Bei-Ing Dimsum Club- Chinese Tapas Theory

🍫Cocoa Chocolate Lava Pau
📍Bei-ing Dim Sum Club (@chinesetapastheory)
📌East Coast Road
💰 $1.80

At Bei-Ing Dim Sum Club, you can choose to have your chocolate pau either deep fried or steamed. Being the fatty that I am, I went with the fried version but tbh it wasn’t that mindblowing, it just tasted a bit oilier and lacked that fried mantou taste and fluffiness.

The chocolate filling leaned towards the cheaper side, with a really runny and oily filling. Its a little on the smaller end too so the price is a bit steep, generally would stick to their other dimsum offerings.

⭐ Rating: 6.4/10
🤑 worth the price: nah
🦖 would I buy again: nah
💍 would I marry: nah

🌋Custard Lava Sesame Ball
📍Bei-ing Dim Sum Club (@chinesetapastheory)
📌East Coast Road
💰 $4.50

Pretty standard salted egg sesame ball, the salted egg is flowy and the skin is chewy and oily. Can’t go wrong with a salted egg sesame ball.

⭐ Rating: 8.3/10
🤑 worth the price: ye
🦖 would I buy again: ye
💍 would I marry: ye

For those who may be unaware — it has been quite some time that the third generation of Bei-Ing Wanton Mee at Roxy Square had opened an outlet of the iconic Wanton Mee stall in The Bullion Hawker Bar at 396 East Coast Road; the stall being situated within a hipster coffeeshop that also houses other notable tenants such as Geylang Lorong 29 Charcoal Fried Hokkien Mee, The Butter Chicken Place and Bruce Lee Chicken Rice amongst others. Bei-Ing Wanton Mee at Roxy Square is probably best known for the uncle manning the stall, whom shouts off queue numbers with a loud and distinctive voice that is rather unique to his own; the stall is also subsequently known for its re-branding in more recent times — this also involves the brushing of soy sauce on the plates of the noodles before it is being served for that “artsy” aesthetic that further distinguishes the look of their noodles from the rest. Since then, the third generation owners of Bei-Ing Wanton Mee has expanded their operations; taking over the neighbouring stall beside their stall at The Bullion Hawker Bar which was left vacant after now-defunct Wan Fen Chee Cheong Fun has moved out of its premises, they had since set up a new concept named Chinese Tapas Theory — they have also dubbed the stall as “Bei-Ing Dim Sum Club 美樱癲心楼” in the signature to better reflect the stall’s relation to Bei-Ing Wanton Mee as well. Chinese Tapas Theory’s menu is made up of three main categories of food items — Dim Sum, Handmade Rice Roll (i.e. Hong Kong-style Chee Cheong Fun) and Congee. It is noted that the Dim Sum menu is further split into two categories — one being the Classic Dimsum section which features more conventional dimsum items, while the Premium Dimsum section features more adventurous and inventive dimsum items that would appeal to the younger crowd.

Listed on the menu as one of the Premium Dimsum items available at Chinese Tapas Theory, the Molten-Custard Black Sesame Ball comes in a portion of three (3) pieces by serving. Coming in a rather uniquely-shaped woven wicker basket, we liked how the dish was being plated almost like as though it was an item that is being served up at a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant rather than that of a coffeeshop stall — they had even went to the extent of serving up the dish with crispy rice vermicelli at the bottom beneath the molten custard black sesame balls as well. Taking a bite into the Molten-Custard Black Sesame Ball, these were some pretty well-executed black sesame balls here; the sesame ball comes with two really distinct textures inside. Outside, the Molten-Custard Black Sesame Ball comes covered with a layer of black sesame seeds that carries a roasty note; the exterior also being light and crisp without being particularly greasy. As one takes a deeper bite, the inside reveals a chewy, mochi-like layer which also contains the molten custard element within; the molten-custard element being the salted egg yolk custard similar to that of salted egg yolk custard buns (i.e. Liu Sha Bao 流沙包) — the black sesame ball being decently filled, while the custard is sufficiently rich a good balance between sweet and saltish flavours that tantalises the tastebuds. Overall, a well-executed dim sum item was a good play of textures and flavours — one of the must-try dishes at Chinese Tapas Theory.

It is heartening to see how the third generation owners of Bei-Ing Wanton Mee are expanding the Bei-Ing name in a different way — diversifying its offerings by creating a new concept that is an extension of what Bei-Ing Wanton Mee has to offer. Having tried a number of dishes which Chinese Tapas Theory has to offer, we were actually pretty satisfied with the various items that we had tried — this includes the Sesame Mango Prawn Fritter, and the Xiao Long Bao; the former being fried dough fritters filled with prawn and mango whilst coming with specks of sesame seeds on the dough fritter which is crisp and had a balance of sweetness and savouriness, while the latter does come with a decent skin whilst filled with flavourful broth and meat filling within. Even the quirkier offerings do feel well-made despite being really adventurous — the Cheesy Chicken Pizza Pau coming with a light, fluffy and bouncy bun which isn’t too dense, whilst well-filled with minced chicken filling marinated in a tomato-based sauce that was all tangy with stretchy, melted cheese in between. With pretty decent conventional and also inventive dimsum offerings, there seems to be something for everyone at Chinese Tapas Theory; prices are rather reasonable for the Classic Dimsum items at $3.50 per serving for all items, though Premium Dimsum items are a little more pricey at $4.60 per serving — all buns are priced at $1.80 per bun. Handmade Rice Rolls and Congee on the other hand are priced at $2.80 for the Plain Cheong Fun / Plain Congee though any addition of meat / seafood filling is charged as an add-on from $0.50 to $2.50 depending on the item. That being said, Chinese Tapas Theory is definitely an interesting spot for dim sum lovers looking for well-made classic and modern interpretations of dim sum to check out!