Epicurean diary: Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” -George Bernard Shaw

I’m so excited to share with you an exquisite lunch that I had truly enjoyed at Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant 萬豪軒 last Saturday, thanks to Aunty Jessica, she is a wonderful epicurean who is always generous in sharing her love of the most delicious food!

I will put a brief introduction of Wan Hao at the end of this article, and entice you first with all the tasty dishes that we have had! This lunch is mostly prepared in the Cantonese style, which is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisine. Due to the large number of Cantonese emigrants, especially those from Hong Kong, when a non-Chinese person talks about Chinese food, he is most likely referring to the Cantonese cuisine.

We started off with chrysanthemum tea (S$5++ per pax.) Chrysanthemum tea acts as a natural coolant and has been mentioned in the ancient Chinese medicinal science. It has high amounts of B carotene which is converted in Vitamin A in the liver, a kind of Vitamin A that helps in treating skin problems and increasing the immunity power. It is also believed to be beneficial in postponing the aging process and age related blindness. Therefore, you will see it’s a very common tea for the Cantonese people to drink during meals, but of course, we like it mainly because it’s very fragrant and soothing. It also cleanses your palate between different dishes.

炭烧花腩肉 Roast Pork Belly (S$20++ per small dish) “++” Indicates that a 10% Service Charge and 7% Goods & Services Tax is required in the total bill, which is a common practice among many Singaporean restaurants.

Doesn’t this little cube of pork look simply divine? Pork belly needs a combination of slow gentle heat to tenderise the meat, plus a shorter blast at a higher heat to crisp up the skin. Pork belly skin is usually very tough so the chef would poke many little holes on it before roasting, in order to create a light and crispy texture. Now let’s dip it in the mustard sauce then savor every bit of its goodness!

黑菌虫草花鲜虾饺 Steamed Shrimp Dumpling with black Truffle, Cordyceps flower (S$5++ per piece)

Wan Hao’s dim sum menu is short but truly unique, because they offer many signature items in a very creative way, prepared with a multitude of premium ingredients. You feel truly pampered when biting into the springy shrimp infused with black truffle. It's perfect in color, aroma and taste!

精制鲍鱼炸芋角 Deep-Fried Taro Dumpling with Mini Abalone and Scallop (S$5.25++ per piece)

This is another fancy version of a common Dim Sum item, deep-fried taro ball. Each adorned with a mini abalone! Just when you thought that’s the most delightful part as putting it in your mouth, your tongue will tell you with a pleasant surprise, “Wow! There is a big piece of scallop inside too!” This is seafood heaven packed in a bite size, complemented beautifully by crispy, wispy, slightly sweet fried purple taro surrounding a center of savory pork filling. I’m in paradise!

精选带子肠粉 Rice Noodle Roll with Scallops (S$5.00++ per portion) They offer a variety of fillings besides scallop, such as prawn, honey-glazed pork and preservative vegetables (vegetarian.)

One of my favorite dim sum dishes (actually i love almost all of them) is the rice noodle rolls. The silky and tender texture of these rolls is so gorgeous, it just melts in your mouth and makes you want to slurp piece after piece non-stop. The soy sauce is crucial too, each chef would have his own secret recipe to reach a perfect balance between savory and sweetness, completed with a tantalizing aroma of vegetable/sesame oil. We chose to have the scallop filling here, which keeps me in heaven for even longer. I love the blanched choy sum too! So juicy.

香芒虾筒 Deep-fried Prawn Mango Roll (S$6.50++ per portion)

Now this is an interesting variation of 炸兩 (Cha Leung,) which is usually plain 油炸鬼 (You Tiao/ Chinese cruller) wrapped in rice noodle rolls. In this version, the slippery steamed rice noodles are wrapped around crispy, savory fried crullers filled with prawn and mango. What a lovely combination! Eat them fast to maximize that crisp and tender contrast.

