I'm "impressed" by the quality of the food they serve. Being a hotel bar, it is actually tarnishing Goodwood Park Hotel's reputation. Or should I phrase it in this way, "It's an omen for Goodwood Park Hotel to have the bar sited around the vicinity of its grand entrance." I can understand its small portion servings and their pricing as it's still no matter what, a bar in a hotel. However, what they serve are even worse than what can be found in any other chinese/japanese restaurants in the malls, ie. Crystal Jade Kitchen, Ichiban Boshi, etc. With only 2 pages of the menu to choose from, selections are no doubt limited.(With only 2 type of udon available) *To all diners out there, be aware of such scamming places that serve indecent food and it's best to avoid visiting them.

i went with my boyfriend to this place recently, i had been dying to try it since it was featured on a mandarin variety show.
they had recommended the xiaolongbao shot (xiaolongbao served in a shotglass with some broth in the bottom of the glass) and the "chinese breadstick" which was essentially a pohpiah skin with some fishpaste filling inside, cigarette rolled and deepfried.
we went about 7pm and had abit of a hard time finding it.
actually its just to the left side of the drive in entrance to goodwood park hotel. we didnt see any signages and walked aimlessly around the hotel for awhile (benefit of doubt - we could have missed the signs though...)
when we got to the entrance, it was nicely zen-type of decor. the staff were friendly and greeted us. but well, they were kinda free too since we were the ONLY guests in the place on a sunday dinner time.
the walls of the restaurant was decked with dimsum bamoboo steamers. interesting decor to tie in the name. essentially i guess they are serving only finger foods, their main thing is the drinks - sake cocktails. they also have sashimi (prepared to fork out $30 onwards), only 2 types of udon ($12-19) and only 1 page selection of dim sum.
i only wanted to taste the dim sum so we gave the sashimi / udon a miss.
you could get the dim sum in 3 pieces - $7.95++ eg. hargao bunny (shrimp dumpling shaped in a rabbit), shumai, chicken feet with XO sauce, gyoza etc. or in a dimsum platter. you can choose any 4 items from the dimsum selection for $7.95++. we went to for the platter and chose the xiaolong bao shooter, hargao bunny, shumai, gyoza, scallop/abalone dumpling & charsiew pastry sharing between 2 of us.
we also had the chinese breadstick as a starter.
quite disappointed with the portion size. although they maybe fingerfood style but the sticks could have been longer. they were about only 7-8cm long and only 5-6sticks per plate. for around $6.95++. expensive for fried pohpiah skins.
the dim sum platter came - the hargao bunny was complete with red eyes and bunny ears (cute) but the taste was just normal hargao. the xiaolongbao shooter was 1stly lukewarm only, the broth was not particularly flavourful - chicken stock taste. i'd rather go to dintaifung for xiaolongbao and give this a miss. the other dumplings were not memorable either.
we were served wasabi potato chips as a before meal snack - they were nice, crispy and packed the punch of wasabi.
we also ordered oolong tea ($9++) served in a sexy looking glass teapot but the tea wasn't especially fragrant or flavourful.
we left the place hungry and unsatisfied.
the service was pretty OK but remember the place was empty. the staff did seem abit disappointed when we declined ordering the expensive sashimi.
i wouldnt' go back again. unless they increase the portion sizes & reduce the prices.
there are many other better dim sum places... cool / interesting concept but i think it's not really taking off.

Yes, there should be a dress code when you step into a hotel, but seriously, do tourists really care that they are dressed in flip-flops and Sunday hats? We stood at the counter unattended for about 10 minutes, when there was no queue, lots of space, and waitresses shuffling around just within view of the counter.

