Dim Sum (点心) @ Red Star Restaurant (红星酒店)

Red Star restaurant has always been attributed the grand old dame status for dim sum although it is situated in a far less crowded part of Chinatown.

The first impressionable dim sum for me came from Red Star quite a few years ago (with age, time passes so fast i have no inkling of the exact year).

It was a weekend and i remember how bloody crowded it was (especially the heavily etched image of a huge mass of customers crowding the kitchen entrance for fresh dim sum)!

I was back in Red Star recently to have breakfast and two main factors were found to be seriously lacking in standard.

First, the food.

Porridge; a bit on the salty side.

Fried Prawn Dumplings; crispy and tasted alright

Prawn Dumplings (Har Gao); seriously disappointing

Siew Mai; Passable.

Xiaolongbao; Do-able.

Chee Cheong Fun; one of the worst i ever have.

Cannot remember the name but it's the best item so far!

Second, the service.

Having no menu may not be such a bad thing for Chinese like me who knows exactly what to expect and order for dim sum but i would not know what special items are available besides the standard fare.

Though Red Star is one of the few restaurants which continue to practise the traditional push-carts way of serving diners, i was pushed from one cart to another because what i wanted was apparently available at another push cart nearer to my table.

Of course i was irritated by the adamant attitude of this lady but what's more frustrating was walking back to my table and to find out that the item was not actually not available in that push cart!

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I believe there are many other dishes that could be good. Maybe it's luck, maybe it's the mood or maybe it's the poor service i faced that affected the overall eating experience.

With so many much better dim sum restaurants (Wan Dou Sek, Yum Cha etc) in Singapore, i would say it's pretty hard to find me back in Red Star again.

Unless it's orders by the mom.

Location

Blk 54, Chin Swee Road,

#07-23, Singapore 160054

(Serves dim sum from 7am to 3pm)

Price

The receipt was thrown away!!

Total amount paid was roughly S$38 plus.