皮蛋瘦肉粥 Minced Pork Congee with Century Egg (S$12++ per portion)
What goes well with rice noodle rolls and 炸兩 (Cha Leung)? Of course it’s the velvety smooth congee! This is the kind of comfort food that you will always enjoy rain or shine, ok maybe more rain than shine. I could probably finish one whole bowl by myself here, but i need to save some space for the next few dishes. :D

虾米荷香糯米鸡 Steamed Glutinous Rice, Dried Shrimp, Chicken Mushroom (S$5.00++ per portion)

Another one of my favorite dim sum is 糯米鸡, steamed glutinous rice with dried shrimp, chicken, Chinese sausage and mushroom. The rice is beautifully fluffy and fragrant, and the generous amount of filling complements each other very well.

黄金流沙包 Steamed Salted Egg Custard Bun (S$4.00++ for 2 pieces)

This salted egg custard bun is small but mighty! It’s such a delight opening the pillow-soft skin slightly and watch the lava filling oozing out. The salted egg mixture, being just the right amount of buttery, is extremely flavorful. This is a very sinful but worthwhile mouthful of indulgence!

港式酥皮蛋挞 Baked Egg Tart (S$4.00++ for 2 pieces)

When aunty Jessica ordered these egg tarts, she told the waiter “I’d like 4 of these.” Not knowing how much we love egg tarts, the waiter came back with only 4 pieces, but in fact she was asking for 4 plates of them! (2 pieces per plate) If you like puff pastry for your egg tarts, these are just perfection- flaky light pastry-base, with soft and moist egg custard. Most importantly, it has a wonderful eggy taste and buttery aroma, and it’s gentle enough to melt in your mouth without any overpowering flavor. Bellissima!

Wok-fried Beef Tenderloin, Chilled Marinated Sour Plum Pear, Light Wasabi Sauce (S$30++ per portion)

If you ask me, i’d say there are a lot of must-try dishes at Wan Hao because they are all amazingly delicious and i’m quite greedy when it comes to eating! However, this beef tenderloin with sour plum pear still stands out among many of my other favorites.

The beef is so tasty that now talking about it makes me salivate again! The premium beef is sizzled to deliver a bite that’s both moist and firm. Dip it in the specially-made Wasabi sauce and top it off with a little piece of sour plum pear, and you will get a mouthful of orgasmic pleasure.

The chilled marinated sour plum pear is ingenious- combining the all the right elements of crunchy texture, sweetness and saltiness, the pear goes incredibly well with the perfectly executed beef tenderloins. It can also be enjoyed separately as a dessert! The chef who created this recipe deserves a Nobel prize!

Peking Duck, Chinese Crepe 北京片皮鸭 (S$48.00++ for half a duck)

If you are a rock star like us, you could end your meal with an appetiser! Because why not? Wan Hao’s Peking duck is one of their signature dishes and you should always come with a spare stomach just for this. The slicing of the duck and wrapping the skins and vegetables in crepes was skilfully done in front of us.

Close up of the beautifully roasted duck skin

San Choy Bau (Chinese Lettuce Wraps)

No meat will be left to waste – you can have the remaining duck meat returned to the kitchen, made into another (complimentary) duck dish of your choice. We had a San Choy Bau this time. The lettuce leaves come on a separate plate, are not shown in this photo. To be honest, we were so full by now that we decided to take away the San Choy Bau and enjoy it later!

What an awesome brunch on a beautiful Saturday! I took the above photo when we arrived at around 12:30pm, as you could see, there were very few empty tables left. During our meal, the restaurant was pretty much a full house. This shows how much people love Wan Hao’s food, and actually, their service is excellent too! The staff here are fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese, some of them speak Cantonese as well. They are polite and attentive, make you feel right at home.

Last but not least, here is a short introduction of this lovely restaurant:

Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant at Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel is one of the long-established names in the business. Re-opens its doors after a major refurbishment in October 2016, the new decor is to resemble the “House of a Chinese Scholar”.

At the helm of the restaurant is Executive Chinese Chef Brian Wong Shiuh Yean who strives to elevate the rich culinary excellence that guests have come to associate with the restaurant. Think classic Cantonese delicacies that are familiar and comforting, yet refined and exquisite with the use of the finest, fresh ingredients.

Dim sum continues to be under the care of master Chef Loh Kah Poh who has almost 30 years of culinary experience.

Visually stunning, and lavishly tasty, be awed by the daring creations with the most intricate flavours.

Are you drooling yet? Do let me know what your favorite cuisine is, and if you like Chinese food too, which one is your favorite dish? :)

Cheers,
Journey