restaurant was very well done. Personally, I felt that the place is like the dining room of a castle with tables and chairs neatly arranged in rows. The colour of the pillars was Charlene’s favourite colour – light blue.

After so much talk, lets get down to the food. The BBQ Pork Puff ($4) is barbecued pork in a baked flaky pastry. The flaky crust is soft and the pork in it is sweet, juicy and tasty. I feel that it tasted much better than its steamed bun counterpart, the char siew bao.

If you love egg tarts with soft crust, then you will definitely not give the Egg Custard Tarts ($3.60) at Royal China a miss. The egg custard was not too sweet and along with the pastry crust, it is like a marriage in heaven. I love them and this is one dimsum that I will not give a miss.

Har Gau is definitely one of the best dimsum ever created. When it comes to Har Gau, I have very high expectations of them. The skin must be firm enough so that it is able to hold the prawn within it when i pick it up with my chopsticks and does not tear easily. The prawn filling should also give a crunchy feel when I bite on it. Happily for me, the Prawn Dumplings ($4.80 for 4 pc) at Royal China satisfied these 2 conditions and we did not take long to finish them.

The Taro Roll with Scallop ($4.80 for 3 pc) which is fried yam tart, resembles the 佛钵飘香 (Fo Bo Piao Xiang) that is served at local zi char stalls. The only difference is that the former is much smaller than the latter. I like the crispiness of the yam crust, together with the taste of the boiled scallops. It is an innovative creation and its taste is good too.

I have only eaten Chicken Claw ($3.60) once, and it was a few months ago. Charlene had dared me to try food that I have never tried before. Basically Feng Jua is braised chicken feet with chilli. It has a lot of small bones and is very difficult to eat for first timers. The meat was juicy and quite spicy. Overall, I think it is quite good.

Charlene and I wanted to order the conventional steamed Chee Cheong Fun until we saw the XO Chee Cheong Fun ($6.80) on the menu. We were both curious and we wanted to know how it tasted and hence we ordered it. The beansprouts did not have any pungent smell and the thickness of the Chee Cheong Fun was just nice. The XO sauce was infused into the Chee Cheong Fun and added to its taste.

Thank you Charlene for bringing me to Royal China to celebrate my birthday! We had this for our brunch at about 2pm. We did not order a lot as Charlene had made plans for dinner but I certainly had a good meal. All I have to say is that it was all worth the money spent and I would strongly recommend a return to try other dimsums. That will be the end of my post! Thank you for reading this and I hope to be her guest writer in future :)

Additional note by Charlene: Thanks for your birthday treat! Hahaha!

Royal China
1 Beach Road
Raffles Hotel 03-09
Tel: +65 6338 3363

Opening Hours:
Mon to Sat
12pm – 3pm (Lunch)
6pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)
Sun and PH
11am – 3pm (Lunch)
6pm – 10.30pm (Dinner, only Sunday)