East Ocean is my family's favourite dimsum place and we go there whenever we are craving for some dimsum for our Sunday brunch. It used to be located at Shaw Centre but has since moved to Ngee Ann City 5th Floor.
I made a reservation but was told candidly that I would have to wait even though a reservation was made. True enough, when I reached at 11:30pm (which was the time of my reservation), I was asked to wait about 10 to 15 minutes before I was ushered to my table. Imagine the long wait if I did not reserve any seats. I would strongly encourage everybody heading there to make reservations in advance, especially if it is a weekend.
I would have taken a picture of the dimsum menu where we tick our selection of dimsum items but for the fact that I was just way too hungry and too distracted by all the activities going around me. Ok excuses, I just wanted to eat, and the faster we ticked our orders, the quicker the food will be served.
We ordered a bowl of century egg porridge and fried noodles. My mum claims that the fried noodles at East Ocean is different from those served outside which is partly true. The noodles are more springy without the cloying taste of ghee. As for the century egg porridge, I was completely in love with it. I love the Cantonese congee where the rice is boiled into a smooth white paste without the defined grains.
My favourite deep fried prawn spring roll. I love the prawn spring rolls! Big juicy crunchy prawns with a little meat wrapped in a layer of crispy bean curd skin. The small little brown balls are actually fried mushrooms. The mushrooms were rather average, nothing very much to scream about. The last item in the picture is the steamed carrot cake which is easily another one of my favourite. Smooth, soft and absolutely delicious.
Hohoho my ultimate favourite! Custard buns! The custard filling was totally oozing out of the bun and the "skin" of the bun was thin and chewy. I love the custard filling, an exotic mix of savory and sweet.
The steamed shrimp rolls at the top left hand corner in the picture below is my all time favourite in dimsum restaurants. Most dimsum restaurants do not have it (Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine and Canton Paradise both did not have this wonderful item) so I always count myself lucky when I managed to snag a portion. The steamed shrimp rolls were good, fully absorbing all the sauce they were braised in. I don't eat chicken feet so that was my dad's favourite. The steamed squid in XO sauce was another fantastic dish! The squid was steamed so long, it became tender and very well braised.
I found the siew mai and har kao pretty average though. The prawns were fresh and succulent for both but the pork in the siew mai tasted a bit stale.
Till the next family Sunday brunch!
#05-08/09 Ngee Ann City
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