With nostalgic decor setting the scene and a good selection of traditional Chinese recipes, the popular TungLok Teahouse sees bustling mealtime crowds with a yen for reliably good dim sum and authentic flavours.
Recreating the convivial spirit of traditional local teahouses from the 1960s to ’80s, complete with Peranakan furnishings and vintage photos, TungLok Teahouse whets the appetites of its diners with page after page of traditional Chinese dishes, Cantonese dim sum and innovative desserts in its menu.
The authenticity of each of its dishes is palpable, as is the creativity that went into updating them for changing tastes, adding unexpected elements to traditional favourites and creating in-house specials.
Case in point: the Teahouse Signature Rice Roll Cheong Fun. The breakfast and teatime favourite is stuffed with prawn, scallop and vegetable and doused with a savoury light sauce, with a layer of crispy rice adding to its girth. This variation, it appears, is something even purists can appreciate—the restaurant has sold over 40,000 plates of the dish. Other dim sum dishes that top the list here are the vegetarian-friendly steamed truffle dumpling with wild fungus, made from an award-winning recipe, and baked barbecued pork bun, which has just the right amount of doughiness.
The restaurant’s dim sum is freshly made and steamed with each order. Although its dim sum alone is enough to satisfy, any Cantonese restaurant worth its salt offers a selection of hearty soups. A hot favourite at TungLok Teahouse is the Double-Boiled Sea Treasures Soup, a comforting broth boiled with Chinese herbs for five hours.
A must-try is the spicy chicken with fish maw, where lightly charred pieces of boneless chicken and thick, chewy fish maw slices rest on a sizzling bed of dried chilli, served in a claypot.
Apart from Cantonese cuisine, the restaurant also serves a small menu of Teochew delicacies. If you’re counting calories, try the recently added traditional fish broth noodles. Delicious and carb-free, it comprises al dente-style noodles handmade using only fish meat that is then fried with a Teochew spicy sauce and thin slices of bell peppers.
For a great ending to a meal, try the refreshing chilled coconut lotus seed pudding dessert. Served in a young coconut, it includes a creamy coconut ice-cream, mango shreds and peanut crumbs for added flavour and texture. The restaurant recently opened its second branch in May on the first floor of Square 2.