Qun Zhong Eating House

I just don't understand why the uncle can't be a little nicer n friendlier...  Restaurant business is all about service and it's important to have a good service not only good food.

 

 

Been here a few times... owner is always sulky at best, unpleasant most of the time. Waiters also have somewhat of same demeanor... must be the culture.

Their claim to fame is their guo tie ($8 for 10 tiny ones mostly filled with greens) and xiao long bao ($7 for 7 pieces). I find it uninspiring now that Din Tai Fung and Crystal Jade have been on the scene offering similar dishes at much refined levels and comparable prices. The xiao long bao skin is fairly thick... I think kitchen compensates the thick skin by over steaming... the skin on my xiao long bao (both visits) were almost bordering on "mush." The guo tie is pretty good (crispy skin but hey that's what a guo tie is supposed to be... no?)... but nothing to scream about... or at least not for the price they charge

Ambience and service are non existing... see my first paragaraph. I did not want the peanuts and towels and politely told the waitress at the beginning of the meal. She said it was a mandatory charge regardless if I used any of it. I understand its culture to charge in Singapore... but at least give the customer the option of taking it or returning it!

Value - as I said... expensive. At our most recent meal, we ordered the following and paid $27.50 including :
1 xiao long bao $7
1 guo tie $8
1 hot and sour soup $3 (size is only 1 rice bowl... expensive and not great either!)
1 zha jiang mien $6

A friend recommended this place to me as I am a huge fan of gyoza, or better known as fried dumplings, or 三鲜锅贴.. and their 小笼汤包 is the main attraction here! I would say it is so much better than Ding Tai Fung's!

We also ordered the 炸浆面 but nothing special I would say... we also had the Red Bean Pancake... when it was served to us, it was still hot and crispy! Luckily it wasn't very oily like those I have eaten before.

The place looks like one of those old little cafes in HK, but it has air-con so not too bad. But the food smell sticked onto my hair after we leave the place.

Fri Dinner on 20/02/09: I had been forewarned by my friend prior to coming here abt the owner being an infamous querulous curmudgeon. Maybe because I had been expecting the worst, I didn't feel that it was all that bad. But well, his perennial sulky and sullen countenance is a verifiable fact. You can't miss it, it's his trade mark. But I had tried asking him nicely whether I could make reservations when I revisit, he explained (by his standards, I think he was quite cordial) that I would have priority in the queue ONLY IF all members of my entourage arrived on time, which I feel is reasonable, since the eatery is rather small and cramped and he just wanted an efficient turnover of customers as much as possible.

This eatery was so packed that we waited 30 min to get a seat and we had to coshare a table with a couple of girls, which means there's not much privacy for tête-à-tête. Definitely not an ideal place for 1st dates, if you are considering it.

We ordered the Zha Jiang Mian, Xiao Long Bao, San Xian Guo Tie and the Red Bean Pancakes.

Hm...Zha Jiang Mian was quite normal I feel. But to be fair, I'm not a big fan of Za Jiang Mian and I only ate 1-2 mouthfuls.

Xiao Long Bao - The soup was really nice! And I like that the ginger slices and vinegar were laid out on the tables for us to help ourselves so that we do not have to trouble the waitresses too much since I eat ALOT of those with my Xiao Long Bao and Guo Tie. The skin of the dumpling was rather thin and chopsticks tend to stick to the skin and break (the skin, not the chopsticks) as I struggle to lift them from the Xiao Long Bao. Hm...I can't really say that it's better than Din Tai Fung's. I think I gotta bring my mom here to try since she is a HUGE fan of Din Tai Fung's Xiao Long Bao.

San Xian Guo Tie - Scrumptious! Crispy on the outside. And it's not in the quotidian dumpling style such that there are too much pan-fried oleaginous dough that envelopes the chive and meat that makes me so full that I feel queasy within a few bites. This is like a roll instead of a dumpling and is perfect for me in fact! :)

Red Bean Pancakes - Ambrosial, divine and simply heavenly. I knew it was sinful but I can't help but help myself to a few pieces too many! Argh. Love it. Ohhh. Hate myself for loving it. Darn!

I'll definitely be back. Wanna see what my mom says abt the XLB and I wanna try their Rose-Flavoured Glutinious Rice Balls!

Thu Dinner on 01/10/09: First of all, Happy Children's Day to all!! Heh.

I can't believe it took me 7 months to come back. Finally fulfilled my promise to bring Bestie for some good old XLB ($7 for 7 pieces) and Pan Fried Guo Tie ($8 for 8 pieces).

I pretty much still love the soup and the fresh minced meat of XLB and crispy crust of Guo Tie here. Super yummilicious! Bestie thinks Din Tai Feng still serves better XLB but she complimented on the Guo Tie at least twice.

We also shared a bowl of 5 Rose Flavoured Glutinous Rice Balls ($3). The clear soup was very fragant and tasted of bandung without the milk. It was very light on the palate. I love the surprise that awaited with each new nibble as each of the tangyuan had different filling; red bean, black sesame, mung bean paste, lotus seed paste and peanut. They all tasted so good btw. ;)

Other costs: Tea @ $1/pax, dish of peanuts @ $1, wet towels @ $1/pax.

