Video
Read full review
2019-02-03
3331 views
Boyfriend and I met up with a friend who lived in the area for a late lunch who suggested we go to 太元樓 (English name: Tai Yuen Lou) as it was across the street from her home.Located in the Fortress Hill area, it was bigger than I expected once I went in.There is a lot of seating and it appeared most of the diners were people who lived in the area.Menu is in the form of a piece of paper where you check off what you want. Menu is in Chinese only. You pay at the cashier on your way out. It appeare
Located in the Fortress Hill area, it was bigger than I expected once I went in.
There is a lot of seating and it appeared most of the diners were people who lived in the area.
Menu is in the form of a piece of paper where you check off what you want. Menu is in Chinese only. You pay at the cashier on your way out. It appeared to have a variety of items that are mostly Shanghai style. During afternoon tea session, they have these amazing value for money sets that include either a dim sum and snack or rice with main. These include a glass of soyamilk or spicy and sour soup. We decided to order three sets and share.
My friend and I had soyamilk. It was ok and wonderfully cold.
Boyfriend had the spicy and sour soup. This was really spicy. Boyfriend felt that way, too. I think the spiciness covered up the sour part of the soup.
We added an extra appetizer. Jelly pork ($25) was delicious. The meat was firm and not too salty. The jelly was lovely and smooth.
One of the sets we chose was an dim sum and appetizer for $45. For the appetizer, we chose braised wheat gluten with jews ear. The wheat gluten soaked up all the seasoning and the jews ear was crunchy. What I found interesting was this place added peanuts. I've never had it with peanuts.
The dim sum we chose was xiao long bao. There were three of them. The skin was thin and held together well. The filling was juicy. It was also filled with a lot of juice as well.
They also have sets that include a main with rice or noodles. This is the stir fried beef slices with onions ($59) with a bowl of rice. The beef was moist and tender. I didn't detect flavor of meat tenderizer. The onions were sweet.
The other set we chose was a sweet and sour fish ($57) with a bowl of rice. I really liked this. The fish was moist. The coating was not too thick, yet it was crispy. The sweet and sour flavors were well balanced.
They had a special price for pigeon. It was $28 and limited to one per person. We noticed that everyone ordered one. So, we shared one as most places don't have such a good price for pigeon. It's actually fairly expensive for such a tiny little bird. This was really excellent. The skin was crispy. The meat moist. There was a fair amount of meat. It was seasoned very well but boyfriend still dipped it with more salt.
Great value during afternoon tea time. The food was decent and food came out quickly. Service was fine. Seating was spacious and the place was clean. I'd probably come back again.
Post
