05 June 2010

Tunglok Signatures, Vivocity

This is a belated post for a belated Mother's Day Celebration with my mum and mum-in-law. With our love for dim sum, we almost always ended up having dim sum when we dine out.

Our usual dim sum place was Kam Boat at Shaw Centre (will blog about Kam Boat another time) but this time, we decided on Tunglok Signatures at Vivocity. My friends had treated me to dim sum there before and I was impressed with the variety and quality.
I think this is pickled radish, kind of an appetiser, served at every table. I quite like the spicy and sour taste along with the crunch.

Steamed Pork Dumplings or Siew Mai, our must-order item whenever we have dim sum, also a litmus test on the overall quality of dim sum in a particular eatery. The Siew Mai here is quite tasty, with good proportion of pork to prawn to mushroom, and a nice touch of roe.

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings or Har Kow, another must-order item. The translucent skin is just the right thickness but somehow breaks easily with we pick up the Har Kow. Nevertheless, the prawn meat is juicy and crunchy.
Steamed Dumplings with Shrimps and Vegetables. I always lament the lack of vegetables in dim sum, so this is a welcoming dish with at least a wee bit of vegetable. The skin is chewy and innards juicy and crunchy.

Steamed Cheong Fun with Shrimps, another must-order item. Somehow the Cheong Fun is not as smooth as we like. Tasted better ones before.

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly. I must rave about this roasted pork belly. I confess that I LOVE pork belly and this is one good roasted pork belly with the right proportion of skin, meat and fats. The skin is roasted to a perfect crisp and combined with meat and fat, a perfect bite! 
The pork belly is served with some mustard sauce, which surprisely complemented the meat quite well. Usually I don't take mustard as the taste is overwhelming but this is quite reasonable.
Pan-fried Turnip Cake with Taro Shreds. This is interesting, combining turnip and taro, usually it's either or. The taste is not bad, with the crisp taro topping and soft turnip cake.
But not the best pan-fried turnip I have tried. Still prefer the usual method of preparation. Somehow the crispy taro topping stuck to the teeth when I was biting it.
Pan-fried Custard Bun. Oh oh oh! I must RAVE about this custard bun. I absolutely LOVE it! It may look ordinary but the moment I took a bite, the warm custard burst into the mouth and best of all the custard is mixed with salted egg yolk, giving it a sweet and salty umami flavour.

See? The custard flowed just like lava... this bun is best eaten warm to fully enjoy the richness of the filling.
Baked BBQ Pork Buns or Polo Bao. Quite reasonable done, bun is soft with crispy sweet topping. The char siew filling is also nicely done. Not the best I have eaten but good enough.
Deep-fried Seafood Salad Spring Roll. Quite disapointed with the appearance as it looks just like an ordinary spring roll. The filling is also so-so only, not much taste or seafood nor salad cream. I would expect the salad cream to ooze out as I bite into the roll but not really...
Deep-fried Wasabi Shrimp and Mango Rice Roll. Similarly, a bit disapointed with this one. There's no taste of wasabi at all and amount of mango mediocre. Thought that rice roll is something special but this is quite ordinary like spring roll.
Deep-fried Beancurd Spring Roll with Shrimp. Ah, finally one decent deep fried item. I must say this is very nicely done. Beancurd skin is crispy and prawn filling juicy and crunchy. Usually deep-fried beancurd skin is a bit hard to chew, but this is surprisingly not.
Steamed Layered Sponge Cake. Ordered this to see the difference between this and the one sold at Din Tai Fung. This is slightly sweeter with custard filling and the sponge softer as well. Hubby still prefered DTF's version whereas my mum likes this.
Since there isn't enough vegetable for a balance meal, I would always order an additional serving of vegetable. This Poached Kailan is cooked just right, crunchy, not too hard with a light complementing sauce.

Overall, it's a nice experience dining at Tunglok Signatures. Service is quite good despite a full house. Tea and water is constantly topped up without reminder. Ambience is good as well with all-white furnishing and view overlooking Sentosa. Not sure if I would be back or try other dim sum places. But if I were to return, it would be for the Pan-fried Custard Bun.

3 comments:

  1. Looks divine. I'll be in Singapore in a couple of weeks, so will try to dine here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Lisa and Alex,
    Must try the Pan-fried Custard Bun =D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yummy looking food.
    As I look at each picture, I keep thinking beautiful....drool.

    ReplyDelete