Lunch at Spring Court, Singapore
For a new year's brunch, the entire family decided to head to Spring Court for dim sum. Spring Court is, apparently, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore and specializes in Singaporean Chinese Cuisine. I wasn't too sure what to expect heading here, but was ready to try it out.
Probably the best Popiah I've tasted. It was stuffed with vegetables and prawns and the skin wasn't soggy at all. I had one piece, and then immediately asked for more, so they ordered a whole one for me. Definitely finger-licking good.
The usual dim sum staples were ordered. Amongst which, Siu Mai. This one was with prawn and minced pork. Not being such a fan of the pork version of siu mai, I decided to pass. According to the rest of the family, it was alright, but not that special. We also ordered the Har Kau, this one I did try, but also nothing special and the skin was slightly too thick.
The cute little Egg Tarts arrived and these were a definite hit. The buttery pastry melted in your mouth and the filling was just set.
We ordered several plates of this Fried Carrot Cake, since it was very good. There was a nice ratio of crunchy beansprouts with the scrambled egg and the carrot cake. And the sauce was also just right.
Of course we had to order Char Siu Bao. This is always a favorite and it has been said that you can judge a dim sum restaurant's quality just based on its bao. Many of the ladies from the elder generation wanted to skip this one, as they think it's too filling and rather opted to share thirds. After trying it though, the majority decided to have a whole one anyways. The bao was soft and fluffy like a light cloud and the char siu was nicely done and there wasn't so much fatty meat.
One of the ongoing promotions at Spring Court is its Peking Duck. When you spend over a certain amount and have a certain credit card, you can get the duck for only $0.86, which is the age of the restaurant. Funnily enough the price increases by one cent every year. We only had the duck skin served on the traditional pancakes. Although it wasn't the best that we've had, for 86 cents, who can complain.
We also ordered some deepfried pastry, which I skipped on. We had the Fried Wonton and Fried Pumpkin Pastry. The former wasn't very popular with the rest of the family, and there were quite a few leftover. The latter was quite well received and were finished.
There were some more steamed dumplings, which I also didn't really try. The first was very popular and was a Steamed Spinach Prawn Dumpling. I found the skin too thick, and didn't think there was enough prawn. The second was something that I couldn't really identify. I believe it was Pork, Prawn and Vegetables stuffed in a roll of Fish Maw. Definitely not being a fan of fish maw this was kept far away from me.
A major surprise and probably one of my favorites, was the unassuming looking Prawn Banana Fritters. The combination of prawn and banana was surprising, but was very good together. Always being a fan of fried bananas, this was a nice spin on a savory version. I think I probably ate 4 of these, since everyone else was so full and I really liked it. The toasted sesame seeds on top added a nice crunch to the fritter, which wasn't too oily.
We ordered the Pandan Liu Sha Bao, as a sweet ending to our meal. Upon arrival on our table, a discussion started about what a good custard bun is. This bun definitely did not hit the mark. The skind was very thick and the custard wasn't oozing and flowing like it was supposed to.
Disappointed by the custard buns, but fairly satisfied after our meal, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. I think I would come back just for the fritters and the popiah, but the majority of the other dishes could be forgotten.