NOTE: East Ocean has moved to Ngee Ann City. This visit was done in early February when it was still at Lido Shaw.
Strange that a Teochew restaurant is serving (Cantonese) dim sum. Regardless, we just wanted to see if it’s ho bo ho chiak (delicious or not). The queue is insane but there is a certain joy is breezing past the queue and walking up, saying “I have a reservation.” Make reservation, people! Why queue?
A boisterous, rowdy, noisy crowd which we love. Soak in the convivial ambience!
We had fu pi juan (beancurd skin), congee, cheong fun, har cheong gai (prawn-paste chicken), fried carrot cake, siew mai, har gow, char siew bao, and egg tart.
The really good dim sums are fried fu pi juan (beancurd skin), congee (very flavorful on its own), har cheong gai (prawn-paste chicken), and fried carrot cake. Do you notice the pattern here? They are the less delicate dim sum items, the ones that don’t require steaming.
The egg tarts and liu sha bao (salted egg yolk-custard bun) are so-so. Given that liu sha bao has so much calories, we cannot decide if “so-so” is good enough.
What is disappointing are the har gow and siew mai. Tasted strange and don’t have a good texture.
Service: Chinese restaurants are notorious for bad service, however these bunch of aunties are quite friendly. A note to management: please remove some tables to make space for pushcarts. How would you feel if your mother is carrying a heavy tray of dim sum, walking around for hours? Make the load lighter for the serve staff please. (this refers to the Lido restaurant. We are not sure if the Taka branch still operates the same way.)
Overall, we enjoyed ourselves. The food is, if uninspiring, acceptable. We paid $30-$35 per person.
East Ocean Teochew Restaurant 东海潮州酒家
391 Orchard Rd
#05-08 Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238872
T: 6235 9088
Website
M-F: 11:30am – 3pm; 6pm – 11pm
S-S, PH: 10am – 3pm; 6pm-11pm
Rating: 3.438/5 stars
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