Simple, if you don't want to wait.

Situated along the quiet Neil Rd, I nearly missed this small Chinese restaurant if not for the small crowd waiting outside her entrance.

Despite being there less than half an hour after the opening of the restaurant, the place was packed and we were told to wait outside due to space constraints inside the restaurant. (edit: So if you're planning a trip there, take note of this, and even worse, you may get a curt response to wait for a space, and no approximate time to wait for. Thankfully we got in in 10 minutes.)

The restaurant itself is decorated simply with the noodle station in the middle of the restaurant, adding to the lively atmosphere in the place. Expect all sorts of clientale there, and due to the crowd, we ended up sharing our table with two other strangers.

The menu offered was simple and promised traditional Peking food. We opted for the Zha Jiang Mian (minced pork and soya bean paste noodle) which was simple and tasty with a strong soya bean paste taste. Apart from being a tad too soft, the dish was excellent overall, being simple and tasty with a strong soya bean paste taste while not being too bland or salty.

After the noodles, we had the vegetarian dumpling that was rather disappointing. It contained black fungus, vermicelli, mushrooms, cabbage, beancurd skin etc but lacked much flavor and tasted bland.

The famous Xiao Long Bao which cost $7 for a steamer of 7 is pricier than some big restaurants, but the dumpling is extremely juicy and the skin was soft. There was also a nice sesame seed oil smell that gave the dumpling its fragrance. The only drawback was the fact that the skin broke easily causing the sweet soup enclosed in the dumpling to seep out while one was trying to pick up the dumpling.

For desert, the osmanthus flavored glutinous ball was a real treat. The texture of the ball was soft and chewy with various fillings such as sesame, peanut and lotus paste. This ended a quick and satisfying meal. In summary, this restaurant has reasonably good food. However, the long queue, price and ambience will make one think twice about returning. - MH