tesss

Hand in Hand came up as one of the top recommendations when I was searching for a good Xiao Long Bao place and prices were definitely friendlier than Din Tai Feng. Fried French Beans with Minced Pork ($10.80) A tad oily but packed enough wok hei. Egg White with Scallop and Fish Meat in Broccoli ($15.80) Highly recommended but I'm not sure what I make of the scallop and fish meat combination that tasted more like beancurd. Xiao Long Bao ($7.80) As good as DTF's without the 18 folds, yet equally delicate in workmanship. Tasty morsels and for this price point, I'm actually loving their version more. Deep Fried Pork Chop with Salted Pepper ($15.80) I found this average and on the pricey side since these had a porky after taste too. Fried Dumplings with Leek and Shrimp ($7.80) Resembling Japanese gyozas, these crispy dumplings are really delicious. The thin skin enveloping a flavourful blob of shrimp and leek. Fried Leek Dumplings with 3 Delicacies ($7.80) Mo...

Greater China cuisine intrigues me - how huge a disparity when you visit different parts. To this, the frequent flyer to China would vehemently disagree and brush it off as "too salty, too oily, too spicy." Szechuan food in China, is far more than hotpots and dried chillies. Tian Bao Szechuan Food like its name suggests, specializes in Szechuan food and lays claim to being the only one with authentic dishes. Decor is tasteful, largely chinese influenced and I fell in love with the ceiling with a steamer installation. Refuse their sides of chilled black fungus and peanuts and save your bill a couple of buckeroos. Note that wet towels and warm water are chargeable. Local Long Beans in House-Made Ginger Sauce ($5.60) Blanched long beans in soya sauce, more than ginger sauce. This appetizer was off to a very bland start. Tian Bao Steamed Small Pau with Pork (6pcs) ($9.80) I've not known Xiao Long Bao described in any other way until Tian Bao and this was far from the fam...

Finding a place for CNY gatherings is usually difficult when it comes to big groups and worse when they restrict to just festive menus. My gang of almost 20 were lucky to nab tables at Paradise Dynasty that also offered the option of ordering from the ala carte menu. One main grouse, my table of 8 had 4 plates of steamed nuts served. Did they over order for the season? The mandatory yusheng which was thankfully my very last. No more, no more please! Spot the baby abalones used here and this fitted all 20 of us, children too. The mess thereafter, one that resulted in wastage and a bunch of very happy adults. Twas a decent yusheng with innovative use of baby abalones which makes it child friendly too. We rejoiced over the ala carte menu way too early because there were a ton of choices not available so I ended up with a spicy la mian that came with soggy noodles and a less than satisfying ordeal. At least my cheese xiaolongbaos saved my day. A ton of mozzarella does the trick for str...

I love Swee Choon - the price, speed of service and decent tasting dimsum. Of course one cannot be expecting the same quality as high end restaurants, this is good for that mid night cheap eat and dress down night. Reservations are possible now except I was not expecting a table without aircon. Bummer - seems that queueing gets you an air conditioned table. Check off your orders in the order cheat, hand it over to any of the enthusiastic servers and dinner is served in less than 10 minutes. Great only if time is essence but not the best when not all dining companions are present. One crunchy appetizer, we all seemed to like it. Char Siew Pau ($2) Similar to Tiong Bahru Pau's version, the dark saucy char siew in the fluffy bun gets my vote for yum. Siew Mai ($1.80) Har Kow ($2.40) Not much of an impression of these two except they arrived in such puny metal plates, it was almost laughable. Chicken Feet Steamed Salted Egg Custard Bun ($3.90) Cheap and good these are, molten and not...