Sis-in-law organized a family meal on Mothers' Day morning. She suggested going to "Da Dong Fatty Weng Restaurant" but only when she reached there, she realized that the restaurant was closed for renovation. Thus, while we were still looking for a carpark lot, sis-in-law and her hubby went to look for another restaurant. They settled at "Yum Cha". At around 9.30am, the queue wasn't that long and they managed to get a table even before we found a carpark lot.

We only ordered dim sum as it was still early in the morning, we didn't want to go on heavy stuff. Moreover, hubby and myself got to rush over to another Mothers' Day lunch almost immediately after this meal. Did you spot some black dim sum here? Closer look.. They were Squid Ink Dumplings. Tastewise, they didn't taste really very different from the normal siew mai. The squid ink simply just added a splash of black to these dumplings, making them looked more unique.Overall, the dim sum were quite ok, but probably due to the crowd, service was rather slow However, I won't blame them as I could see that they were trying their best to serve us our orders. At least, they refilled our tea frequently. After we left the restaurant around 11am, there was a horrendous long queue at the entrance. We counted ourselves lucky that we didn't need to queue by arriving early in the morning.

Do you like to dine out on Mothers' Day? For me, if I have a choice, I would gladly choose any other normal day to give my mum a treat.

For more details and photos, please visit my blog post at:
http://www.ylyn-journal.blogspot.sg/2013/05/yum-cha-on-mothers-day-chinatown.html

Lunch with my colleagues at Tampines and we were all undecided where to eat. Finally, one of my colleagues suggested Kenny Rogers and we all agreed since most of us had not had Kenny Rogers for a long time. The Kenny Rogers in Tampines is newly opened too, so just try lah!

Once we were all seated, corn muffins were being served (complimentary). I ordered a quarter chicken with 2 side dishes. Very filling and I couldn't finish the sides.Overall, not a bad dining experience but with competitors like Nando's around, they may want to have more attractive promotions to attract the customers.

After watching a musical, hubby and I went to "Makansutra Gluttons Bay" for our supper.We ordered 2 iced drinks to quench our thirst.There was quite a queue at the orh luak stall but hubby still joined the queue. He ordered a plate of fried orh luak (oyster omelette) to share. $8 for the plate of orh luak, quite steep though.. but the oysters were plump and fresh.For more photos and details, pls visit my blog post:
http://ylyn-journal.blogspot.sg/2013/05/the-glass-anatomy-esplanade-theatre.html

I was here with my hubby on last Sunday late morning. We decided to explore the newly renovated food centre at the 2nd level at Simpang Bedok. Dr Leslie Tay gave a very thorough background of how the concept of "Kampung @ Simpang Bedok" came about. I guess the 2 stall holders, one of them I think is the boss, couldn't cope with the crowd and they didn't sell thosai and curry on the day when we were there. They also seemed to be very stressed with the never-ending queue. One of them focused on preparing and steaming the putu mayyam while the other, was also seen busy cooking the appam. Although the queue was not that long, I did wait for almost 20 minutes before it reached my turn to order.

This is a Putu Mayyam Set ($2.20) which comes in 2 pieces.I also ordered the Princess Appam ($3.20), containing egg, butter and cheese as I had never tried this before. I liked it but felt that it was quite expensive though.Do come out the food here and gave your support to these new stall holders. Currently, I feel that the revived food centre is not pulling enough crowd yet and it seems quite quiet even during Sunday peak hours. Hopefully, business will pick up soon and we customers will continue to get more options for food when we are around this area.

For more photos, please visit my blog:
http://www.ylyn-journal.blogspot.sg/2013/04/new-discovery-at-simpang-bedok-putu.html

Yum Cha will be launching 3 special dim sums just for Mothers' Day this year and these exclusive dim sum will be available from 1st to 14th May at both Yum Cha Chinatown and Yum Cha Changi outlets.

I was invited for a food tasting session at Yum Cha to try their Mothers' Day exclusive dim sum as well as many of their regular items and I got my friend Sam to join me for the tasting session. If you haven't decided where to bring your mum for a good meal for Mothers' day, you can consider bringing her and your family to Yum Cha. =)

I took the MRT to Chinatown and when we stepped out of the station, we saw the beautiful sky with fluffy clouds.It was a short walk from the train station to Yum Cha restaurant. There is still the "Chinese New Year" feel around Chinatown area especially with all the hanging red/ yellow lanterns.Yum Cha restaurant on the left side. We went up to the restaurant using this escalator. There is a lift to go up to the second level as well.Reached!The following 3 items are the special Dim Sum introduced to this year's Mothers' Day menu.

Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetable Buns ($2/ pc)

This is a classic Chinese dish, probably has a long history. As they are small and easy to carry, these buns were eaten during war time when people were fleeing from the war in China before settling down in different parts of Asia.Tender pork belly is braised in their secret recipe sauce for hours to create a sweet and succulent taste that is balanced by a soft steamed bun. Be warned... pork belly is used here so expect to find lots of fats in the bun! I don't mind actually but I thought they didn't put in enough of the preserved vegetables to distinguish them from the normal "Kong Ba" pau. Pan-fried Salted Fish Bun ($5/ 3 pcs)

This is quite an unique item that I had not tried before elsewhere. This is a traditional Chinese dish which is originated from Guangdong province. It is said that these salted fish buns were the favourite of Emperor Kang Xi of the Qing dynasty. The filling of the bun is made from salted fish paste and minced meat. If you are worried about the sodium level, the buns were not too salty surprisingly as there was a good balance of the proportion of salted fish paste and meat. The third item in the Mothers' day special menu is Almond Tarts. ($3.20/ 3pcs)

They do look like Hong Kong bird nests' egg tarts with the almost translucent colour on top, isn't it? They are served in bite-sized portion and are served warm. Although I am not usually a big fan of almond paste, but I love these almond tarts. Other than the above 3 special Mothers' day items, we were also served their normal ala-carte dishes.

Steamed Fish Maw with Shrimp Paste ($4.80/ 3pcs)

One of my favourite dishes. Succulent prawns wrapped in fish maw.Prawn and Mango Sesame Fritters ($4.20/ 3 pcs)

Another must-order dish when you are at Yum Cha restaurant.Scallop Pea-Shoot Dumpling ($4.60/ 3 pcs)

Something new to me but I find that the skin was a bit too thick.Salted Egg Prawns

Very nice presentation. The prawns were deep-fried to crisp with the shells and I ate the shells as well. We felt that maybe they could add in more salted egg to give them a stronger flavour. For those who will peel off the prawn shells, you may not be able to really taste the salted egg flavour.Black Pepper Lotus Beef Slice

Love the colours for this dish! Of course, the food was good too. Beef was tender and I also like the fried lotus roots, I think it will be better if the lotus roots were cut a bit thicker so that we can feel more crunch with every bite.7 Flavour Tofu

People at my table all didn't really like the seasonings of the tofu sprinkled on top. I guess most of us love our tofu with sauce/ gravy.Fried Vermicelli Seafood

The dish was served with generous portion of ingredients such as prawns, scallops and fish slices.Liu Sha Bao ($4.50/ 3pcs)

Their liu sha bao were nice too.Thanks Yum Cha for inviting us to the food tasting session. We had a great feast!

Yum Cha Chinatown

20 Trengganu Street (Off Temple Street)

#02-01 Singapore 058479

Tel: 63721717

Email: chinatown@yumcha.com.sg

Opening Hours:

Weekdays: 11am to 11pm

Sat, Sun and Public Holiays: 9am to 11pm