Tung Lok Signatures at Orchard Rendezvous Hotel

Going for dinner at Chinese restaurant, Tung Lok Signatures at Orchard Rendezvous Hotel, was like taking a step back in time. Over the past few decades the Orchard Road hotel had undergone a few name changes from Ming Court Hotel to its current name. But the structure of the place still has a nostalgic style and decor from yesteryear.

TungLok Chinese Restaurant at Former Ming Court Hotel Singapore

In its glory days in the 70s to 80s, the Ming Court Hotel was a landmark at the junction of Tanglin Road and Orchard Road. According to the Singapore ROOTS website, the hotel was officially opened in June 1970 by then Minister for Labour and Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam. The luxury hotel with 350 rooms “was designed to capture the pomp and glory of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) of China. The oriental theme of the hotel, which was to be “An Inn for Emperors”,” Interestingly, the hotel had at that time also housed a modern cafe, known simply as the Coffee Shop, and a disco named Barbarella which is described as “… a futuristic discotheque with psychedelic lighting that was popular with swingers.”

The TungLok Signatures Chinese restaurant is located on level two. There are lots of open spaces outside the restaurant. Retro vibes and a tranquil atmosphere made this a very suitable location for a traditional Chinese restaurant in Singapore. The decor of the restaurant is in the style of traditional grand Chinese restaurants of the 80s. Spacious and fully carpeted.

According to the restaurant website, the first TungLok restaurant, TungLok Shark’s Fin Restaurant, opened In 1984 at Liang Court Shopping Centre. Liang Court underwent reconstruction around 2007 and the restaurant had to relocate. After a couple of moves, the TungLok Signatures is now located in two places – Orchard Rendezvous Hotel and at Clarke Quay Central.

Tung Lok Signatures Menu

Dining at Chinese restaurants can be challenging for a small party. A wide variety of dishes will make the dinner more enjoyable but traditional Chinese dishes are large. In moments like this the set menus can provide the solution. Here are pictures of some of the Tung Lok Signatures Menu set menus. We decided on Menu C ($78++ per pax).

Tung Lok Signatures Menu Set Dinner

Shark’s Fin and Seafood

Our dinner started off with crisp-fried tiger prawn with Sichuan pepper sauce. The prawn and been de-shelled, butterfly’ed and fried with thin batter. It must have been a very big prawn as the piece was quite large. We liked the scale of the dish but would have liked the prawn flavour to be more distinct.

The shark’s fin soup was served in a bamboo cup. Bits of seafood, said to be shredded sea cucumber, pearl abalone and fish maw, made this a crowded cup of soup. The crunch and chewy texture of these seafood items are probably what makes this kind of soup enjoyable. We would have enjoyed it as much without any sharks fin in it.

The final seafood item on this six course dinner was steamed soon hock belly in bean sauce. The fish was fresh and expertly cooked. But the level of satisfaction may also depend on the part of fish one gets. Those who had a fleshy piece of fish were delighted. Mine was a bony piece and so I had to eat this with surgical precision. The bean sauce by the way was top notch.

Pork, Noodles and Dessert

After the delicate seafood section of dinner, the subsequent dishes were more substantial. The braised prime pork with vinegar and honey sauce was my vote for best dish of the day. It can compete with Keng Eng Kee’s coffee pork ribs for the best pork ribs in Singapore.

A large serving of poached mee sua with homemade dumplings in rich sauce ensured that no one goes home hungry. This was an unusual type of noodle and each component of it was very good. It would be a nice dish to have for a traditional Chinese birthday celebration dinner.

We were happy to see the dessert of chilled aloe vera lemon grass jelly with lime sorbet. The cold, light dessert was perfect after the heavy noodles.

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

Tung Lok Signatures Orchard Rendezvous Hotel
#02-18
1 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247905

Tel : +65 6834 0660

Opening Hours :
Lunch 11.30am– 3.00pm (Daily) Last Order at 2.30pm
Dinner 6.00pm – 10.30pm (Daily) Last Order at 9.30pm

Nearest MRT Station: Orchard (NS22/TE14)