Wah Lok

Authentic cantonese cuisine in a comfortable setting. Wah lok has been in the business of serving good Cantonese food to the masses for a long time. In fact, the restaurant has been a winner of the Singapore Tatler for best restaurant for 10 consecutive years. There's a lot to live up to and thats something me, my gf and my good friend was there to ascertain.

Location: Carlton Hotel 76 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189550

Contact: 63118188

Price Range: $25-40 per head

Wah Lok

Interior

As far as interior goes, i do like the open spaces and the slick wood finish that seems to be teak or redwood. This design choice permeates the entire restaurant for a classy finish reminiscent of the restaurants i've been to in Hong Kong. In fact, it even goes so far as to have authentic cantonese speaking staff which is either a boon or bane depending on your preferences and language proficiency. Either way, the interior is abuzz with activity and rather full on the Saturday i visited.

Deep fried Squid ($6)

Carrot Cake ($4)

These 2 items arrived on a push cart and was peddled by a nice old lady. By her recommendation, these were fresh and supposedly good. Somehow, i didn't think the squid was very tasty since it tasted dry and overfried. The carrot cake was quivery and firm without being too oily but lacked much taste. This was promptly rectified with their delectable chili sauce however.

Custard Pastry ($3.20)

Walnut custard pastry i should say. Its rather interesting. The walnut gives it a very distinct flavor while the pastry itself was crispy and flaky. The custard was rather minimal which rather contradicted with what i really liked in custard pastry....namely, the custard.

Har Gao AKA Shrimp Dumplings ($5.40)

A must have item in any dim sum session. This rendition however, doesn't quite measure up. No doubt the shrimp/prawn filling is adequately sweet and tasty but the skin turned out to be too thick for my liking. In fact, it sticks to your teeth and simply isn't as good as it should be. Change the skin and they might fare much better.

Deep Fried Beancurd aka Fu Pi Juan ($5.60)

Another item i wouldn't miss whenever i have dim sum, this turned out too oily however. The fillings were also rather inadequate and thus making it feel overpriced.

Siew Mai ($4.60)

Also known as pork dumplings, this came in a decent size and had a strong meaty taste some will love and others will love to hate. A surprising amount of mushroom were used on this rendition as well, so be prepared for a fungi explosion of taste.

Steamed Chive Dumplings ($4)

The first problem here is that the skin was the exact same one used for the prawn dumplings earlier, thats a major minus point in my book. The second problem is that the chive and pork mixture actually neutralizes the strong taste of chives which i like. Thus rendering the dish obsolete.

Char Siew Pastry ($3.80)

I like the sweet pork meat inside which was equally tender and tasty. The let down here was the pastry which lacked a stronger taste of butter and that crispy flakiness of the version in Yan Ting which still stands as the best out there for me.

Chicken and Century Egg Congee ($3)

Well, this congee certainly didn't astound me in any way.... Century eggs, chicken and some bacon thrown in. A nice aroma to the stock and the congee was suitably soft. Thats about it really.

Egg Tart ($3.20)

The pastry is a let down while the egg tart itself was definitely too eggy such that the proportion does not justify nor bring out the taste of the other. Major improvements needed here.

Prawns and Scallop Cheong Fan ($5.40 each)

We ordered 2 versions of this cheong fan and in all honesty, the regular one is still the better of the 2. Regular being the prawn cheong fan. The soy sauce is just right in terms of saltiness but the use of ingredients for both versions were skimped on such that there was very minimal prawn or scallop taste in either.

Pork Buns aka Char Siew Bao ($3.60)

Fluffy but sticky buns with the aforementioned sweet bbq pork. As usual, the proportion of meat to bun is rather disproportioned in the wrong way. Too much bun, too little pork.

Bill

Total bill for this rather lackluster dim sum session came up to $77.90.

Overall Score: 6.5/10

Last Word:

Maybe there's just too much to live up to or i've got my hopes up too high for this place. I can't help but feel disappointed at what i've been served this day. The dim sum offering actually doesn't quite stand in the league of Peach Garden, Royal China, Yan Ting or even Hua Ting. If this is any indication, than i'd probably recommend to try those other restaurants i've mentioned above for a better dim sum experience.