Singapore: Paradise Dynasty @ Ion Orchard

So, I went to Singapore. 

It was neither interesting nor boring. It's a bit like visiting another Kuala Lumpur except that the whole island is Kuala Lumpur itself, maybe slightly bigger.

Anyway, I visited Singapore not as a tourist. Thus, I didn't take pictures with the Merlion and the likes. No, I am not the sort of person who does these things. This really explains why I haven't been to Ngong Ping 360 or the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong. Seriously, the best way to experience a place to do what locals usually do. I think a crash course in history, images and tourism really does affect my view towards what a vacation should be. 

I digress. 

Initially, my friend, N, planned shitloads for me to do, mostly eating and shopping. However, I ended up cancelling most of the eating part because the hot weather does have a way of making you not want to eat or too sluggish to travel. Hence, I returned to KL, pounds shed and all. 

The first place I went to Singapore was Paradise Dynasty. Just because N wanted me to experience the rainbow coloured xiao long baos, each colour representing different flavors. 

8 flavors - Szechuan, Cheese, Foie Gras, Original, Crab Roe, Garlic, Ginseng, Truffle

The XLB here are pretty good but they are unfortunately, not particularly mind blowing. I think it takes a lot more for a XLB to be mind blowing and having 8 different colours and tastes is not the way to go. 

Truffle XLB

Not especially when some XLB taste better than others. I personally thought that the cheese XLB tasted good ( N hates it). I also had the truffle XLB but the taste of truffles were incredibly faint. If you were to feast on it without thinking, chances are, you may not be able to taste any truffles. One should not be expecting to discover slivers of winter Perigords sitting in there. Generally, truffles just lose their fragrance when they are steamed.

Having said that, I felt that the XLB were good as XLBs. The skin is quite thin. There was quite a bit of broth, even though not as much as the ones at KL's famous Shanghai Restaurant, and the ratio of meat to fat was reasonable. The top of the XLB did not taste like dough, so I guess I would consider this good.

Certainly much better than the XLBs in Melbourne and Din Tai Fung Pavilion. 

Pickled lotus roots

Garlic and ginger cucumbers

 We also ordered other things apart from XLB. I literally walloped the cucumbers and lotus roots as they were the only source of greens I had for the entire day! (The 5 hour bus trip totally killed my veg intake!). The chilled cucumbers were a bit boring. I felt that they lacked the acidity from the rice vinegar, which is commonly used to prepare this dish? 

The lotus roots, on the other hand, were acidic enough. Plus, they were very crunchy. I find them rather delicious. However, it could be my bias talking. I tend to dig into sour dishes. So don't mind me. 

Chicken chop la mian

 The la mian here is quite enjoyable. I did not have the broth as my appetite was pretty much whacked out from having two XLBs!! I still managed to have the noodles, which were "al dente". What I loved about this was that they had lots of greens in the la mian. I also did not have the chicken chop as I did not felt like meat.

Creamy egg white and seafood dish

 N and I decided to order this as this was our favorite. I just had the first taste of this incredibly light dish a few days ago in Shang Palace, my favorite Chinese haunt in Kuala Lumpur and thought "why not?" when I saw it on the menu!

Alas, it was not as smooth as it should be. :( The egg whites were considered pretty "hard" for this dish's standards. The saving grace? The rather light, milky taste and the generous amount of scallops and prawns.

Spicy Szechuan dumplings

N loves this. She urged me to try one of it. I did. I actually did not feel like eating anything anymore but I just tried. It was actually very, very nice. I loved it. The skin was pretty thin and very smooth, the ratio of meat was just nice, and taste wise, it was bewildering -slightly acidic, spicy and salty.  I wished I could have more of it. Only if my guts have the space, that is.

Stir fried rice cakes with mixed vegetables and meat

 This could be a good dish but it was just too salty. We did not further pursue it after one bite and many vegetables later.

Radish Puff

 I did not particularly dig into the pastry layer of the radish puff but for a radish puff, they were pretty generous with the radish. Taste wise, it was a bit odd. Execution issues?

Pumpkin pancakes

The pumpkin pancakes speak promises of pumpkins but failed to deliver them. Most of it tasted of dough. :(

Overall, I highly recommend that you stick to their la mian and XLBs. :) Not sure about other dishes though. Or maybe it's just me.



Note: Ladyironchef is not convinced that the colourful XLBs can trump the average joe XLB. :)