Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

The past week hasn't been exactly smooth-sailing as I came down with a bad flu. Since I wasn't in the pinkest of my health, there was a slight pause in posting. Of course, the darn flu isn't an excuse to take a break from posting, but the inability to utilize my cerebrum and the inability to stabilize my motor skills, irritated the hell outta me. You know how flu medicine makes people groggy, drowsy, stalls (if not halt) your brain and you just want to lie in bed all day. Hahaha..

Since this is the first post after a week's break, let me warm up by doing a review on one of my favourite haunt for dim sum.

Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

2nd Floor,

76 Bras Basah Rd, Carlton Hotel,

Singapore 189558
Call for reservations: 6311 8188

Carlton Hotel is at the junction of Bras Basah Road and Victoria Street, opposite SMU and CHIJMES. Complimentary car park coupons are available. Do request from them if they didn't offer any. Their service standard varies from average to bad, depending on which server you get. Their main dining area has pretty strong air-conditioning; it can get real chilly so do bring a jacket along. And to mimic the traditional "yum cha" experience, they have a couple of (usually) mid-age ladies pushing a cart, peddling its contents which are mostly fried fritters. But *sighs* since I'm also having a sore throat and bad cough, no fried food for me. =(

I almost always start the meal with their 菠萝包 (Bo Lo Bun), my personal favourite from Wah Lok. In fact I should call it 叉烧(Char Siew)菠萝包 since the traditional one is empty while this is stuffed with well-marinated, sweet char siew (I'm not sure what they call it on the menu though =P)! The char siew is encased in a thin wall of soft bread which has a sweet crust atop that resembles a cookie. There is an interesting contrast between the crunchy crust, the soft bread and the "meaty" char siew. Perhaps what's really in the limelight is the moist char siew filling which helps bring back the otherwise dry pastry to a balance. IF I have to complain about something (I'm fine with the way it is =P), I would say that the taste is one dimensional, this pastry is just sweet bread + sweet filling + sweet crust, sweet all around but in different degree (filling is the sweetest). To make things even more interesting that it already is, perhaps can consider making the filling slightly salty? Heehee.. 

Since we're having dim sum, how can we not have 叉烧包 (Char Siew Bun) right? Hahaha.. I think the filling should be the same of Char Siew Bo Lo Bun so the standard is equally high. I have had the moment of being torn apart between this and Bo Lo Bun, unable to decide which is my favourite. Well, you know which won and it's due to the contrast in texture. 

蛋挞 (Egg Tart) is another essential in HK dim sum. Wah Lok's features an uniformly puffed puff pastry instead of shortcrust pastry. Both are traditional but I say puff pastry is way more difficult to produce. (Thanks to cousin for being my hand model. Hahaha)

Like me, many people wouldn't be able to resist the urge of ordering a bowl of 皮蛋粥 (Century Egg Porridge) for brunch. I hate to say this, but even with the dual egg combination (century and salted), I didn't find their porridge exceptional, would have probably given it a pass if not for the fact that I'm still feeling under the weather.

Ahhhhhh.... 烧肉 (Chinese Roasted Pork, mostly just known as Roasted Meat), as weird and unusual it is to have it as a dim sum item, please do not miss it under any condition. It will rewrite your perception of how roasted meat should be (it rewrote mine =X). Roasted meat was never my preferred protein, it is always either too salty, too fat, too dry, too hard (the top skin), too tough or too something! I always found something wrong with the piece of roasted meat I'm chewing on. That is until I ate Wah Lok's offering...... I think I shouldn't describe how this taste like and let you experience on your own. This is more than just a nicely presented dish.

In case you're looking for 虾饺 (Prawn Dumpling aka Har Gau),  烧卖 (Pork Dumping aka Siu Mai) and 猪肠粉 (Rice Noodle Rolls aka Chee Cheong Fun), here they are. They are delicious and made with fresh ingredients but I didn't see any "wow" factors to rave about.

However, to be fair, I did not sample the Siu Mai (fingers not fast enough =P) but didn't remember anything significant from the many other times we had it. Likewise to the Cheong Fun, do note that it can be filled with char siew too but we figured, we have had too much char siew already.

If you grew up in a west-centric environment and you're reading this post because you're travelling to Singapore soon, this next dim sum might come across as unhygienic, uncouth and totally disgusting - 凤爪 (Chicken Feet). If you manage to cast its image aside and muster enough courage to put a feet in your mouth, I promise you will be greeted with soft gelatinous skin, tendons and tissues that fall off the bone so easily, all you need to do is to suck on them. Not forgetting to mention that chicken feet is packed with the elusive collagen which is supposedly good for making our skin supple (sadly, the latter's not true). I say Wah Lok's 凤爪 is one of the top few in Singapore and if you were to suck on a feet, this will be the place. =P

Conclusion: We have been satisfying our dim sum cravings at Wah Lok for quite sometime (2-3 years now?). Although their service can be quite bad at times, we're glad that the chefs maintain the food's high standards. If you prefer to be away from the traffic, away from the heat and don't mind paying a little more for dim sums, Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant is the perfect place. Prepare SGD20 - SGD40 (if you're a big eater) per person. Do note that they have 2 rounds of service and the first ends at 1pm.

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