Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant - I was channeling Diablo

Remember Diablo?

The game was super hot when I was in my JC days. Esp the Butcher with the "Fresh Meat". Hahah. I was instally reminded of it when I looked into the bamboo steamer and saw the words.

We went to Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, intending to have an indolent, languid dim sum lunch. I asked for one of the nice rattan booths at the window, because I tend to order a lot. But the waitress said that we could only have the table after 2.30pm. So we were given a small table and I had the lovely experience of two hot steamers placed right next to my right hand. It's times like these I am glad that I am ambidextrous.

We ordered Set 2C, which was Jajangmyeon noodles (Zhajiangmian 炸酱面), fried rice （炒饭）, xiaolongbao (fresh meat dumplings 鲜肉小笼包), vegetable buns （菜包）, as well as clam chawanmushi (蛤蜊蒸蛋), fried dumplings (锅贴) and crab meat fresh meat xiaolongbao (蟹肉小笼包).

Their xiaolongbao is bad. Broken skins, the meat is overcooked, and the soup is salty. The crab meat version is worse, and doesn't have any seafood flavour. The vegetable buns were delicate and soft. Fried rice had the "wok" fragrance but no seasoning. The jajangmyeon's noodles was excellently QQ in texture and had a beguiling shallot oil fragrance, but the meat mixture is very salty. The guotie was moist but was ein bischen tough. We had finished but the the chawanmushi had still not arrived.

We told the waitress who frantically kept clearing the dishes from our table. She said oh, and rushed to tell the kitchen. Suddenly the manager appeared at our side and said urgently "Sorry, it's coming" in mandarin. I am wondering if she even knew what we ordered.

I was kind of mad when it finally appeared. On the poster outside the restaurant, the dish is shown with lala clams on top of the chawanmushi.
It came with clams embedded within the chawanmushi like badly concealed landmines.

I wondered if they were cleaned properly, esp the shells. B1 chewed one thoughtfully, only to hear a nasty crunching sound. Eh... There were eight clams in the dish and we had to dig around the egg to find the clam meat that fell out. But it was fun though unappetising to watch us suck the chawanmushi from the shells.

I did not like having lunch there.

As a dimsum restaurant, they should understand that most people who eat there have the intention to relax and chat over lunch, instead of dumping them on tiny tables where they are forced to eat like "Coney Island" contestants to avoid having more and more dishes stacked on the tiny table. I did not like having the hot steamer next to my hand and suffered indigestion thereafter. If they want to force people to sit at tiny tables, then they should stagger the timing of dishes delivered to the tables properly.

In a nutshell:

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

200 Victoria St #02-53 Bugis Junction

Tel : 68357877

Food: Skip their dumplings, which is sad, weil that is what they are supposed to be famous for.

Price: More expensive than Taste Paradise

Service: Abrupt.