Second visit. As mentioned, the first visit was prompted by reading about the Chinese Tea - Asian Cuisine pairings in C&W Asia but we had dinner instead. Finally managed to take my parents for an early mothers' day celebration.

Food/Beverage - 9.5

Simply delectable. Both the tea and the dim sum are amazing. And because the food are more of Southern origins, the salt and oil level are a lot more toned down than the usual Cantonese style. The preparations were also a lot more refined.

1st tea (Flower)- "Xian Pian" with "Hua Cha" (flower and frangent leave tea)


2nd tea (Green)- "Bi Luo Chun" (Village of the brilliant green robe)from Jiang Su
Paired with: Siew Mai and Har Gao

This is THE most amazing green tea I had, including the various varieties from Japan. The leaves imparted a nice fragrance which made the water almost taste slightly sweet. There is not a tinge of overt bitterness, and we were encouraged to bite into some of the tea leaves floating to get a combination of flavour and taste. The waitress informed us that Bi Luo Chun is ranked amongst of top ten of all teas in China, we could see why! Both parents and the wife named this their favourite of the lot.

The siew mai and har gao were excellent complements to the tea. The skin both were very fine (not rough), lightly salted and oiled. The fillings were not the run-of-the-mill succulent prawns, but combined with a very light textured mince pork (done in a style where the pork is minced so well that they become fluffy like noodles). The siew mai was thinly topped with a slice of scallop and both had a large amount of prawn roe. The light fragrance of the tea enchanced the individual ingredients and also provided continuity in the combination of the flavours.


3rd tea (Black tea)- Pu Er from Yunan (15 years)

Paired with:
Combination of three cold dishes (salted chicken, steamed fish, mushroom)
Dan-dan noodles & "chao shou" aka Southern style wanton

We learnt that "Pu-er" is a generic name for back fermented tea; that there is the processed, commercial pu-er where merchants mixed various teas to ferment with addictives and are largely what we get today; and that pure "Pu-er" are one-type tea, which are specially fermented with no additives, and can store up to 30 years. The best Pu-er are stored between the 10th - 25th year period after fermentation, and good pu-er will not contain any bitterness nor sourness (sounded exactly like wine in my opinion.)

The cold dishes are pleasant enough on their own, but the combination with pu-er and the tea's ability to lower the spiciness and oiliness made the combination just right. Even though I am usually not a dan-dan noodles fan because of the oil, pairing it with pu-er did the trick and I was able to appreciate the chef's skills in hand-making the soft, silky, yet springy noodles.

As for the "chao shou", it is almost like the cantonese variant wanton. The difference is that the skin is a lot silkier (one can almost taste individual layers within each skin layer). Also, the minced meat was, like in the siew mai, fluffy and non-lumpy.


4th tea (Oolong Tea)- Da Hong Pao from Sichuan
Lotus paste coated with carrot-puree skin & Sichuan style "nian gao"
Tofu (beancurd) with wolfsberries

My favourite combinations. The tea is my personal favourite amongst that day. Bi Luo Chun was great but this was my favourite in terms of the balance of the strength of the taste, fragrance, and the finish. The lotus paste was coated with a carrot-puree mixed with flour and refried, so that it looked like it was an actual carrot. It was both beautiful and tasty.

At the end of the meal, while washing down the food with the limitless re-fill of the oolong, I reflected on the Chinese saying that young people should not stay at Sichuan because it will rob them of their drive. I think I could understand the wisdom of these words now. With tea and cuisine like this, not to mention the place's well-known scenaries and good weather, it would have been indeed hard to feel discontented (which is the drive for progress I believe.)

Ambience - 8; value - 9

The location was not crowded, the tables, chairs and utensils all give off an authentic vibe without over-loading the Chinois factor. Best of all, it was $15 per pax, and with SC and GST came up to about $17. This is definitely up there with the most value for quality meals I have had for a long, long while.

