It has been two years since my last visit to Royal China Restaurant at Raffles Hotel, and I was glad to finally make a trip there for dim sum during lunch recently.
I’ve said it before and I am happy to say it again. Royal China Chinese Restaurant is definitely one of the best dim sum places in Singapore.
Much has been said about Royal China’s gorgeous interior – it is impossible not to like the Tiffany blue themed restaurant. Prices are very reasonable for the quality of the dim sum, they range from $3.6 to $4.8 for a basket.
We took a quick look at the menu and made our orders: “please give us siew mai, har gau, char siew bao, custard bun, cheong fun, char siew soh, egg tart, and carrot cake.”
Everyone was very excited when the waitress brought the dim sum to our table.
After having the Cheong Fun and Siew Mai, we proceeded with the Baked Pork Bun ($3.6), and it was good enough to make me order it again next time. But if you do not want too many pork items, skip the Char Siew Bao and get the delicious Baked BBQ Pork Puff ($4) instead.
When it comes to Char Siew Sou, I’d rank Royal China’s rendition as my top 3 in Singapore, with the other two being Yan Ting and Taste Paradise.
Having tried the best pan-fried carrot cake from Si Chuan Dou Hua, I felt that the one from Royal China was mediocre.
The few of us were debating on where to find the best custard buns (liu sha bao) in Singapore. Names like Taste Paradise, Si Chuan Dou Hua, Mandarin Court and Peach Garden were mentioned, and after trying Royal China’s version, it is definitely in the same league.
I poked a hole into the liu sha bao to take a peep at the magnificent custard fillings. The bun was too hot to eat, but I put it into my mouth anyway. The golden liquid burnt my tongue, but it felt so good. It was hard to resist ordering a second portion.
Royal China’s Baked Egg Tarts ($3.60) were also very good. Delicious little devils.
If you are planning a visit to Royal China after reading this post, make sure you order their Steamed Prawn Dumplings ($4.8).
They were amongst the best I ever had: the skin of the har gau had the right consistency and thickness, and each dumpling came with a big shrimp which was fresh and crunchy.
Like the other dim sum places in Singapore, Royal China at Raffles Hotel only has dim sum during lunch, and it is a must to make reservations in advance. The must-try dim sum items are custard bun, har gau, char siew sou and egg tart.
For more recommendations, please read my list of dim sum restaurants in Singapore
Royal China Restaurant
1 Beach Road
#03-09 Raffles Hotel
Tel: +65 6338 3363
Mon to Sat: 12pm – 3pm, 6pm – 10.30pm
Sun & PH: 11am – 3pm, 6pm – 10.30pm
Nearest Station: City Hall
the Steamed Prawn Dumplings look absolutely delicious!
This place has always been on my to-go list but never found the opportunity to go. The custard pau doesn’t look as molten as taste paradise’s leh haha
Royal China is definitely one of my favourite places for dim sum. Some guys find the tiffany blue a bit girly, but I love it!
yo! the custard bun you refer to are the ones with salted egg right? the ones i had at East Ocean made me very gan-dong cos too yummy rdy! heh (:
Looks like one of the next places to try out dim-sum then, i just went for dimsum at Peach Garden @ Thomson Plaza yesterday…quite liked their Prawn Paste Chicken Wings lol..the dim sum was quite passable too..
Thanks for the recommendation, was thinking where to have my dim sum fixed where I always head to Wah Lok but wanted a change this time and I thought of your blog!
So I just search for dim sum and saw a few of your recommendation and I went to Royal China for dim sum just this Tues!
Thanks for it! It was really good and Im going to bring my family to have it this month too!
Will be going to try St Regis soon since u’ve highly recommended it too
Keep up the good job in your recommendations!
I just went to royal china on Saturday.
The food was good. The recommendations were spot on.
The egg tarts is not bad. You can try the ones at tung lok seafood located at the arena country club.
The egg tarts there are so delicious.
Service is absolutely appalling for such an upmarket restaurant? They rushed my family and I through lunch and brought 14 courses of dim sum almost all at once. At 1.30pm they insisted on that we had to give up the table despite the restaurant being half empty.