The Best Bo Lo Bao in Singapore

We think the best bo lo bao in Singapore can be found at the Wah Lok Restaurant in the Carlton Hotel along Bras Basah Road. Good dim sum restaurants are expected to have the basic dim sum items like char siu bao and har kao done right. Wah Lok is one restaurant that does all this plus also the very important bo lo bao. This is the place to go in Singapore when we are in the mood for bolo bao.

We were seated in a dark, windowless room on this visit. There are more beautiful spaces in Wah Lok. You can see better pictures of the premises in our earlier post.

Wah Lok Menu

Wah Lok restaurant is a popular place on weekends. There are two lunch seatings – 11.30 and 1.15 pm. The first is good for early risers. The second session is good for those who like a slow weekend lunch without any pressure of time. Here are pictures of some portions of the Wah Lok dim sum and other menus.

We understand that “Bo lo bao” means pineapple bun in Cantonese. There is no pineapple in this dish. It seems to have taken this name as its rough golden brown exterior resembles that of a pineapple. The best Bo Lo Bao in Singapore are called Baked Barbecue Pork Bun in the Wah Lok menu. A dish with three buns costs  a  reasonable $5.70. Other than the good taste, another reason we return to this restaurant is the consistency of taste.  It has been this good since a long time ago.

While we were there we also tried some of the regular dim sum such as the cheong fun with scallops ($7.50), har kao ($7.20), deep-fried yam rolls ($7.20) and boiled dumplings in vinegar sauce ($7.20).  All of them were very good.

We tried a couple of items from the ala carte menu.  The deep-fried scallop with salted egg yolk ($12 each) had a good taste, but looked so bland.

The lobster noodles ($28 per portion) looked and tasted glamorous.  It is quite a large portion and can be shared by two persons to leave space to try some other dishes.

All these good food will taste better with some wine. Our wine of the day was a bottle of white Burgundy – 2011 Domaine Dujac Morey St Denis Monts Luisants 1er Cru. Fresh and citrusy, it was a wine that went well with the predominantly seafood based dishes. The corkage-free wine service at Wah Lok is another reason for us to keep returning to dine here.

Finally, we had one dessert to bring our lunch to a sweet end – avocado with ice-cream ($8). We had ordered this as it looked so nice in the menu, served in a martini glass. The actual one served did not quite look as nice, but still it had a refreshing taste.

Ratings:
Food: 5
Service: 4
Value: 5
Atmosphere: 3 (in the dark room, 5 in the big room)
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs  

Carlton Hotel Singapore
76 Bras Basah Road
Singapore 189558

Tel:  +65 6338 8333

Mondays to Saturdays
Lunch served from 11:30am to 2:30pm
Dinner served from 6:30pm to 10:30pm

Sundays and Public Holidays
Lunch served from 11am to 2:30pm
Dinner served from 6:30pm to 10:30pm

Nearby Stations : City Hall, Bras Basah

Website

The Ordinary Patrons
Singapore Food Blog by Ordinary People looking for Places to Eat