Dim Sum Garden Restaurant (园林点心屋) @ Melaka [Malaysia]

[Permanently Closed]

It's no secret I have a lot of backlogs for this blog and it doesn't help that I am also on full time employment, and hence, prefer to watch video clips whenever I am off work. However, it still caught me by surprise that an eatery I patronized in early October decided to close shop within one month of my visit! 

Okay, I am actually not that surprised and you would have to read further to understand why. In a nutshell, our visit was a matter of wrong identity as my brother in law had keyed in the wrong dim sum restaurant in his GPS and we were too hungry by the time we reached Dim Sum Garden Restaurant.

Even though it was a Friday, I was still taken aback by how empty the restaurant was at about 10.00 am. Back then, I was self reasoning that travelers to Melaka would only come in maybe after 6pm on Fridays; hence, the lack of customers. 

While there was the option of ordering from the menu, another way was for the service staff to bring along a large basket of steamed dim sum for you to pick! In such times, I always lament that humans should have four stomachs, like a cow! 

Like sushi plates, each dim sum had an assigned price category ranging from RM 3.00 to RM 6.50. Meaning the most expensive item cost just S$2.00, whereas in Singapore, each basket was minimally S$3.00! 

Fried Carrot Cake - disappointing; served not even lukewarm, the texture of the carrot cake was hard and the flavor was primarily just spicy. This was a disgrace to carrot cake! 

Hakka Yong Tau Foo - this cost RM 9.00 but it's a mixture of quite a few things; do no complaint here. I only managed to secure one piece as we were too hungry! This was okay but would have commanded a higher review if they were fresh out from the boiling oil.

Glutinous Rice with Chicken - pretty good with substantial amount of meat. I did feel that the rice was a bit mushy although taste wise was above average.

Siew Mai - for something that's so common in dim sum, it frustrated me when an eatery can doom it. The filling didn't scream of juiciness and what got to my taste buds was just the taste of unappetizing meat. 

Har Gow - another dish synonymous with dim sum, this was better tasting than the siew mai but instead of prawns, it was more the flavor of pork. This should have been named siew mai instead of har gow.

Chee Cheong Fun - decided to order both the prawns and pork version since one portion would only be sufficient for Alex. Turned out the sauce had a strange sweet flavor that didn't quite gel and the char siew had that distasteful porkiness.

Century Egg Mai - as a century egg fan, I needed to give this a try. Again, the meat didn't impress even though I still enjoyed the unique century egg pungency. 

Big Pau - to be frank, I wasn't too hopeful with the big meat bun as what we had so far didn't capture our hearts. Turned out the meat was juicy and deliciously savory and it helped that the skin wasn't overly thick! Pity we were a bit full by then! 

Banana and Red Bean Roll - I was wondering why these were in the form of nuggets! Don't be deceived by their looks as they were bursting with the sinfully nice filling! The outer texture was also crispy and the only one issue was that the banana was literally overwhelmed by the red bean. 

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Before and after. Nothing much for me to add as the eatery is no longer in operation. I did feel that the prices were economically although I wouldn't mind paying slightly more for a high quality. 

Address

3-1 & 5-1, Jalan Tamby Abdullah, 

Banda Hilir, 75000 Melaka, Malaysia

Map

As above.

Business Hours

-Ignore-

-Closed Permanently- 

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Fried Carrot Cake - RM 6.50 

Hakka Yong Tau Foo - RM 9.00

Glutinous Rice with Chicken - RM 4.50

Siew Mai - RM 4.00

Har Gow - RM 4.50

Chee Cheong Fun - RM 6.00

Century Egg Mai - RM 4.00

Big Pau - RM 5.00

Banana and Red Bean Roll - RM 6.00