New dim sum menu at Summer Pavilion, Michelin star Chinese restaurant

Ritz Carlton’s Summer Pavilion is a busy place at lunchtime on a weekend. We had called ahead and were fortunate to secure the only remaining table. It was worth the effort as we discovered that a refreshed dim sum menu had been introduced at this one Michelin star Chinese restaurant in Singapore.

Here are pictures of the new Summer Pavilion dim sum menu as well as their weekend chef’s recommendations and some pages from the ala carte menu. We selected a mix of items from all three lists.

We like a crisp white wine to go with our dim sum. Our wine of the day was a 2013 Domaine de Chevalier blanc. The dry white Bordeaux was a fresh and zesty wine, perfect to have with the mostly light dim sum items, especially on a 35°C Singapore afternoon. The yam crisps were nice to munch on while waiting for the real food to arrive.

The highlight of the steamed dim sum items were the vegetarian crystal dumplings with truffle ($3 / piece). We are usually cautious about efforts to add truffles to all kinds of food. In this instance, we thought it was a successful effort. The mild truffle flavour complemented the taste of mushroom in the dumplings. These were very delicious.

The other steamed items that we had were the poached prawn dumplings ($5.40) and the steamed rice rolls with scallop ($10). These were not as novel as the crystal dumpling, but still very finely executed dim sum items.

We had two fried dim sum items – chives dumpling ($5.40) and crabmeat dumplings ($6). Both were good. The crabmeat ones in particular contained generous amounts of the crustacean. We thought that the new dim sum items were very interesting. It was refreshing to be able to avoid having the usual dim sum staples like har kao and dim sum. The prices were quite reasonable, even without taking into account Summer Pavilion’s Michelin Star Chinese restaurant status. The dim sum portions are however quite small, so this may not be the most economical place to have dim sum lunch with hungry teenage children.

We had one item from the chef’s weekend recommendations list, deep-fried spare ribs in honey sauce ($10). This was a tapas-sized portion. The pork was mainly boneless and well prepared with no ‘porky’ flavour.

The best dish of the day, or perhaps the best dish we have eaten in recent months, was the poached rice with lobster ($20). This is one of the chef’s recommendations in the ala carte menu. Although the broth appears to be light, it was packed with concentrated seafood flavour, almost like a lobster bisque without the cream. When stirred, it became like a bowl of lobster porridge, Teochew style with the rice grains still intact. The lobster pieces were fresh and perfectly cooked. It is probably dishes like this that earned the restaurant its Michelin star Chinese restaurant credentials.

We ended our meal with a chilled black glutinous rice with a coconut ice-cream. A Chinese restaurant version of pulut hitam. Unusual but nice. Some complimentary petit fours added more sweetness to the end of our meal at the Chinese restaurant at the Ritz Carlton.