The China Club Singapore

Address: 168 Robinson Road, 52/F Capital Tower, Singapore 068912
Tel: +65 6820 2388

Built atop the 52nd floor of Singapore’s commercial building, Capital Tower, The China Club is an elegant, members-only, Chinese restaurant serving an amazing array of Chinese delicacies from morning congee to afternoon yum cha and dinner.

Old Shanghai style furnishing adorns the place which charmingly reminds you of the bygone era of cheong-sam (traditional Chinese dresses) and Shanghai nights. The ceiling tall glasses that surround the club offer an excellent view of Singapore, overlooking Chinatown and beyond (though not as spectacular as Equinox or New Asia Bar at the SwissHotel).

Service was impeccable. All the waitresses were well trained yet friendly and were extremely attentive. My colleague made a few requests and modifications regarding the tea and food, and they were all meticulously adhered to without any fuss or error.

The food was simply excellent. We ordered a few yum cha dishes as well as a seafood e-fu noodles. The steamed XO sauce crystal ball dumplings had a soft yet chewy transparent skin with minced pork, Chinese parsley and some other greens. The XO sauce flavour was rather faint, which is a pity, otherwise it was a very well steamed dish. My personal favourite was the eel fish heed soup with traditional Chinese herbs. The soup was pungent and double boiled, the eel was tender and neatly de-boned. We also ordered the steamed version of carrot cake which was served delicately in rectangular blocks. The dish was delicious, however I would prefer if they used more white raddish in the cooking.

The variety of dessert was somewhat limited and nothing really stood out so we picked the guei-lin-gao (bitter grass jelly). The guei-lin-gao soup was a very interesting twist to the original version which is eaten with honey and sugar syrup poured over the top. Instead, this jelly was served in a bowl of rock sugar dessert soup.

Verdict: Impeccable service matched with meticulously prepared food in a nostalgic old Shanghai setting and a beautiful view of Singapore’s skyline. Yum cha menu is somewhat limited.

Bill: Yum Cha dishes range from SGD$10 – SGD$20 per plate.

Toast Box

Address: Food Republic, 4th Floor, Wisma Atria, Orchard Road, Singapore

Toast Box is one of my favourite cheap breakfast joint in Singapore. They are all over the island but I usually frequent the Wisma Atria outlet simply because of its close proximity to home. It is also one of the larger outlets.

As the name suggests, the shop is popular for its roasted thick toast which comes with a variety of sauces ranging from kaya butter to chocolate and milo. Delicious for breakfast or morning and afternoon tea. They also sell hot pineapple bun with a slab of melting butter.

You can get them in a set with a hot drink and two soft boiled eggs for $3.50. I usually ask for my eggs to be fully cooked because the runny version of the eggs mixed with thick cameral soy sauce and white pepper simply does not appeal to me. Their hot milk tea (called “teh" in Singapore) is sweetened with condensed milk and it taste like teh-tarik (“pulled tea”). The coffee always smell nice and the lady who makes the coffee would “pull” the coffee from one pot to another until the coffee flavour is dense enough to make the drink. Try yuan-yang (mixed tea and coffee) as an alternative.

Verdict: Cheap & delicious, great for breakfast or tea time.

Bill: SGD$3.50 for a set.