Location: Lei Garden
#03-00 Orchard Plaza,
321 Orchard Road,
Singapore 238866
(65) 6734 3988
Author: My Husband
The last time Christina and I were in Singapore, we were invited to a dim sum lunch hosted by a prominent businessman. The timing was great – it was the day after we got off the plane, the venue was one of Singapore’s more renowned Cantonese restaurants, and we didn’t have to foot the bill. How could we say no? 
When Christina and I are in Singapore, we tend not to eat Cantonese food. Since we have plenty of opportunities to eat good Cantonese meals in Vancouver and HK (our usual stopover point between Vancouver and Singapore), we usually try to maximize our intake of local “Singapore” fare when we are in town. As such, we had never been to Lei Garden and we were both a little curious as to the quality of the food there.
The décor of the restaurant can best be described as late-80s modern. Everything was in good repair mind you, but the décor did not seem commensurate for a restaurant that was supposed to be one of Singapore’s best. We later found out the reason why this was…
Our host and the rest of our dining companions arrived shortly after we did. Since the meal had been pre-ordered, the food started showing up very soon after everybody was seated. The quality of the food was fantastic – the dim sum dishes were creative and refined, both in terms of visual appeal and taste. They only “complaint” I could muster was that the dim sum serving sizes were a tad small, but I’m sure my perspective of dim sum size is skewed (seeing as how I’m used to North American portions). Before Christina could pull out the camera to snap some photos, other guests around the table had already dug into the food – so, no shots of the dim sum.
After the dim sum courses, other dishes were served. These were supposed to be some of the restaurant’s signature dishes, and despite being somewhat full, Christina and I were only too happy to continue eating. The following photos show some of the more memorable dishes:
Treasures of the sea. These dishes comprised abalone, conpoy (dried scallops), sea cucumbers, prawns, fish maw, duck feet, Chinese roasted pork (燒肉), and assorted veggies. The ingredients were braised in a Chinese brown sauce, and served in a hollowed out pumpkin. What can I say? This was AWESOME!
Golden Sand (金沙) Lobster. The lobster meat was dredged in a light batter made with the yolks of salted eggs, then deep fried. This was cooked to perfection. The sweet, succulent lobster meat played off really well against the savory, yolky crispy batter. The serving size was not huge, but it was a pretty rich dish, and it was just the right amount for our dining party.
Hairy crabs (大閘蟹). These were flown in live from Shanghai and were decently large. The crabs were steamed, and then served. I am a big fan of hairy crabs – specifically of the rich, sweet, unctuous roe. And these particular crabs had some really high quality roe in them. If I had to describe the taste and texture – it’s a little bit like eating semi-liquid salted-egg yolk. I will be writing a quick take of hairy crabs in a separate article, and will go into a more detail on how to eat these little critters. During our lunch, we were the beneficiaries of some really excellent service (our host is a very frequent diner at this restaurant), and our crabs were de-shelled and served to us by two waitresses assigned to our table. So we didn’t have to do much work at all. Nice.
It turned out to be a pretty long lunch, and we were the last guests to be ushered out of the restaurant. I would say that this ranks among the best Cantonese meals I’ve had. Some customers have commented that the culinary standards at Lei Garden have dropped over the years, but I wouldn’t know as I don’t have any basis for comparison. Suffice it to say, Christina and I were both impressed and we will be making it a point to go and have dim sum again here when we are next in Singapore.
Oh, as for why the décor of the restaurant is dated – well, during our lunch, the restaurant completely filled up and there was a long line-up of people in the waiting area. According to our host, it is pretty crowded even during weekdays. Given the average price per meal here, closing down for renovations would result in a huge impact on the restaurant’s bottom line. So as long as the crowds keep showing up, the Lei Garden @ Orchard Plaza will continue to have its décor firmly rooted in the 80s…
