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Have been eating here at Lai Kee since over a decade ago.
Dim sum here is quite good. The ingredients tasted fresh and the siew mai was soft & flavourful. Some coffee shop siew mai taste like those factory made and steamed type.
This taste fresh and home made.
It's a little pricey for coffee shop though, my 4 basket here cost me $10.
The Siew Mai Pork And Shrimp Dumplings (SGD $3.50) or Seafood Siew Mai has minced pork, deshelled shrimp, and garlic chives, lending a depth of sweet savoury vegetal flavour to the dumpling.
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The Beancurd Skin Roll In Sweet And Sour Gravy (SGD $2.20) has a dense firm filling of moist fish cake within the thin brown slippery grainy beancurd skin, and is small in size. However, the robust gravy saves this with its sweet and sour flavour. Poor texture but decent taste, odd.
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The 4 Treasures Chicken (SGD $2.50) is so named for the 4 ingredients within the thin beancurd skin, including boneless chicken, carrots, yam / taro, and shiitake mushrooms. With a tender chew to texture, this has mild earthy sweet savoury herbal flavours.
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The Fan Choy (SGD $1.80) features a base of sticky glutinous rice, topped with tender char siew / roasted pork loin, chewy dried Chinese pork sausage, and a slice of hard boiled egg. With smoky meaty savoury sweet salty flavours, the version here is decent enough to satisfy.
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Lai Kee Dim Sum
More details in profile & blog
With its large size and vibrant green dumpling skin, the Emerald Prawn Dumplings (SGD $2.50) looks so appetizing. Bite into this tender minced pork and spring onions meat ball dumpling, and you get a bold burst of juicy sweet savoury salty flavours.
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Topped with a small deshelled shrimp which holds good sweet shrimpy flavour, and has a juicy bite to texture. I understand the jade green colour of the thin dumpling skin is supposed to be symbolise purity, elegance, and nourishment.
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The creative Unagi Buta Odango (SGD $3) is a Japanese inspired dumpling, featuring a tender slice of unagi / grilled fresh water eel, coated in sticky teriyaki sauce, laid over a bouncy tender juicy minced pork dumpling, and wrapped with a thin chewy sheet of dried seaweed. Also known as an Eel And Pork Dumpling, this tasty treat has lovely layered meaty sweet savoury salty flavours. I enjoyed this.
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Their version of Lo Mai Gai (SGD $1.80), also known as Chicken With Glutinous Rice, is just average. It features sticky glutinous rice, topped with tender boneless chicken chunks and shiitake mushrooms. Has a meaty earthy savoury sweet flavour, but lacks other ingredients (such as lup cheong / dried Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, and scallions) to give it a depth of taste. As is, this is pretty one-note.
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Lai Kee Dim Sum
More details in profile & blog
The Siew Mai Pork Dumplings (SGD $2.20) consist of solely minced pork, and have a juicy tender texture with a light bouncy chew. This has nice meaty sweet savoury flavour.
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The large Scallop & Pork Dumplings (SGD $2.50) feature a base of tender juicy minced pork and crunchy garlic chives, topped with a single whole fresh scallop that is soft and moist. This luxurious dumpling has delicate sweet savoury flavour, and is rather filling.
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The Chee Cheong Fun Shrimp (SGD $3) features slippery smooth rice noodle rolls (made from rice flour, tapioca flour, water, salt, wheat starch), filled with bouncy juicy chunks of fresh deshelled shrimp, which hold delicate sweet savoury flavour.
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Served in a thin tasty Hong Kong style soy sauce gravy (made from light soy sauce, sugar, water, chicken stock, sesame oil), with bold salty savoury notes. Garnished with crunchy fried shallots, crisp fresh spring onions, and a house chili on the side. Better than other versions elsewhere.
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Lai Kee Dim Sum
More details in profile & blog
The Xiao Long Bao (SGD $3.50) is only available on weekends, but it's underwhelming. The dumpling skin is medium thin but overly sticky, and tears off easily when lifted from the foil base. The filling of minced pork, leek, and pork broth is nicely tender juicy soft in texture, with a muted meaty savoury sweet flavour.
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The Beancurd Skin Roll (SGD $2.20) is different from other versions elsewhere. Here, the thin white slippery smooth beancurd skin lacks the roasted aroma, but holds a generous filling of bouncy moist fish cake within. More meaty sweet savoury in flavour, it lacks the earthy edge to round it out. Different.
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The Yam Taro Puff (SGD $1) here is weak. While the crust is beautifully crisp, the creamy yam / taro filling is lacking, though it's still earthy sweet in flavour. Also, instead of minced pork, they've used barbecue marinated minced pork char siew instead, which makes this more sweet than savoury.
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The Daikon Radish Carrot Cake (SGD $0.90) features soft daikon radish, mashed and shaped into a soft, bouncy cake. After frying, the edges turn nicely crisp. Studded with bits of carrot. This has a delicate salty savoury sweet flavour. Good.
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Lai Kee Dim Sum
More details in profile & blog
Felt the Shrimp Dumplings (SGD $2.50), also known as Har Gow, was pretty good. While the dumpling skin was a little too sticky, and thus tore easily when lifted, the filling of juicy bouncy deshelled shrimp had a lovely bright sweet savoury flavour.
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Loved the Pork Ribs In Black Bean Sauce (SGD $2.20). The pork ribs are meaty with a light juicy chew to texture, and the black bean sauce imparts it with good earthy savoury salty flavour. Portion size is good value-for-money, nice.
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The Yam Taro Cake (SGD $0.90) features soft yam / taro, mashed and shaped into a soft, bouncy cake. After frying, the edges turn nicely crisp. Studded with generous bits of dried shrimp, which lend bold salty savoury earthy flavour. Yummy.
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Lai Kee Dim Sum
More details in profile & blog
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