The shop is always full. That usually signals one of two things: the food is good, or the location is convenient. I went to find out which one applied to The Dim Sum Place at The Centrepoint.
Dim sum is rooted in Hong Kong. It relies heavily on pork & lard in the pastry, fat in the fillings, lean meat in the char siew bao and siew mai. Pork and century egg congee is a staple. So, when a place attempts a halal version, the question is simple: Can it replicate the texture and depth without the key ingredient? Or is it just an approximation?
I wanted it to be good. I left disappointed.
Let’s not waste time. The food is not up to standard.
We started with the signature fried beehoon. A dish like this relies on technique. It should be crisp on the outside, moist and flavorful on the inside. This was dry. The prawns felt like an afterthought, just placed on top rather than integrated into the dish. It lacked the breath of the wok.
The beancurd skin prawn roll fared no better. The outer shell was hard. It didn’t shatter; it crunched heavily. It tasted mostly of flour. A simple item, usually a safe bet, but here it was executed poorly.
Then, the siew mai. Without pork fat, siew mai needs a substitute to provide that essential bounce and moisture. This version tasted different, and not in a good way. The texture was off. It lacked the savory punch you expect when you bite into a steamer basket.
The only saving grace was the fried broccoli. It was cooked correctly. Crunchy, seasoned well, and retained its color. But you don’t go to a dim sum restaurant for broccoli or do you?
The price point makes the disappointment sharper. For the standard of food served, it is expensive. You are paying for the location and the halal certification, not the quality on the plate.
Innovation is fine. But when you remove a core ingredient like pork from dim sum, you need to work harder to fill the void. The Dim Sum Place doesn’t seem to be working hard enough. It feels like a compromise.
If you want real dim sum, stick to the traditional spots. This was a miss.
I left The Centrepoint disappointed, but the search for soul in Singapore’s food scene doesn’t end at a mall. For a meal that delivers on its promise without the price tag or the pretense, look to the veterans. You can find that in my Hawker Series, where I recently covered Teck Heng Leong Kway Chap.
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