Thought that it would be nice to bring the folks somewhere since it was the long weekend and decided to make a reservation at Forbidden Duck at Marina Bay Financial Centre for some dim sum, which is a concept by Chef Alvin Leung of Hong Kong who is also affiliated with other concepts such as 15 Stamford by Alvin Leung at The Capitol Kempinski Hotel also in Singapore, and Bo Innovation at Wan Chai, Hong Kong. While I do know of the existence of Forbidden Duck within the building, I had never really knew where it was located — both Forbidden Duck and Qi - House of Sichuan are located within Tower 3 of Marina Bay Financial Centre, though they are located away from the main retail area at Level 2 of the building; both restaurants are accessible via lift access through a small entrance near where Bushido Tapas Bar is. Forbidden Duck is actually a little smaller than what we have thought — with a view overlooks the Promenade neighbourhood, the interior is decked in a plush setting; carpeted floors and dining tables lined with linen, all with blue cushioned seats and furniture and fittings featuring wooden accents. Aside from dim sum, the menu at Forbidden Duck also features other dishes split into several sections such as appetisers, barbecue (i.e. the roast meats), soups, dried seafood, scallop and clam, prawns and crab, fish, meat, vegetables, rice and noodle, and dessert.

One of the most iconic dish being served at Forbidden Duck that is raved by most patrons would be their Giant Egg Tart — these are baked to order, and the staff would actually ask if you would like to make an order for these if one makes a reservation to dine here. Was actually informed by the service staff over the phone whilst confirming my reservation here that while the Giant Egg Tart is listed as an item served in a portion of two pieces per order on the menu, one can make an order for an additional piece for orders above the minimum order of two pieces as well — a pretty flexible arrangement. These Giant Egg Tarts definitely comes with a height taller than the usual, though the circumference do come at a rather reasonable size as with most other egg tarts. Slicing through the egg tart, one would notice how thin the crust is; despite being so, the crust actually holds up the weight of the filling well despite being served hot, and I liked how it wasn’t particularly dense so it did not feel particularly carb heavy in any sort of way. There wasn’t a particularly stark textural difference between the pastry and the egg curd; the egg curd being easy to slice through — wasn’t too sweet either, and perhaps intentionally so since the Giant Egg Tart also comes with a surprise layer of yuzu jam right at the bottom. Those sweet and zingy notes are reminiscent to the honey yuzu marmalade that can be had as a beverage often found in Korean supermarkets, and provides an interesting flavour contrast that further takes away the sweetness of the egg tart.

To be fair, the dim sum items at Forbidden Duck were a little hit-and-miss for its price tag — we have had more impressive dim sum even in recent times from our visit to more commercial establishments such as Kai Duck, as well as hotel-run establishments like Song Garden. Whilst we did enjoy some of the more conventional items that they have such as the Steamed King Prawn Dumpling and the Steamed Rice Rolls with Shrimps and Green Dragon (think of it as a Chee Cheong Fun rolled with usual spring roll fillings that features a beancurd roll skin instead), items like the Steamed Crab Meat and Pumpkin Dumpling felt a bit confused. Perhaps Forbidden Duck’s forte is probably in their duck dishes and their communal dishes. Still, Forbidden Duck is a spot that is a notch above the usual the run-off-the-mill commercial dim sum joints around — good enough a spot to mark an occasion at given its location, and the creativity in some of dishes that they put out.