Service - 9

Service deserves special mention. The wait staffs were all from Sichuan and are EXTREMELY knowledgable not just about the products, but also the history, the subtle differences between the various teas, as well as the various combinations of flavours.

They are also patient and prompt, and although their pronunciation of English were accented, there should be no communication problem at all. Speaking to them in Mandarin does help in conveying some of the jargons more accurately I think.

Was at Furniture Mall Beach Road hunting for bed with my wife when our tummys reminded us that it was dinner time. Remembered reading in Cuisine & Wine Asia that a Sichuan restuarant at Park Royal offered very good chinese tea and asia food pairing and had always wanted to try decent Sichuan food so asked the wifey. So happened that her aunt held the wedding there and she remembered the food was very decent. So on we went for a very good Sichuan cuisine dinner :)

Food/Beverage - 7.5

The first thing to rave about is not the food but the Sichuan Da Hong Bao tea (translated: Big Red Coat. If I remembered correctly, a magistrate was cured after drinking this tea and as an expression of his gratitude, draped his red magistrate coat over the tea bush, hence the name.) It was served as a kung-fu tea, where this chap with a scalding hot water pot and a sprout about 2 metres long literally shoots hot water into your cup of tea. Theatrics aside, this tea is fragrant, not overtly bitter, and really clear the palate with each sip.

The second top attraction is the Bean Curd with Wolfberries. The beancurd was perfectly smooth, and the syrup is not too sweet. In fact it was sweet without any overt tinge of suger, and the wolfberries added just the right amount of sweetness and fragrance. We have tried beancurd from all over Singapore and this is definitely tops, beating the original Rocher and all its offspringsas well as the Taiwan beancurd store at Geylang.

Another must-try is the Sichuan sour and spicy soup. The wife is a fan and has eagerly tried this soup whenever we can find it and she ranked this number one. It is thick, spicy without any overt taste of chilly or pepper, FULLLL of ingredients, and a lot of the ingredient complemented the spiciness of the soup very well!

Other dishes are above average in terms of ingredients quality and preparation. The abalone, mushroom & vegetable is like most decent chinese restuarant but the chef's skill in stir frying the vegetable to give it the nice dark colour and flavour without over-cooking is apparent with the first bite. Never much of a veggie fan but I was eagerly devouring the greens and drizzling the gravy over everything I can find. *mom mom mom mum mum slurp*

We did not try the seafood dishes like steam fish due to limited stomach capacity but had the scallops with bamboo shoots on a egg basket. It was yummy although a part of me always cry whenever I see scallops drenched in sauce. The chef's skill in cooking the scallop is also apparent, with each scallop even cooked to the center without any tinge of hardness. The sauce did overpower the scallop a little but the combination of the scallop, shoots and egg basket is a world of its own.

Do avoid the Dan Dan Mian (aka Tan Tan noodles), as there is nothing really oustanding besides the stunningly fluffy and springy texture of the noodles which can be found in the beef brisket noodle as well, and it was drenched with oil and dubious chopped meat.

Special mention goes to the pickles too, and the keropoks which works wonder for tongues on fire from the spiciness.


Ambience - 8.5

By far the best Chinese style restuarant in offering an authentic experience without over-loading the chinois factor. It is also relatively quiet for a chinese restuarant. So looking forward to bringing my parents here for the high-tea chinese tea and dim sum pairing!


Value - 7

Some items are a little pricey in my opinion, although still value for money. The beancurd with wolfberries are a steal at $3.50 for its serving and quality. The Da Hong Pao is debatable at $6.50/cup since I know some teahouse sells worse quality and quantity at $16/pot. The abalone, mushroom, vegatable is slightly steep at 40 since you get 2 slices of each abalone and mushroom. The scallops are a steal at $25 for sure considering the amount and size of the scallops, not to mention the skills and prep. The noodles are actually cheap, but not worth it even at $6 - go for rice instead, it will complement the dishes much much better if my judgement is correct.


Service - 6

Nothing bad, nothing outstanding. I like that they recommend but don't push any dishes, and the teamaster is very prompt with his re-filling.