Qun Zhong Eating House

No-frills joint for the best 小笼包 (IMHO). Tiny humble joint that serves up authentic 京华小吃 such as 小笼包, 炸酱面, 锅贴 etc. No ambience to talk about and it's perpetually filled with diners (and tonnes of Japs). Be prepared for the queue though, they don't take reservations and diners have to be present before they will entertain you. Also, sharing of table with other diners is a norm. Quite an experience as you'll either be bitching/waxing lyrical about the place. =)

24 JUL 2010
For the last few weekends, we kept noticing the enduring queue that formed up time and again. We made it a point to give it a go and try it for ourselves…

Factoring the queue factor, and that "群众 eating house" opens its door at 11:30am (listed on its business card), we reached around 11:20am to be third in queue - not bad I thought… However, we ended up waiting and waiting for their doors to open, which was around 11:50am… Grrrr… $*(#)%*@#!%… How can like that?!!

Anyway, it was full-house almost immediately. Their menu is quite limited (I counted around 15 or so items) and we ordered a few of our favorites: 三鲜鍋貼; 小籠湯包; 炸酱麵 and 桂花湯圓 for dessert to share for the two of us… 

炸酱麵 was average… 小籠湯包 did not cut it at all… It lacked form and was rather bland… Saving grace was 三鲜鍋貼 & 桂花湯圓 which were both excellent. Their tasty and juicy 鍋貼 was pan-fried to a perfect crispy crunch… and the mixture of red bean, black sesame, and peanut 湯圓 were perfect in their subtle 桂花 flavored soup… 

Will I be back for more? Only if I don't have to endure the queue! But seriously, I think I might just definitely return for their 三鲜鍋貼 & 桂花湯圓…

The Sunday afternoon queue was pretty long, I had to wait for about 40 mins before the 2 of us were chucked to share a table with 2 strangers. The restaurant was a lil cramped, decor was very dated and service was curt but pretty prompt. Strangely there were a lot of foreigners there. I guess the grumpy uncle was having a good day and wasnt mean to us at all :)

Including desserts there's only 13 items of the menu as the restaurant choose to focus on what it does best - the Xiao Long Baos and Dumplings! The Xiao Long Bao skin was thin but doesnt break too easily (i ate a whole basket myself!). The Guo Tie were crispy and not too oily. Thumbs up! i didnt bother with the rest of the dishes

Guo Tie (10pc) @ $8
Xiao Long Bao 7 pc @ $7

I am usually not particularly finicky about service. To me, the quality of the food is foremost; everything else is secondary.  In this case however, the service is so conspicuously bad that it can sometimes leave a bad taste in your mouth. Be prepared to be barked at by the owner as you are shown to your seat. Be prepared to be squeezed in at a table with another group of patrons, even if there are other empty tables around.  Sometimes he raises his voice at customers. I have given their service a rating of 2 instead of 0 because at least the other servers are not as bad. They are brusque but at least they are not rude.

The unfortunate thing is that the food is actually pretty good. I do like the xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings), zha jiang mian (meat sauce noodles) and red bean pancake. However this is one place where the experience you get with the service might be so awful as to overshadow the competence of the food. I suppose it is worth a try at least once, so that you can discern for yourself whether you are able to stomach such treatment. For those who watch Seinfeld, think of the "Soup Nazi" episode. 

 

Why, oh why, oh why?    I have found myself frequently asking myself these questions.   Why is the proprietor so badly behaved?    Have we, the paying customers, done something to offend him?    Did he really want to be an accountant and being stuck in the drudgery of running this xiao long bao restaurant made him angry with society at large?   Has life dealt him an unfair hand in his search for love?   Or is it because there's an offensive looking mole on my nose?

The sad thing is, his permanently dour behaviour has rubbed off on his staff.   They are not rude, like him.   However, have you ever seen them smile?  Or say thank you?    Why would they even want to work in an environment like this?   If the proprietor treats his customers this way ...

The sadder thing is, the sourpuss act is so unnecessary.   The food is good.   Very good even.   And it is reasonably priced.  Why ruin it all by behaving as if he is doing us all a favour by allowing us to eat at his restaurant?    

 

This is an interesting establishment. The food is great - the constant daily queues of diners are testament to this. My family and I are regulars there, and the "family" recognise us. They're quite nice to us, probably because they know us by now. However, the uncle admittedly is a slightly grumpy man. If you can look past this, you will have a fairly enjoyable meal.

If you don't want to queue outside like obedient sheep (yes this applies to all), get there by 6pm.

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)