Dragon Palace - Dinner at a dim sum favourite

It was a cold and wet night so off to Northbridge for a bite.  Dragon Palace was the choice for tonight and we were seated in the noisy restaurant (courtesy of a wedding).  Tea was served as we waited for our courses to arrive. 

The first course served was large steamed oysters dressed in soy sauce, shaoxing wine and spring onions.  The oysters were large, at least 2 inches in length.  With that sort of marinade it was cooked in, the dish was very tasty and a nice and light way to start the meal.

Next course was Peking duck, a traditional dinner opener.  The crispy fried duck skin was carved from the duck itself on a trolley brought to the table and before too long, 10 tasty pancakes were on our dinner table.  All the elements were there, spring onion and hoi sin sauce along with the duck skin on top of a delicate pancake.  The whole thing was a bit chewy, the culprit being the duck skin.  Also watch out when eating this dish as the hoi sin sauce was leaking from the edges.

The second half of Peking duck soon arrived, much quickly than we had expected.  Sang choy bao was served which is a lettuce leaf with a filling of stir fried duck mince and vegetables.  Usually the mince is from the same duck but due to the how quick this dish was served, I believe this wasn't the case here.  This is slightly disconcerting as I don't think some people will get the rest of the duck when they order Peking duck.

The rest of dinner arrived soon after.  One of these dishes was prawns fried in a salted egg yolk batter.  The texture of the prawns along with the saltiness and egginess of the batter was a great combination.  I recommend you order this if you ever come to this restaurant.  The prawns didn't feel like plastic and the batter wasn't just an after thought (a problem I've had at other places with a similar dish).

The other dish was the kang kong in sambal.  The amount of kang kong was disappointing and the dish was quite salty.  I prefer this vegetable simply stir fried with garlic.  No one went back for seconds.

The staff and service were OK but got worse as the night went on.  A ordered a simple lemonade which did not arrive at all.  Our chinese teapot was not refilled in the last hour which was another disappointment.

To conclude, Dragon Palace is best known as oen of the best places for dim sum.  I whole heartedly agree but on the otherhand, dinner is not the best.  The place is average with some stand out dishes but would not be somewhere I would take people for a special dinner.

Ratings:
Food - 5.0 - Food is average.
Value - 0.8 - Some dishes not as generous as others.

Final rating: 58%

Finer Details: