Orchard Hotel Hua Ting Chinese restaurant – renovated and re-opened December 2017

Orchard Hotel Hua Ting Chinese restaurant has reopened after undergoing a few months of renovations.  This famous restaurant is one of the stalwarts of the Chinese dining scene in Singapore. It is a popular restaurant. Our weekend lunch slot was secured only because we booked two weeks in advance. We were given an 11.00 am seating that had to be vacated by 12.30.   Getting a prime time lunch reservation must be a precious commodity as we received three telephone calls prior to the appointed time to confirm our lunch.  Having “triple-confirmed” our slot, we looked forward to the new and improved Orchard Hotel Hua Ting restaurant.

The new Orchard Hotel Hua Ting makes a positive first impression. The old entrance was a messy, uncoordinated area. To compare the new with the old look, read about our previous visit here). The new reception area looks grand and impressive.  There is a new open dining space that has a brighter more contemporary look.  It is not a large space. There are cosy nooks for small parties of up to four people. Those are the places to specify if we are making a reservation for a small group. Venturing deeper into the restaurant, we noticed a large number of private rooms of various sizes. This is probably a good place for high-end Chinese private dining. Even the new table ware looks expensive.

Orchard Hotel Hua Ting menu

Here are pictures of some sample pages from the Orchard Hotel Hua Ting menu, including the dim sum menu.  We had a mostly dim sum lunch with two other dishes.

The first items to arrive were the BBQ platter with two types of meat ($28) and XO sauce turnip cake ($12).  The roast duck was good and super fatty.  The roast pork was a better item as the ratio of meat and fat was well-balanced and the cracking was crisp. The meats were served on a base of light gravy kept warm by a tea light underneath.  It was certainly a nice way to serve the meats.

The turnip cake was served in a stone pot, making it look like a Korean dish. The taste of this was very good.

We had several dim sum items.  I believe these strange-looking ones are the crab meat dumplings ($8.80 for four pieces).  They don’t look very nice but the taste was good.

The cheong fun had meat fillings that had an overly strong meaty flavour. Not our favourite item.

The remaining fried and baked dim sum items were all good and enjoyable. The fried beancurd skin ($8.80 for four) was well fried without being too oily. The Hua Ting Signature Baked mango chicken tartlets ($8.80 for four) lived up to their name as a signature dim sum item.  The bits of mango added sweetness and tart to the taste. The deep-fried yam dumpling topped with scallop ($8.80 for four) was another well liked item. We think these last two items were the best of the dim sum items we had that day.

Our last savoury dish was Baked Empress Drumstick, Abalone, Fungus and Chinese Herbs ($32).  The presentation of the dish was certainly impressive. We noticed many curious (and envious?) looks from neighbouring tables. The chicken is made of dough. Inside this chicken was the lotus leaf wrapped contents of chicken drumstick (de-boned), a small abalone and lots of fungus. The smell and taste of this dish was exquisite. We really like the Chinese herbal taste. But this is not a substantial dish. Everyone should get one!

For dessert we had the glutinous rice with vanilla ice-cream in a young coconut ($15). This was an excellent choice of dessert as the three elements combined very well. The tender part of the coconut can be easily scrapped off with a spoon and the taste with the glutinous rice and ice-cream was harmonious.

Overall, we think they have done a good job with the renovations at Orchard Hotel Hua Ting Chinese restaurant. They however seem to be under-staffed, especially with the capacity crowd dutifully turning up at the appointed time of 11 am.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Orchard Hotel Hua Ting Restaurant
442 Orchard Road, Level 2
Singapore 238879

Tel: +65 6739 6666

Opening Hours:
Lunch: 11.00am – 2.30pm (Last order 2:30pm)
Dinner: 6.00pm – 10.30pm (Last order 10:00pm

Website

The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog