Lei Garden @ Chijmes

Instead of the usual Christmas brunch with eggs benny and smoked salmon, we headed dimsumdollies this time. Reservations are mighty encouraged as the place is packed over weekends. I spotted a couple of foreigners which I reckon came from hearsay.



Yumcha time!



There's something colonial that made yumcha at Lei Garden like Royal China..



Sheets that worsens hunger.



Duo of chopsticks for whatever reason I've yet to discover.




Barbequed Roasted Pork ($13.80)

Hooked onto roasted pork, this joins the stables of must order. Puny could be an understatement even to describe them. Measuring 1.5cm x 1.5cm, each morsel was pricey. Crispy layer with jellied fatty pork beneath. Dunk in their tangy sour-spicy mustard sauce, I did not mind it too much. Not too huge a fan of jellied pork, unfortunately.



Steamed Fresh Shrimps Dumpling ($4.80)

Fresh but did not wow. 



Steamed Pork Dumpling with Black Mushroom ($4.30)

Lacked the wow factor once again.



Steamed Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk ($3.80)

Chocolate swirl buns that exuded a lovely fragrance as I did the rudimentary peeling of the bun to rate its ooze-factor.



Ooze it did but the taste gave this away. The custard was too sweet while salted egg was barely discernible.




Steamed BBQ Honey Pork Bun ($4.80)

"Those that ought to flow did not, those that ought not to did". That roughly sums it up.



The sauces flowed out the way my egg yolk custard bun should have. Found it too watery and pau bread a tad too soft.




Steamed Cheong Fun with Scallop ($4.80)

The most decent of the lot. Unlike Paradise Dynasty's silken smooth skin, this was alot fimer but kudos given to the fresh plump scallops.



Deep fried Taro Dumpling with Minced Chicken ($4.30)



The first taro dumpling eaten that barely has any mashed taro within. Simply put, it was a yam shell stuffed with minced chicken.



Rainbow Egg and Shredded Pork Porridge ($5.80)

Not too bad.



Baked Mini Egg Tarts ($3.80)

Neither a Tai Cheong or Lord's Stow here, this was oh-kay kind of alright. In all its bite-size morsel, it was nothing spectacular.



Ma Lai Goh

Painfully dry.





Deepfried Wagyu Beef Roll with Black Pepper Sauce ($8)

Daily special of wagyu, I lept at the opportunity. Thinking it was cubes of pan seared wagyu beef, I made an order without thinking twice. A fried springroll stuffed with potatoes and wagyu beef, it was an utter letdown. Finding wagyu beef was harder than finding nemo, do not bother with this.

Once upon a time, I ranked Lei Garden's fried rice as the best.I was half hearted about ordering a plate but after such a lacklustre performance, I was put off completely. There are better dimsum options just across the road at Royal China. Why oh why did we not go back to the familiar favourite?

Lei Garden
Chijmes