Dinner at Tien Court, Singapore

As it was my uncle's birthday, our family decided to celebrate by heading to Tien Court at Copthorne's King Hotel. The restaurant offers Cantonese cuisine and is one of the oldest in Singapore. My uncle and cousin had some car trouble as their car failed to start, which meant that they got delayed by more than an hour. Whilst waiting for them we got quite hungry and so we decided to order some soup to start with. We had actually also wanted to order a Peking Duck, so that we could enjoy the duck pancakes, but sadly enough they were sold out. Surprising actually since it wasn't even 7 pm yet.

We got the Seafood Hot and Sour Soup. The Hot and Sour Soup was a little too peppery for my taste and I felt that it lacked seafood, only finding a tiny piece of prawn.

Since my brother doesn't particularly enjoy seafood he decided to get an appetizer which was Sliced Poached Pork with Ginger and Garlic. The pork on the other hand was succulent and very tasty. My brother especially enjoyed eating the leftover sauce with rice.

The first actual dish to arrive was the Black Pepper Venison. We usually order beef, but some members of the extended family don't eat beef, so we decided to order venison instead. The venison was served with plenty of capsicum as well as little cubes of eggplant, which I thought was a nice touch. The venison was very tender and especially my dad enjoyed it a lot.

One of the dishes that my cousin particularly enjoyed the last time she visited was the Eggplant stir-fried with Chilli Bean Paste and Minced Pork. Although this was a nice tasting dish, the amount of oil the eggplant was in, was slightly off-putting.

A dish that I picked from the menu and pushed to order was the Beancurd in Claypot with Seafood. This was probably one of the best dishes ever. The abundance of seafood in this dish was amazing. There were numerous giant prawns, scallops and slices of fish. The beancurd was also very tender and tasty. Being a seafood lover meant that I went for the seafood and let the beancurd go to my brother. As usual we had our little food swap.

For vegetables we ordered our family favourite, Dou Miao - Pea Shoots with garlic. This dish isn't available very often and whenever we go to any Chinese restaurant we ask whether they have it. Lucky for us they actually had it this night. The garlic wasn't overpowering and it wasn't greasy like you sometimes get it.

The table next to us ordered this dish and when I saw it I immediately asked the server what it was. Looking so appetising I ordered one to try too, we actually thought about ordering for everyone but nobody was willing to speak up, so we only got one for my brother and I to share. It's a Pork Rib in a Tangerine and Peach Sauce. When it came to the table, however, everyone wanted a bit of it. When my mum tried to order more for everyone, we were informed that it was sold out. Ha, this is what happens if you're indecisive and not willing to try (since they all thought it wouldn't taste good).

My grandma loves Pig's Trotters so we got some Wok-Fried Vermicelli with Stewed Pork Trotters. This dish really didn't do it for me, as it was filled with fatty meat. I had one bite and then passed the noodles to my brother, for whom one such bowl of noodles is never enough. My grandma loved this dish, especially the fatty meat. But my dad and I both felt that this isn't a dish we'll be ordering the next time.

Although we had more than enough food, the family decided to order King Prawns in a Spicy Ginger and Garlic Sauce, last minute. These prawns were giant, succulent and fresh and it was a good choice. It was accompanied by some Baby Bok Choy, which I really enjoyed.

At the beginning of the night we had ordered the roast chicken. We had asked for it to come whilst waiting for my cousin and uncle to come, since we were hungry and thought that we should just let one dish come first. For some strange reason this dish came last at about 9:30 pm to be exact, although we had asked for it to come at 7:30. After enquiring multiple times throughout the meal for the chicken we finally got it. It actually took them more than 30 minutes after telling us that they were in the process of slicing the chicken for it to arrive. Luckily for them the chicken was very good, and the perfectly crisp skin was the highlight. I also particularly enjoyed the almond and spice seasoning on the one half of the chicken, although we weren't too sure why only half of it was served this way.

After finishing the chicken the staff asked us whether we'd like some dessert. We got the dessert card and after placing our order, they returned to inform us that we couldn't order dessert anymore. Being quite angry they went back to the kitchen and then informed us that we could order the chilled desserts. However, I really wanted the red bean pancake with coconut ice cream, whilst my grandma wanted the yam paste. As we were arguing with them they told us that their kitchen closes at 10pm and that we were too late. We placed our order at 9:45pm however. They then returned to us and told us that their chef had left early for some unknown reason. Feeling apologetic the manager offered us a complimentary mango sago dessert, as that was the only dessert they could order. Although it was a gesture of good will, I'm still quite disappointed by the service in general and the restaurant.

#chinese #singapore #restaurant #review