Ah Teng’s Bakery- our modern day coffee shop

The initial plan to go Royal China for dim sum was ruined because we didn’t make a booking. Dad had pretty fond memories of Ah Teng’s Bakery so we headed there instead.

A high class coffeeshop, that was my initial reaction. Old-school tables and wooden partitions to simulate the coffeeshop setting, but with air- conditioned surroundings.

I was quite amused with the menu. What a chic way of describing po piah! Ah ma would have been proud to see this 😉

The priciest char kway teow in Singapore I bet. But with all due fairness, the portions are pretty big.

Amogst other things, we ordered the pig trotters set which comes with a drink of coffee/tea. Dad was delighted to find out that they have the option of kopi tarik (pulled coffee, the equivalent of teh tarik but the coffee version!).

My Ah Ma makes this at home once in awhile but I really like Ah Teng’s much better. I believe it was the less oily gravy and the strong spices used to create the complexity in flavours that made it so addictive for us. Also, the pig trotters had a decent amount of meat and as conflicting as this sounds, the layer of fats didn’t seem very oily. It was soft with the usual melt-in-the-mouth texture sans the nasty greasiness we often get.

Another dish executed well was the crab porridge. It has a myraid of ingredients inside like fresh crab meat, fried dough fritters and a single cracked egg. It was slightly under seasoned but dousing it with some of the stellar gravy from the pig trotters dish did the trick.

Dim sum was forgettable and at best average.

Possibly the worst xlbs in existence, this did not come steaming hot nor did it have much soup inside. Thick pasty skins did not help either.

Though not as bad as the xlbs, the char siew baos were foregettable to say the least. Char siew filling was a little on the dry side, sadly.

I enjoyed the crystal turnip dumplings despite the thicker skin because the skin was soft and just a little chewy. Anything sweet is a major plus for me so the sweet turnip strips inside obviously got me addicted for more ;D

Cheong Fun with Char siew was passable, at least the rice rolls were soft and tender without the starchy aftertaste. But it could have done with a lot more gravy to prevent it from drying up as time passed.

Spare ribs was alright, but nothing to shout about.

Next time, I think I’ll go for the sandwich sets instead. The pile of smoked salmon behind the glass counter looked very appealing!

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