When seated, the head waitress seemed friendly, but a little on the particular side, probably because she was eyeing my flip-flops with a somewhat irritated look. She gave us the menu, 2 rectangular boards that were simplistic and with minimal decorations.
Proceeded to give us a breakdown on what was good there etc, but excused herself when Dr. Tony Tan’s table called her. Of course, we let her go…

We ordered Unagi sushi, their signature Xiao Long Bao Shooters (cheaters! More like it), the staples of dim sum; the Har Kau and the Siew Mai, Bread sticks, century egg and minced pork congee, and for drinks the D.S Brew (I’d think it’s the Dim Sake Brew) and an Iced Lemon Tea (nice, we get to pour the syrup ourselves. It was served in a nice tall glass)

Food took quite some time to arrive.

The Unagi is slightly different from what you get at regular Japanese Restaurants. It was the more Bbq-ed kind that was slightly crisp at the edges and most of the taste came from the sweet Japanese sauce.

The Congee was the thick type, a little too curdy for my liking but the rice was flavourful and the stock used to broil the congee was really tasty. The portion was pretty reasonable, rather than those HUGE portions you usually get outside (and you get really bloated from those) unless of course you’re those greedy types that can’t get enough of the tasty congee at Bedok 85 Chai Chee Porridge.

The D.S brew was a unique mish mash of tastes, but rather normal. It reminded me of the lychee martini I used to have at balaclava which was just rather so-so.

The Har Kau skin was the First Major failure of the lot. Usually, Har Kau has very smooth, translucent skin which allows you to see the nice orange hue of the prawn inside. This serving of 3 small dainty looking balls of Har Kau, looked cute yes, but rather miserable. Rather than catching a glimpse of the nice orange hue, what you got was the thick, floury face of the skin. Taste wise, it was just like regular Har Kau’s you get, nothing special.

The Crisp bread stick was fantastic though. The Stick reminded me of those fried popiahs but with a twist. It was similar to the skinny versions you get at wedding dinner cold dishes, but not served with mayonnaise. Instead, you got a nice sambal chilli, one of the good ones, to dip with your sticks. Not very oily in fact and it was still crispy even when cold.

The Xiao Long Bao Shooter was not a let-down. Though it did seem like they were cheating as the shot glasses just soaked the delicious sauce inside if you actually poked the little dumpling by accident. When served though, the dumpling was already swimming in the stock. The meat was as good as Imperial Treasure’s I must say.

The Siew Mai was ordinary, but a healthy choice. It was not oily and the meat was lean and tender.

This is a place not for the famished.

Japanese and Chinese fusion food. Creative and bold.

Dim Sake is co-owned by the father of a friend of mine. Thus, when it first opened, our usual clique was invited to go try out the food there. Started off with a sashimi platter that came with different seasonal fishes which were fresh and succulent. Mmm, I can almost taste it in my mouth. Little orders of Dian Xins were placed and the one which impressed me the most, was undoubtedly, the Xiao Long Bao shooters. A little Xiao Long Bao placed in a shot glass that is filled with broth. As the broth contained in the Xiao Long Bao itself is different from the one in the shot glass, popping everything into your mouth at one go, gives an interestingly smooth flavor to the whole dish.

The one thing that really made me happy was that they had quite a long list of cocktails on the menu. Not only that, a one for one promotion goes on for a period of time during the evenings.

I would recommend Dim Sake as the place to move away from the hustle and bustle of the other parts of town to sit down with a few friends, pop a few Xiao Long Bao shooters and other little delights with maybe, martinis( or yes, the sakes there).

Hi, first time reviewer here :) Was there for a my birthday treat by my wife's aunt.

Food/Beverage: 6/10 (the entire 6 points come from the japanese food)

The title of this review says it all.

