My parents and I were craving for dim sum that day, so we decided to pay a visit to Man Fu Yuan! We've not been to MFY if I'm not wrong (or maybe my parents have before I was born) and I've been wanting to try their dim sum buffet ever since they renovated! And yes I know, the beginning of my posts almost always sound the same - me talking about how I've been wanting to try the restaurant. But believe me, its true! I have a hugeass long list of restaurants/cafes/bakeries I wanna try!
OK so let me first talk about Intercontinental Hotel! I love its vintage, old traditional decor! The lobby seems so colonial and vintage, then the area near MFY boasts beautiful pottery, furniture and are all Chinese themed. The lounge area is spacious, comfy, and really feels like someone's hugeass living room! The staff are all polite and dressed in traditional costumes. Love it!
About the Dim Sum Buffet menu: you can find it
here. To summarize, it lacks some of the "traditional" dimsum items like
char siew soh, xiao long bao but it sure does have many diff types of dumplings! Not those rice dumplings, like the
har gow kind of dumpling but with diff fillings! Also the dim sum menu is more innovative vs oth Chinese restaurants! So you get a mix of traditional + creative dishes! Which I like!
How the menu works is that there are a list of items that will definitely be delivered to your table (I will mark them out later with a *) and is one serving per pax only. These include: BBQ suckling pig, BBQ peking duck, double-boiled shark's fin with shark's cartilage consomme, baked egg tart with birds nest.
Then out of the 7 Chef Signature dishes (which I will specify later on), your table can only choose TWO dishes! And each individual at the table will get a serving of the 2 dishes ordered.
The rest of the menu is buffet style! So order wtv you like! (: Do note that unlike Royal China, MFY's dim sum come in 3 pieces/basket and its not according to the no. of pax at the table! Not sure if they can do the no. of pax thing cos we didnt ask as we had 3 ppl!
Starter - Some jelly with a quail egg in it. The jelly tastes quite bland, overwhelmed by the quail egg in fact!
My fav kind of peanuts when I was young!
From where I sit
Pretty plate to accompany a good meal (:
Har Gow
This was goooood. The prawns, firm, succulent and crunchy. The skin, not too thick nor too flour-y that it sticks to your mouth! 4.3/5
Rice Roll with Fresh Prawns and Yellow Chives
aka Chee Cheong Fun w Prawns
I LOVED THIS!!!! The Cheong Fun (aka the rice roll) is soooo soft and you can seriously just slurp it up!! It goes so well with the crunchy big prawns within! Totally can finish this on my own if I didnt have to save stomach for oth dishes! A MUST-TRY! They also have cheong fun with oth fillings like scallops, BBQ pork (the traditional) and with Chinese Fritter = you tiao! The you tiao filling one is called zhar leung in Canto and it shld be v good as well!!! Pity didnt manage to try it! 5/5
BBQ Suckling Pig
* Definite item, 1 serving per pax
This was so good too!!! The skin - crispy and well BBQed, my parents said it was super duper good and kept eating it non-stop! A MUST-TRY too! 5/5
Prawn & Banana Roll
I think the roll is a little too thick for this one and that the amt of bananas could have been more? Prawns again were v good! 3.5/5
BBQ Peking Duck
* Definite item, 1 serving per pax
Mmmm, I think the pancake used to wrap the duck skin is a little too uh long? Haha like the duck's quite small vs the skin! Wonder what that small piece of thing on the skin is though! Cheese? But I'd agree that the duck skin was well BBQ-ed! Not too fatty, just nice and slightly crispy! 4/5
Siew Mai
Minced Pork Dumpling with Mushroom, Conpoy and Pig Stomach
The siew mai here is special! It is served with the pig's stomach on top! But NO WORRIES for those who are afraid of eating the pig innards because truthfully, these are so well-cleaned and idk what they do to it but it doesnt have the usual pig stomach taste!! Blanddddd. Esp if you eat it w the siew mai! So no worries ok! Just pop the thing into your mouth! (: There's a crunchy prawn in the siew mai and I'd say, quite a good siew mai this is! Not too much meat, just right! 4.3/5
Drunken Chicken
This wasn't well marinated with the wine because the wine didnt get infused into the meat as much as we would like it! Ding Tai Fung still wins hands down for this! The meat was a little tough but still passable! But wine taste was not really there sigh. 3.2/5
Crystal Dumpling with Preserved Vegetables
Do note that this is not vegetarian!! It has chicken and pork inside! Didnt try this but dont think it was spectacular cos parents didnt make me try it! The meat looked fresh and nice though!
Double-boiled Shark's Fin with Shark's Cartilage Consomme
* Definite item, 1 serving per pax
This is, I think, the MOST WORTH IT part of the buffet!!!! The amount of shark's fin they gave zomg, totally more than many Chi restaurants serving more expensive set meals!!!!!! The shark's fin is in a nice small fan shape and every scoop you make, you'll definitely scoop up the shark's fin! The soup is really boiled using shark's cartilage because there's the sticky aftertaste in your mouth!! Ladies, take note! Drink more of this soup 'cos its FULL OF COLLAGEN!!!!! My dad doesnt like the sticky aftertaste though. But I really liked the soup! 4.6/5
Clam Crab Cake with Dace Fish
Didnt try this but from the reactions of my parents, not v good.