We ordered a hot and sour soup (aka suan la tang $3), noodles with bean sauce (aka Za Jiang Main $5), pan fried dumpling ( aka guo tie $8) and a glutinous rice ball (aka gui hua tang yuan $3). Wanted to order Xiao Long Bao initially. We heard that this shop is good for that and seems that it's better than crystal jade and ding tai feng. However, they were sold out by the time we ordered. sob sob.

Out of all the items, the guo tie was my favourite. It's the best I have tasted so far. Firstly, it is really crispy on the outside. As shown above, the crust is pan fried till golden brown in colour. Secondly, there is alot of juicy (or maybe oil). Unlike guo tie served elsewhere, this one does not have alot of unnecassry crust. The ends are actually open and not sealed like other places. The downside to this dish is that I find the size of each guo tie abit small. It is a little expensive considering that it costs $8 for 10.


The hot and spicy soup was not too sour. Amount of ingredients in the soup was quite generous (redeeming factor). However, I will say that on the whole there is nothing much to rave about.

The Za Jiang Main is somewhat different from those which I had eaten previously at crystal jade. The noodles here are much softer and less springy. The Za jiang is slightly saltier. Didn't really like the vegetables that went with it. Not my kind of vegetable. Quantity wise was average.

Decide to order this as I thought they look really like quail eggs and I like quail egg. For $3, you get 5 tang yuan. They come in assorted flavors (peanut, red bean, sesame, lian rong). It was nothing out of the world and I think ah bao ling is still the best and it's cheaper.

Things to take note:

1. Always inform the boss of the no. of people you have in your group before you join the "queue".

2. Don't go too late as things might be sold out.

3. Avoid going in big groups as the shop is really not that big.

4. This is not a place to "hang out". Please leave after you have finished your food. Kindly be considerate as there are alot of people still waiting outside. (I saw a group doing that and was totally disgusted as I was eyeing on their table. lol)

No service to talk about, I agree.
No ambience to talk about, I agree.

Its JUST about the FOOD, I definitely agree.

To those who dislike the uncle, he may not like you either. :)

To those who love the food there, CheerZ~

The Xiao Long Bao "bursts in the mouth, not on the chopsticks".

The osmanthus flavoured stuffed dumplings seals the dinner with its lightness in taste...

OMG!! My wife is pregnant 6 months and so called "the owner" asked her to wait OUTSIDE while I was parking my car across the street parking lot!! Luckily I could manage my temper at that time. There was 2 empty tables while my wife was waiting outside!

Stay away from this coffee shop!!! His attitude ruin my appetite!!

OLD UNCLE, HOPE YOU READ THIS!! THINK IF THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR DAUGHTER!!!

I guess i'm probably the only one that thinks that the 'old grumpy eccentric uncle' can be nice too. I have to agree that the service is not fantastic but maybe if you could try and understand his point of view, it could help. I'm a quite frequent customer and he's actually quite decent to me.

The reason why he's always making sure that all of you guys are gathered before letting you in is precisely cause its a small 'coffeeshop' like area and there are a lot of people waiting to get in. So he's really quite against the 'chopping seats'/reserving seats thing. He also doesn't like people adding last minute orders cause it prolongs the time they spend there and in a way deprive the others from sitting (in essence, limiting his business).

Anyway, if you try to follow his rules, he can actually be quite nice.

Foodwise... I would say that the xiao long bao is really good (definitely the best in SG) but has to be eaten hot, once it's cold, it doesn't taste that nice. And it should also be eaten when you're not too full so you can actually savour the food. I feel that if you've eaten too much of the others, it sort of covers the taste. Also, he taught me that if you don't wanna break the skin, you lift the xlb out from the middle of the bao, not from the top. It always worked after he told me that.

Apart from that i feel that the Zha Jiang Mian, Red Bean Pancake, Guo Tie and the handmade Glutinious Rice Balls are pretty awesome too.

Hope this helps!

This place serves fantastic xiaolongbaos I have ever eaten (trust me, I've eaten in the 'best' xiaolongbao restaurants). Other dishes I've also tried are their pot stickers, chinese pizza, dumplings, red bean pancake and mince meat noodles, all of which are wonderful. lacks service, but no service charge included so thats a good trade-off. Wonderful experience overall, will go back the next time I return to Singapore.

We went there for lunch today for the 1st time. As always, there is always a long queue outside each time I go passed this place. Like other people commented, the owner had a black straight face. The service in clearing up the table was extra slow... I didn't understand why they wouldn't let us go in and sit down whilst they cleared the table! There was no sense of efficiency!

However, with a menu of about 15 items, it doesn't take long to decide what to have. We had xiao long bao which was good. Like the other reviewers said, the meat was not too porky or too pungent like other places. The skin could be thinner. Overall, it tasted good and didn't leave us thirsty afterwards. We also had hot and sour soup - totally different from all the others that we had had before - a bit more sour than spicy, it's still ok. Noodles in spicy soup was average, nothing special. There was bean sprout with mince meat - tasted a bit plain but once chilli sauce was added, it was good. Also had the glutonous rice balls - 100% home made!

Overall, once you are in, service is prompt, although not always with a smile. It's stable quality food. The old lady who is also serving is the one who does smile!