Tung Lok Classics, Orchard Parade Hotel

We had our firm's Annual Chinese New Year Dinner to kick off the CNY festivities at Tung Lok Classics earlier last Friday. Tung Lok Classics serves traditional Sichuan, Shanghainese, Cantonese and Hubei cuisine, 4 of the 8 regional cuisines of China. The 8-course sit-down dinner ($888 per 10 persons) was, as usual, packed with laughter, joy and good food. While the firm may not be part of the "Big Four", or pay the highest salaries, the biggest draw for me here is the people. My team has, over the years, become part of my family. And that's the primary reason why I love my job.

I always think that the most important aspect of a job is the people in your team, which of course includes your boss. Remuneration is really a secondary consideration, as long as you can afford a comfortable life. Of course, what's defined as comfortable is relative and differs widely, depending on who you ask. Afterall, what's the point of going to work in a superbly paid company but hating every single second of your work life? I suppose that's the advice I'd give anyone stepping into the working world for the first time. Find a job that pays enough, which is easy enough (usually), but stick to the one boss that treats you well.

We started off the night tossing to "big bonuses" with the Hamachi King Fish Treasure Platter Yusheng.


Crackers (to symbolise lots of wealth with what resembles gold ingots) and the sweet sauce (for a good life filled with sweetness)


The finished product, a very piquant refreshing salad of julienned vegetables, and because I wasn't a proficient enough excavator, I didn't get any fish.


The second course was the Flambe Barbecued Whole Suckling Pig, very impressively presented lined on both sides with mini flames. The skin was crisp enough, but it could have been a piece of oil-stained, fat-lined, coloured, plain flour cracker for all I knew. This needed a lot of the sweet hoisin sauce to get through.


The rest of the meat was cut up and served neatly later. I didn't quite like this because of its very strong "porky" smell and taste. But to be fair, I've never liked suckling pig.


I loved the Double-Boiled Sea Treasures Soup with Chinese Herbs. It was delicate and clear but with depth and richness of flavour, with the use of a chicken stock base. Thankfully, there wasn't a strong herbal taste to this, I think the herbal part was due to the wolfberries, rich in anti-oxidants and good for your eyes.


The soup's ingredients were ladled out for consumption, and from what I could identify, an assortment of chicken chunks, sea whelk, sea cucumber, and what else, wolfberries.


The fish dish was a Shanghai-syled Steamed Soon Hock with Pickled Chilli, fresh, moist and flaky, with a chilli-laced soy emulsion slathered over this that was at once piquant, spicy and salty.Best dish of the night, together with the soup.


The Braised Dried Oysters with Black Moss and Vegetables was made unique with the addition of fresh crunchy prawns, but I would have preferred the black moss to be incorporated into the luscious gravy instead of being sprinkled very sparingly over the top.


While the sweetish gravy was rich and heady, with an accent of a herbal scent, the Shanghai-syled Braised Duck with Yam was a little tough, cold and gamey. I also liked the cubes of soft sweet yam that lent texture to the gravy.


Although I prefer ee-fu noodles as the obligatory carb dish in set meals, the Fried "Ying-Yang" Glutinous Rice with Preserved Meat was quite commendable. The rice was sticky, soft and moist, with an aromatic soy seasoning, while fried grains of rice thrown into the mix provided a contrast in textures. Diced mushrooms, Chinese sausages and yam also helped chunk up the dish.


The Chilled Mango Sago Cream with Pomelo was a refreshingly balanced way to round off the meal. Too bad the pomelo was excruciatingly sour.




Tung Lok Classics
1 Tanglin Road
Orchard Parade Hotel
#02-18
Tel: 6834 0660
Open daily from 12noon to 2.30pm for lunch and 6.30pm to 10.30pm for dinner
Website: www.tunglokclassics.com

Comments

Anonymous said…
i can only say tung lok restaurants are way overrated. For an equivalent price per pax I would be more happy eating at the joint in the old convent, or at the outpost of the empire. hrmpfh!

Prof
Bern said…
Not for the Signatures branches, I love their food.

But if I have to compare to Imperial Treasure or Crystal Jade, I think I'd prefer Imperial Treasure (the Nan Bei outlets) and Crystal Jade (the Palace restaurants) to Tung Lok. More classically Cantonese cuisine.

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