Summer Palace

This off-the-radar Chinese restaurant has been around for yonks, so we dropped by one weekend to see how it was doing. With wooden doorframes, mirrors, gold-framed paintings and retro-looking menus, Summer Palace has a grand but quaint old-world vibe that we quite like. We were put at ease at once by friendly wait staff who also recommended some dishes.

The deep-fried vegetarian goose we started off with consisted of crispy, tasty pieces of mock goose meat. We were struck by how ample the portion was compared to the meager starters some restaurants serve. This impression was confirmed with the arrival of the smoked chicken with jasmine tea leaves, which was laced with the fragrance of jasmine and extremely delicious. However, the serving was huge and we struggled to finish it.

Thankfully, the sautéed fresh scallops with XO chili sauce balanced out our meal—the scallops were very fresh and the XO sauce brought that out nicely (although it could have been saltier). The chilled cream of almond with mango pudding and yam paste was alright, but we’d have preferred it without the yam paste.

Overall, this is a pleasant dining experience well worth your money.