Restaurants: Park Palace @ Grand Park City Hall Hotel (Cantonese cuisine)

Park Palace is a Chinese Restaurant that specialises in Cantonese cuisine and is located on the mezzanine level of the Grand Park City Hall Hotel (former premises of the Grand Plaza ParkRoyal hotel on Coleman Street). This is the same kitchen that was responsible for my wedding lunch banquet that I held in Grand Park City Hall in January 2011 to which I had rave reviews from my family and friends about the quality of the food served.This time we visited the restaurant a month ago to have dinner with my in-laws. Without further ado let's go through what we ordered:

Crispy Silver Fish 

Not to be confused with the pest that you may find munching away at old books, these are actually whitebait fish that resemble baby eels. 

These are fried really crispy like Keropok (crispy deep fried crackers) and can be quite addictive. A favourite with the kids (i.e. my wife's nephew and niece) and adults alike. No wonder we ordered 2 portions. Pictured above is a single portion (priced at S$8). Nice!

Peking Duck 

Next up on the menu is Peking Duck. The whole duck is pictured below:

Peking Duck is prized for its crispy skin. Our waitresses promptly de-skinned the duck and cut the skin into smaller pieces that can be rolled up with pieces of cucumber in a crepe lathed in a sweet saunce. (see below)

Don't think it was the best I've tasted but it was pretty good nonetheless. Each duck will set you back S$60. 

In case you are wondering, the duck meat itself is not wasted. Most restaurants would ask you how you would like the duck meat prepared. Some options are to add it to Fried rice, to Eefu noodles etc. You have to pay a little extra whichever option you choose. We chose to fry it with Eefu noodles (for an additional S$10). See below:

The noodles were done just right: not too salty nor overly wet and soggy. The duck meat complemented it very well, adding an extra dimension of "bite".
Roasted Pork (Sio Bak) and Honey Pork (Char Siew)
My inner carnivore cajoled me to order the Roasted Pork (Sio Bak in Hokkien dialect) and Honey Pork. Pictured left and right respectively.

The Sio Bak was cut into 12 small pieces and each piece had wonderfully crispy, crackly skin that was lovely to bite into. The meat was tender and didn't exhibit any "porky" smell. My main complaint is that the portion was too small. The Honey Pork, Park Palace's take on Char Siew, is drenched in Honey so it is sweet and doesn't have the characteristic charcoal burnt edges normally associated with Char Siew. On the other hand, the meat was uniformly soft and tender unlike Char Siew, and is good but different from the norm. 

The portion of Sio Bak is priced at S$12 and the Honey Pork costs S$16.

Scallops with Mushroom and Asparagus

Scallops were firm and sweet. I've begun to love asparagus more and more in recent times and this was no exception. The asparagus was crunchy and exhibited a natural sweetness. Mushrooms were few and far between though. The whole mix came on top of a crispy shell (Is it made of Fried Vermicelli?). The portion pictured above is priced at S$42. One lament I have is that I still prefer the Fried Scallops and Asparagus in Spicy XO Sauce which they served at my wedding lunch but is not listed in the menu. Now that was Heavenly! BTW, for those interested, the restaurant sells small glass jars of their self-made XO sauce at S$18 a jar.
Wasabi Mayo Prawns
Next up is a dish that is fast becoming a staple in any self respecting chinese restaurant. The prawns were deep fried in batter and drizzled with a light green wasabi mayo sauce and topped off with sesame seeds.

The prawns though lightly battered, were crunchy and the wasabi mayo sauce had a nice kick to it. Worth a try! Portion above priced at S$42 so it ain't that cheap.

Dessert: Mango Pomelo

Quite commonly available in most Chinese restaurants in Singapore, the version here was more liquid (not pulpy and sticky). The sweetness and slight tang of the Mango was well balanced by the bitter sweet pomelo flesh and wasn't overly sweet.

Each bowl is priced at S$5.

Dessert: Custard Yolk Buns (Liu Sha Bao)

I've saved the best for last. This was a fortunate, unplanned discovery as it was ordered as a substitute to another dessert item that wasn't available that day. Being fans of Liu Sha Bao, my wife and I ordered some in the hope that it would be of a certain standard. 4 buns in a basket made it to the table as shown below:

They looked like little white bulbs waiting to brighten up our meal further. Although each bun is small, encased in thin dumpling skin is a generous portion of custard and salted egg yolk filling. What can I say except that it's a sweet and salty sensation that is out of this world! As you can see from the closeup below, each bun oozed with lovely molten (it's pretty hot) yellow goodness....

I daresay this was the best discovery of the evening. It ranks among one of the best (if not the best) custard yolk buns I have tried in Singapore so far. Priced at S$4.80 for 3 buns (S$1.60 per bun). 

Verdict: The Food is not cheap but the prices aren't super exhorbitant either. For the above meal, the cost per pax came up to about S$43. Overall the food is pretty good and a great place to be if you want some privacy (usually the restaurant isn't crowded). 
Update: I did return to Park Palace around 6pm last Sunday 24 Apr 2011 to see if I could get a takeaway for those lovely Custard Yolk buns. The waitress checked with the kitchen and they were willing to accommodate my request even though opening time for dinner is usually 6:30pm. What's more, she advised me to sit and wait and even brought me a glass of cold water to drink. What wonderful service! For the Custard Yolk buns, you have a choice to takeaway the unsteamed buns to DIY at home or to ask them to steam them for you if you are eating them soon after. Just to attest that standard for the the buns is maintained. Excellent Stuff!