Dim Sum in my hood

I've been trying to locate Hong Kong style dim sum near my hood in Singapore, and thanks to Toto, I've now a local haunt for one of my favorite cuisines! Dim sum is best shared by a group so Toto got his Indonesian friends together at the local spot near Toa Payoah on the red line, one quick MRT from my stop at Novena. The restaurant is located at Toa Payoh Larong 4, opposite the library, above the mcdonalds. From the MRT stop, you walk through Toa Payoh central which is an outdoor market and makes for an interesting stroll (which i plan to enjoy more next time around when I'm not running late...!). Fortunately I wasn't the only one running late so people continued to join our large circular table while we started to add plates and steamer baskets made of bamboo from the carts rolled around by women dressed in red chinese jackets. We feasted on all the traditional steamed dumplings in translucent rice flour wraps (餃, Dumpling; 餃子 jiao zi) some filled with with shrimp, pork, chives, spinach, musrooms and pumpkin. One of my favorites is 潮州粉果 chiu-chau fan guo has peanut, chives, mushrooms, garlic and sometimes turnip. I prefer with turnip b/c I love the slightly sweet and almost cinnamon-like touch it adds. We enjoyed the very popular and traditional siew mai, which is a chinese pork dumpling - I grew up eating it at Japanese restaurants in NY and referred to it as shumai - and steamed yam cake and turnip cakes, which are the blocks on white plates, because I can't get enough of yam or turnip anything, oh and red bean too but they don't make steamed blocks of that -go figure. It's all about the firm and smooth textures and sweet taste. MMMM. Don't forget the ever popular, sweet and savory steamed pork bun, char siu baau 叉燒包. They are godly and if you haven't had one of these yet, I suggest you finish reading this blog entry and google search the nearest cantonese restaurant in your area. You will not regret it. What you might regret however is indulging in the chicken feet. Ok, that's a bit strong, they have great, tangy flavor but you have to dig the mushy texture that you suck off the tiny feet bones. They are the orange colored wish-bones on the white place. Also pictured is me taking a bite, with a smile that faded into a chagrin as soon as the tiny piece of chicken foot entered my esophagus. Nah I'm being dramatic, they're aight. Give em a try. The dim sum was really great here and the conversation was even better. I learned about the Chinese Indonesian community that Toto and his friends make up. They were persecuted in Indo for not being Muslim, so many changed their Chinese sounding names to Indonesian sounding ones, like my friend Toto Tan who became Toto Tanujwidjaja. Many migrated to Singapore, a Chinese majority state, to escape this persecution and for better opportunities. So what could make a brunch of dumpling and story sharing even better??? Dessert of course. I'm a huge fan of red bean and yam paste or custard stuffed steamed buns or egg tarts, but I have them often in Singapore so we opted for a new dessert that was carted around, flaky, crunchy rice wraps stuffed with banana and black sesame paste. They were bomb! Toto ordered me a very popular Chinese dessert, Bai Guo Yu Ni, that is often served at chinese weddings. It's a warm soup with a base of lard and yam paste with gingko nuts. Well, let's just say, lard ain't my thang. BUT dim sum certainly is, and this meal is one for the blog and one to be repeated, like say, next weekend?!