Peach Garden @ 33

Staff are efficient and service is fast. The dim sum is average. The restrooms are old and very dirty. The female restrooms walls are moldy and the grout is filled with dirt. If I was eating in a hawker center, I will have no complains but given that I am paying 18 per person for noodles, I have higher expectations.
If they don’t bother to keep the public areas clean, I dread to think of the state of the kitchen.

Finally a dim sum place to take the in-​laws.
What do I look for in dim sum? It’s mostly a social occasion. Family gets together and chats and eats as the punnets come to the table. Slow sips of jasmine tea.
So the setting is important. It has to be quiet and relaxing enough to chat, comfortable and spacious and lit enough to be there for a while without feeling cramped or tiring your eyes.
And of course the food has to be edible, but in a departure from my usual style I’d say it’s almost less important. Tim Ho Wan has good food, but it’s not a very nice experience. Crystal Jade at Plaza Singapura has good-​ish atmosphere but the food is not good enough for the money (the Bugis MRT one was much better, especially the xiao long bao, before it closed — but its atmosphere sucked). Between the two, I’d pick atmosphere any time.
Luckily, this dilemma is solved by Peach Garden, which presents good food in a great and appropriate setting, with polite and efficient service and, naturally, plenty of families enjoying dim sum.
The main dining hall does not need description, but I’m including a photo of the view anyway. The private rooms definitely have the better side, but you could argue the Chinatown side is more «interesting», has more stuff going on. Either way, the room is spacious, the tables nicely far apart (so you’re only dining with YOUR family) and the ceiling high enough that you do not feel crushed.
The food was good. The sauce accompanying the rice rolls tasted more complex and balanced than the usual sweet soy mix. The pomelo sago mango soup was not quite to the level of Tim Ho Wan’s, but good enough that I wouldn’t bother heading to the latter to get my fix. The scallop-​chestnut-​spinach-​caviar thing was really great, I just had to order another one. How great? Well, Luca Turin describes a certain type of perfume masterpiece as what happens when you blend two ingredients at such a ratio that they become, together a different scent and you cannot separate them anymore. Similarly, the Berlin Philharmonic used to be known for playing so thoroughly together that you couldn’t make out the individual violins in the violin section, or, if a cello and a horn were to play the same melody, either of the instruments individually. This is what happens with this dumpling. I can’t tell what goes in it, because it blends together really well and becomes something more than the sum of its parts.
Service was really good. My tea cup was always refilled, but I never spotted them doing it. In fact, I thought the waiters disappeared into the background, but somehow, whenever we needed something, they magically appeared and sorted out our problem immediately. Experience, I guess. This place seems popular and has been around for a while.
I’m happy because I’ve finally found a place to take the in-​laws for dim sum.

Peach Garden Chinese Restaurant is a well known brand for exquisite Cantonese cuisine. Since the opening of the first Peach Garden outlet at Novena Gardens in 2002, they have received numerous accolades and awards from renowned publications such as Singapore Tatler’s Best Restaurants Guide and Singapore Top Restaurants Award from Wine & Dine.
We were bringing a friend around town and decided to have dim sum at the Peach Garden OCBC Centre restaurant as it is known to have a great view of the city.
Only a small selection of dim sum items are available, i noted only 18 items.
Century Egg Porridge is a must order for me when eating dim sum. Good gluey consistency of the congee and there was plenty of shredded pork. Love the crispy crackers on top too.
Peach Garden supposedly has one of the better Steamed Creamy Custard Buns ($ 5.20) around. The buns were fluffy and light but i found the texture a little too gelatinous and it lacked that ‘liu sha’ (flowing lava) feel. Taste wise, it was satisfactory but i thought it could do with a richer salted egg yolk taste.
Baked Mini Egg Tarts ($ 4.80) were delightful but yea on the pricey side because they’re so mini. But yea love the wobbly egg custard on top of the lovely puff pastry.
Deep fried Prawn and Fresh Avocado Roll ($ 6) had an identity crisis and the Deep fried Savoury Yam Pudding with Minced Meat and Portugal Sauce ($ 5.20) was soaked in oil.
Service was BLEARGH. Well it started with the staff being rather pushy when i was ordering our first round of dim sum. Firstly, we were waiting for S who was parking so i didn’t want to order everything at one go. Secondly, i have a tendency to over order (especially for dim sum) so i was making a conscious effort not to go crazy. However, that was met with some outwardly disdain by the staff (due to my small order) which i absolutely do not appreciate. Do i look like i can’t afford dimsum? So i reigned in my unhappiness because i was hosting a friend.
The screw up was when they absolutely messed up our second order which took forever to come. 15 minutes into waiting, our plates were cleared after they asked if we were waiting for more food, which was strange. Well we thought our food was going to arrive soon after but nope, that didn’t happen. Another 10 mins later when we checked with them again, we found out that they forgot our order (which they didn’t tell us directly but we saw and overheard the commotion). Another 10mins passed before our order finally came and it was the wrong order.
We had to make do with the messed up order because obviously we weren’t going to wait for another 30 mins.
The Steamed BBQ Pork Bun ($ 4.80) attempted to calm me down a little. Juicy well marinated strips of char siew enveloped by the softest pillow bun.
What happened after the meal was an instagram post on the meal and me complaining about how terrible the service was. I have to applaud the Peach Garden Marketing/​PR team for resolving the issue immediately. Good service recovery i must say. I’ve been informed that the staff involved have been counselled. I don’t know if it’s special treatment because i’m a food blogger but i would like to give them the benefit of doubt.
So yea, hits and misses at the Peach Garden OCBC Centre. If you’re looking for decent dimsum with a view, it’s ok. Well on the service end, it really depends, no matter where you go.

Very good business lunches for very reasonable price. Located on the 33^rd floor of the OCBC building it has great views and average service, you can book an area in advance for private events.
They serve excellent peking duck.
They also have really good dessert called «ai yu bing» that you need order in advance — it’s NOT in the menu! Ai yu bing is a soft jelly with chrysanthemum flower flavour.
Another thing to get here are their moon cakes which seem to taste better every year. They have different types of moon cakes — the best moon cake is the one with macadamia. The moon cakes are smooth and perfect in texture and not overly sweet. They are always introducing new flavours, with one of the latest being black sesame.

Peach Garden is the default business lunch venue if one can’t be bothered to think of where to go. Afterall, it’s got a good ambience, good food, good service and generally offers a failproof underlying formula for an enjoyable meal.
Food: Mixed dim sum platter offers a trio of dim sum items, which I believe vary day to day. Generally not spectacular but decent. The sharks cartilage soup is delicious! The honey baked sea perch is nicely done, as are the wasabi prawns and roast duck. The stir fried pork collar is excellent. The desserts totally kick ass too, heh. ALL OF THEM.
Service: Generally polite and good.
Ambience: Much prefer this to the noisy cramped family friendly joint at Thomson.