Baked Foie Gras and Scallop Roll
(Chef Signature Dish)
This was quite a disappointment! The net thing surrounding it wasnt crispy at all! It was kinda hard to bite in fact. In the end, we just ate the foie gras and scallop. Plus point is that the scallop was quite huge!!! 3.5/5
Tian Jin Dumpling
I'm not too sure if this is Tian Jin Dumpling but one of the many dumplings on the menu la haha. Again nice skin - soft and a little QQ with v adequate fillings! Think it was mix of veg + meat? 3.7/5
Steamed Perch Fillet with Chili Padi Garlic Sauce
Cos I cant really take chili, they agreed to just cook it in garlic sauce! This is actually sea perch and vvvv close to cod fish texture! Though a bit firmer vs cod but I like this fish too (: Just a note, in the Chef Signature dishes that you can order only 2, there's a sea perch dish there too so if you really want to eat this fish and dont mind the cooking style then order this one from the Main Course menu instead of the Chef Signature and "use' that one dish to order sth else! Not sure if you understand what I mean haha. Anw the garlic taste in the sauce is NOT STRONG so no worries abt bad breath later on! 4.5/5
Braised Sliced Abalone With Sea Cucumber in Beijing Style
(Chef Signature Dish)
The abalone was quite soft, not difficult to bite and chew which is good and soaked up quite a bit of the broth to flavour it! Sea cucumber was the usual! 4/5
Century Egg with Pickled Ginger
My parents complained that the century egg DIDNT taste like century egg!!! Like its for ppl who dont dare to eat century egg at all! The waitress agreed too and said it was cos of the marinating/waiting process or sth idk what la haha anw not good!
Poached Seasonal Greens with Golden Mushroom in Shark's Cartilage Broth
We forgot that in the "definite serving" dishes, there's alr the shark's cartilage broth so we went to order this!! But its ok, who's complaining about more collagen? (: Big servings of veg, crunchy and tasty! Lots of mushrooms too!! 4.5/5
Chili Crabmeat Tart
This has been featured on websites and magazines! It is REALLY SPICYYYY. Even my parents who take chili padi and stuff say its spicy!! The pastry is really soft though so I suggest eating it sooooon else it'll kinda disintegrate and be too soft to hold up the meat!!! Good innovative dish hehe. Definitely a MUST-TRY! Wont give a 5/5 cos the pastry's a bit too flakey but still MUST-TRY for the crabmeat!!! 4.7/5
Chilled Mango Pudding with Mango Puree & Pomelo Sago
There arent really pomelo bits inside! Tasted like sweet juicy mangoes! Good for the mango lovers 4/5
Chilled Osmanthus Tea Leaf Pudding
This would have been much nicer if it were colder!!!! Not cold enough :/ Refreshing taste though! 3.6/5
Sour plum tea
To cleanse your palate before the dessert! Like drinking sour plums instead of eating them! Haha
Steamed Egg Custard Buns
Liu sha bao or nai huang bao
The de facto "must order" dish on most people's list at a dimsum restaurant nowadays!! This disappoints because of the too thick bao exterior, that's hard and tastes like it has just been heated up in the microwave or something but the liu sha the hot liquid gold is yummy~ Not too oily neither is it too salty!!! Doesnt taste HEAVILY of salted egg yolk but the taste is definitely there! Note it usually comes in 6 buns/order but we told them just 3 is enough cos we were so full! 3.6/5
Baked Bird's Nest Egg Tart
* Definite item, 1 serving per pax
Omg this is A MUST-TRY!!!!!!! This was so so so so good!!! Totally regretted not ordering their mini egg tarts after eating this! This was served to us when our desserts were served 'cos the chef forgot about ours!! But omg SO GLAD IT CAME!! They gave A LOT of birds nest in that small little tart and the pastry was flakey crumbly and buttery! Oh the joy of eating it! Blogging about it now makes me crave it!! This is my new #1 egg tart!! Diff from the Tong Heng kind! Have yet to try their normal egg tarts so not sure if they're as good but really love these!!!!! 5/5
Herbal Jelly
Gui Ling Gao
Not sure how this tastes cos I hate gui ling gao haha Dad had this! But he finished it, so its prolly q good!
Chilled Cream of Avocado with Sago
I liked this! Cold, not too creamy, subtle tastes of avocado and the brownish stuff on top, I think its walnut ice cream or sth, goes really well with the avocado cream!!! Shld give more of that! 4.5/5
As you can tell, there are quite a lot of MUST-TRYs in this post, this the most so far!! And if you can't guess, I'm definitely going back again!! But then again, they'd have to change their menu or at least add some stuff else I'll be eating the same stuff and cant try new things!! Haha. The waitresses told us that the menu changes quarterly! I'd gladly just go to takeaway their birds nest egg tarts though haha :D At 88++ per pax for adults, I think this is the most value for money dim sum buffet ever!!! With quality AND quantity, this is a good choice for your next weekend dim sum fix! Oh they also have it on public holidays too! (:
The service was v good, constantly refilling your tea, changing plates, prompt, friendly and personal! Oh yes we had the signature MFY 5 Element tea or sth like that and it was so fragrant!!! There's black and white tea, uh and some flowers etc in it hahaa sorry can't really rmb but it smells really good and tastes good too! Would recommend you to try this tea since you cant find it anywhere else! Tea and juices are included in the price!
Man Fu Yuan
Intercontinental Hotel
Level 2
