Dragon Phoenix

We enjoyed a LoHei banquet here and couldn’t fault the food, service or upbeat atmosphere.
The venue is very traditional so is not for those seeking a modern environment but the menu is delicious and authentic with reasonable and pricey options.
There is little natural light or outside views so whatever the time you visit, it feels like night time.

This review is for a fantastic dim-​sum lunch a couple of months ago.
For now, there is a dim-​sum lunch special. All dim-​sum is at half price! 50% off!
Dragon Phoenix has been my family’s favourite dim sum place for a while. According to their website, «…Back in 1963, Master Chef Hooi Kok Wai, one of the Singapore’s „4 Heavenly Chefs“ opened an eating establishment that all would talk about…»
The restaurant is on the 6^th floor of Liang Court, very traditional and typical. Service is good, most of the staff are experienced and mature, no nonsense.
For lunch, you would order on a menu-​sheet at your table. Just mark on the paper what dim-​sum you would like. At 50% off, try everything!
There are also non-​discounted items, and these will be listed on the main ala carte menu.
Dim Sum you must try:
Chee Cheong Fun — Char Siew, Shrimp
Pan fried carrot cake
Glutinous rice in lotus leaf
Deep fried banana and shrimp roll
Char Siew Pao
Egg Custard
Century Egg Porridge
Actually, just try everything! And order more of what you like.
Dim sum here is not pretentious. It is simple and good, and fresh. Dishes come fast and furious, but it is ok, you will eat just as fast as the bamboo steamers get plonked on your table.
We always have a pot of tea (Pu Er) with the dim-​sum, piping hot and fragrant.
For service, this is exactly what you need from a chinese restaurant. Staff that know their stuff, refills the teapot promptly and brings your mustard for your dim sum.
For food, this restaurant delivers what it promised: Cantonese cuisine! And dim sum being quintessentially cantonese, who can deny?
For value, the dim sum special (half-​price) is the best time to try everything and then some.
This restaurant has a space in my heart, as a reminder of good times with my family and some of the best dim sum I’ve enjoyed.

Traditional Cantonese dim sum in nice traditional chinese restaurant setting. No fancy fusion nonsense here just good old fashion dim sum done the good old fashion way.
The steamed dishes were especially good, fresh and clean on the palate. No worries about overly salty or flavoured food here. My personal favourites are the steamed pork ribs and steamed bean curd skin rolls. Easily one of the best I ate in awhile.
Important tip though: it is a hugely popular restaurant especially on weekends so either get here really early or make your reservations in advance. Personally I like coming when they just open in the morning to enjoy my dim sum and tea in peace and quiet.

During our recent trip to Singapore, I realized that owning a Chinese restaurant in a city filled with a gazillion Chinese Restaurants must be tough. A restaurant has to be really good, as well as innovative. I do think that Dragon Phoenix fits that bill.
This hidden gem is on the 6^th floor of the Novotel Hotel which sits right on Clarke Quay. The location is convenient and there is parking!
For Hawaii readers, this restaurant reminds me of Royal Garden in the Ala Moana Hotel. It is a dimly lit, elegant Chinese restaurant with table cloths and beautiful rosewood chairs and wall paneling. This is the kind of Chinese restaurant where the food is not slammed down or rushed. We ate here twice — once for dim sum and then several days later for dinner.
Dim Sum was a very delicious. We had the usual steamed char siu bao, xioo long bao, look fun, spare ribs, etc. All of it was hot and fresh. Hard to mention more than that as dim sum in Singapore is pretty much always delicious. However, we had a couple of different items that I’ve never seen before. First were these pumpkin looking dim sum. They were a mild pumpkin flavored flour wrap with a custard inside. They were really neat and different. The other interesting item was the Spring Rolls that were twice as long. The difference in presentation really made you want to try it.
The best meal we had here though was dinner. We were treated to a magnificent dinner in one of the private rooms. Each dish that came out was amazing! The highlight of the dinner was the whole Suckling Roast Pig. The skin was so thin and crispy and was served with these pancakes. It was to die for!
Another notable dish was the Shark’s Fin Soup. To be honest, we never thought we would ever eat this dish again now that it is illegal in Hawaii. I did feel a bit guilty though.
The last dish that I loved and would go back to eat was the Taro Ring with vegetables. I’ve had the taro «basket» before which is like eating hard chips. This dish was mashed taro that was deep fried where the outside was deliciously crispy (not hard) with a melt in your mouth mashed taro inside.
Service here was amazing. We had Maggie serve us both times and she is a delightful lady and totally on it. We always had clean plates, filled water and tea. She even portioned out most of the dishes. I loved how she urged us to eat the Taro Ring while it was hot. We enjoyed chatting with her about her world travels.
Hopefully, the next time we’re in Singapore we can go back to Dragon Phoenix for more delicious food and to see Maggie!