I'm Cantonese and I love my soups and dim sum. I can't say I'm an expert on either, but there's this unmistakable sense of familiarity that I naturally associate with the two, especially the latter. Dim sum as I had known since I was little has kind of evolved it seems. As far as my memory serves me, when I was very much younger having dim sum was a boisterous and literally steamy affair. The picture in my mind is full of old and hungry people seated quite patiently at their tables, glasses filled with hot Chinese tea, with the occasional middle-aged and slightly grumpy waitress trotting by with a dim sum dolly stacked with steaming treasures. And then people started to yell at her. For food. First-yell-first-serve, sort of.
And then as I grew older, dim sum became quieter, more refined, more comfy, even though the food remained largely the same, except for some newfangled dishes that in my opinion will never take the place of the good old stuff. The changes came about not because the customers grew too old to scream for siew mai, but rather they grew young and the establishments became posh. That's right, good food became expensive like everything else. Not that I'm complaining, because this gives diners more options - we can still go affordable if we want to because traditional Singaporean dim sum houses still exist, but we now have the choice to take off the ear plugs and still enjoy great food.
Shang Palace is currently my favorite go-to for dim sum. Everything there is... well, nice. The food is good and won't cost you a house, the service is appropriately attentive, and they serve tea in very pretty tea cups. However, what stood out most to me was the decor - this place isn't called a Palace for nothing. They do offer a full Chinese menu which is not for the faint-hearted, and the private banquet rooms look extremely inviting. I haven't seen anybody using the rooms because I've only been there for lunch, but Dad claims he ordered a $300 steamed fish whose name I'd never heard of in my life. To be sure I checked the menu and there it was. Count that fish lucky it's not ending up in my stomach anytime soon. Whatever it is, you'll be very comfortable while dining here.
To make sure Palace is modern and sophisticated, the chefs also offer several of their own creations. But because of my utter lack of epicurean finesse, I cannot recall what they were. Thankfully I had the mind to take pictures. From them I can safely say one resembles a California roll coated with sesame seeds while the other looks like a fried birthday present. I do remember, however, that they were tasty little morsels but to put it honestly nothing beats steamed char siew baos. Those I'm definitely going back for more.
