Song Garden was a spot that I had never heard of until a former co-worker suggested the restaurant for a farewell meal for another former colleague — was pretty satisfied and impressed with whatever we had during the visit and it has been a place that I really wanted to make a visit with my folks another time. Being a Chinese restaurant, Song Garden serves up set meals and ala-carte dishes for both lunch and dinner service, but having tried their dim sum which is exclusively available for lunch service the last time, it was exactly that which we made our recent visit to Song Garden for.

Tim Ho Wan may have had popularised the oven-baked barbecue pork bun that we now commonly see at many other dim sum establishments, but Song Garden’s rendition is one that we were truly impressed with. Whilst most places would have named this a baked BBQ pork bun, we really liked how they have creatively named it snow skin in English and also 雪山 (which translates into English as “snow mountain) in Chinese probably in reference to its white appearance. For one, the exterior of the buns were already very well-executed; the crusty layer provides for a crisp bite as one sinks their teeth in — all that without ending up in a crumbly mess. Inside, the Char Siew fillings of the bun are sized just nicely — not overly chunky, but sufficient to carry a bite without too much of a chew. Whilst the char siew sauce of most places usually veer to either ends of sweetness or savouriness, the char siew sauce is a nice balance of both; and the entire package is made even more alluring with the evident hint of buttery fragrance from the crust of the bun — not so much to the point that it would hit being jelak, yet lingers around at the back of the tongue. A sheer pleasure to have.

Song Garden is very much a place that I loved ever since the first visit. There is something charming about their dim sum especially; other favourites here include the Shrimp Mousse on Silver Thread Vermicelli Roll (a must have for me), Crispy Pork Belly and the Mini Egg Tarts — all that in a comfortable environment overlooking Middle Road whilst hidden on the second floor of Mercure Singapore Bugis. The execution of their dim sum can be said as stellar; had never been disappointed despite making two visits thus far, and it being a rather low-profile establishment against Chinese restaurants located in other hotels make it somewhat of a gem of its own. Needless to say, I am already looking forward to the next visit to Song Garden; already seeing myself crave for several items from the menu here whilst writing the caption for this post!