Pearl River Palace (Business has closed down)

Located in an obscure corner of Suntec City is a restaurant i've been patronizing at least 5 to 6 times throughout the years. In fact, its one of the first Cantonese Ala Carte buffets i was introduced to. Helmed by Hong Kong Master Chef Mok Kit Keung, the restaurant uses it as a selling point to promise authentic Cantonese cuisine at everyday prices.

All you can eat buffets are usually average and when you throw in ala carte, it would mean a reasonable amount of time is spent waiting. That's pretty much true about this place as well, but there are gems to be found in its menu. You just need to know what it is to order it, as early and as often as possible to get the most out of it.

With each set, you get the usual one order only items and in this case, it'll be the live prawns and the shark's fin. Both of which were pretty good imho. The prawns were all sweet and crunchy and fresh while the shark's fin was too starchy for my tastes but was redeemed by its balanced flavors and abundance of shark's fin.

Items you must order while you are here will be:

Roasted Pork Belly - a classic in any chinese restaurant, the pork belly is rather fatty here. Its also very juicy, comes in big pieces and has a nice charred taste on the skin. Complement it with some mustard and its one of the first things to have on my list.

Wasabi mayonnaise prawn - their rendition had a rather thick layer of batter which was thankfully light. The mayonnaise and wasabi combination was balanced enough to give you a kick but not enough to deter you from eating it and the best part was there huge prawns they used for this dish. Second must order dish, repeat orders recommended.

Steamed/ fried fish (any fish) - This is the final item i think everyone needs to order as many as possible of if you're trying to ensure you eat your due. My recommendation would be about 3-4 orders of different fish with different methods of cooking. Why so? Simply because its the best item to have here. Regardless of which cooking method you order, you get a whole fish. That's right, an entire fish for each order and it is almost always fresh, sweet and perfectly light so you can have as many of it as you want. Order this without hesitation.

Dim sum items (any) - Its a cantonese restaurant, so naturally, you should order its dim sum pastries and shrimp dumplings and such to go with your meal. For the record, their dim sum is average but worth a try.

The bill for 4 this day turned up at $140.05 for a reasonably satisfying and fun gathering of friends.

Ambiance: 5.5/10 Service: 6/10 Food: 7/10 Value for money: 8/10 Overall score: 7/10 (not an average)

Last word: As far as buffets go, this is still one of the places i'd visit for a reasonably affordable meal with passable food. Service is something they could improve since its either the horribly high handed superior or the temporary staff who can't be bothered and none are satisfactory. Otherwise, i'll be back with more friends just to attack the fish.

Went on a tiny shopping spree with my gf at Suntec so decided to have dinner around the area. And as usual, every dining outlet at Suntec, down to Burger King, was bursting to the seams with people. We had noticed Pearl River Palace on one of our previous visits to Suntec, so thought of giving it a try.

Doesn't it scare you when a restaurant is devoid of the usual mad crowd which throng food outlets during the weekend? But then again, Pearl River is hidden in a rather secluded area on the third floor of the Suntec convention area. The only trace of its presence is the huge neon light signboard plastered on the windows facing Marina Square. If you do manage to find it, a waitress greets you at the and ushers you into a huge hall which can seat at least 150pax upwards - only a tenth of which is taken up.

I don't know what they were thinking when they coined the name "The Washing Line". Sounds rather crude to me, but I must credit them for their innovation in presentation. Two chilled carrots sculptured into towers and joined by a thin pole, with thin slices of meat draped across the pole and thick garlic sauce drizzled over - this is probably one of the most innovative dish presentation I've seen in a Chinese restaurant in quite a long while. Taste wise, I found it fairly acceptable, just that the garlic taste in the syrup was a little too strong and too sweet.

Sauteed Fresh Prawn with Egg White & Pine Nuts - I really am a sucker for dishes with lots of egg white, which explains this dish. I personally found it not too bad, with the texture being a little sticky and dense probably due to the addition of milk or the prolonged beating of the egg white. It actually reminded me of MacDonald's scrambled eggs, but easier on the milky taste. The pines were a nice addition with their slightly nutty taste, but the wolfberries seemed rather redundant. Now we certainly can't forget the prawns, which were crunchy and larger than normal. By and large a fairly nice dish, but a little on the salty side.

Braised Beancurd with Enoki Mushrooms & Preserved Vegetables - Just another normal beancurd dish. Bland with an equally bland gravy. This pretty much sums it up. The Enoki Mushrooms did add a nice crunch to the dish though.

Desserts. You either love them or loathe them. They have this effect of expanding your already exploding waistlines and yet you can't seem to resist their seduction. Alright I'm exaggerating, but I love my desserts. Our dessert for the night was a bowl of bird's nest soup and a slice of Durian Pancake. The Double Boiled Bird's Nest with Rock Sugar was pleasant, but the bird's nest wasn't exactly of top quality. Then again, I can't expect much for the price. One gripe though. I could see bits of feather still embedded in the strands of bird nest, which meant that the staff didn't put in the extra effort to remove them before boiling - something which I would expect from a top grade restaurant, but probably not Pearl River. The Durian Pancake's skin was a little too dry and thick, but the Durian filling was thick and flavourful, signs of a good Durian. And its rather small for $2.

I certainly wasn't expecting to spend close to a hundred bucks($96.75/-) for this dinner, but I guess its all my fault. Me and my bird's nest, which added about $30 to the bill. Having said that, prices at Pearl River are on the higher end of the reasonable spectrum, but food quality is slightly above average. The service is above average, but could do better with increased attentiveness. Another point to note, they charge $1/head for ice water or tea, so go for the tea.

See my pictures here