The Good: Tatsuya's sashimi and makis were simply superb. We had otoro (tuna belly; $60), kanpachi (greater amberjack; $40), and kajiki (sword fish; $25). The chef mixed up our order for kanpachi with sake (salmon; $20) so we got that on the house :).
From my personal experience, outside of Tsukiji at Tokyo, this was simply the freshest and best prepared sashimi platter I had. The otoro melts in the mouth and does not have the slightest hint of fishiness - this is to be taken for granted for otoro imho - but what sets it apart from just very ingredient was that the chef painstakingly removed all the tendons while preserving the perfect shape of the slices. The result? 5 perfect, beautiful, well-marbled slices which melts the moment it hits your mouth and slip straight down the tongue into your throat without any chewing required. The same can be said for the kanpachi, kajiki and sake but the otoro simply outshined them all.
We also ordered a futomaki (tamago, cucumber, pickle, roe; $25) which was perfection imho. The tamago (and the chef will place a piece by the maki for sampling) has just the right sweetness, was uniformly mixed, was not scorched anywhere. The rice had just the right fluffiness, sweetness and moisture. The blending of all the ingredients were heavenly and we swept up all 8 huge pieces in minutes.
The Sake was all quite decent BUT the choice was very, very limited with 4 bottles choices and 1 per pour choice. We had the Fuwaikai ($120/720ml) and it was smooth, sweet, and just the right dryness for the wide palate (aunt and wife prefers sweeter, I prefer a little dryness though not much). The other sweet choice is the Kyubota Ginjyo ($160/720ml).

The Bad: The dim sum felt very, very gimmicky and although were from Ming Jiang, did not have the "oomph" factor in most of the items to distinguish them from most dim sum restuarants. Between the four of us, we had the xiao long bao shooter (xiao long bao in a shot glass with its own borth and ginger slices), bao yu jiao (little chunk of abalone on a mini har gao), fried yam dumpling, har gao, siew mai, golden chicken (diced chicken, cold jelly fish, with sprinkling of roe), steamed cod fish with wolfberry. Except for the xiao long bao shooter which is not that fantastic to begin with - the idea of the bao in its own broth to prevent spillage is cool, the broth was decent, but the ginger slices on top felt out of place and did not blend very well and one could not control vinegar amount - the rest are really lack lustre, especially for their price range. Even the merits of the steam fish is based more on the fact that steamed cod fish release such wonderful juic anyway than brilliant mixing of ingredients.

Verdict on food: Just stick to the sashimi, makis, and sushi. Order the xiao long bao shooter for novelty sake if you must. Do give the sake a shot, the bottom top are the sweet variety while the 2nd and 3rd are the dry variety (trust me, the staff did not give a better explanation, more on this later)


Ambience: 7/10

Modern chic with a light twist, not too stuffy/atas/posh and there's a healthy buzz throughout the entire meal from all the tables. One thing deserves special mentioning, we loved the walls which are lined with stacks of bamboo steamers with some of the dim sum items printed on them. This is definitely a good place to bring a date before heading to e.g. Thumper and probably will appeal to the same crowd.

Value: 6/10

Again, this is a case of the dim sum portion bringing down the score. Going by the quality of the sashimi as compared to places charging at similar price, the sashimi is in a class of its own in terms of value. Same for the maki for its quality and serving (in fact, I would recommend the maki for anyone who do not find the bite-size dim sums satisfying enough for their appetites).
I could find similar Sake at cheaper price, and although the brew is probably not as young as what we were served, the variety at other places (Haru comes to my mind, for e.g.) versus the five choices will make up for it.
Although the dim sums are priced at 7.50~15 range, the serving is so paltry that to get equivalent amount of any main course at other restuarants (e.g. roasted quail, steak, sushi moriwase, etc) would probably come up to 40~70 range.

Service: 6.5/10

One of the redeeming factor is the prompt and excellent service for its light casual setting, although it could be higher without some specific anecdotes I am going to write.
Firstly, only ONE waiting staff knows the Sake on the menu, and everyone had to scramble to contact someone else before they could give us a brief description of the Sake. AND this was after the aunt had given them some heads up earlier. AND even after that they could not give any specifics on the dryness nor the polish.
Secondly, my wife's aunt's ex-colleague was there and bought a bottle of Sake to be sent to the table. That bottle ended up been charged to our table =.= They did remedied it in the end.

However, they were very, very obliging when we asked for some japanese pickles to go with the sake although we have already settled the bill, and didn't mind us hanging around for a long while after.