New Dim Sum Menu at Shang Palace by Chef Kerene Cheng

Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore welcomes Kerene Cheng as the first female chef to lead Shang Palace’s dim sum culinary team. A native Singaporean, Chef Kerene has been perfecting her skills for 15 years at a local five-star hotel and renowned restaurant groups in Singapore prior to joining the Shangri-La family.

I have met Chef Kerene last year at another hotel when I did a feature with her, I really admired her creativity in coming up with inspirational dishes that portray a refreshing and modern aspect to traditional dim sum. In her new role, Chef Kerene is responsible for conceptualising the 43-year-old Cantonese restaurant’s dim sum and dessert menus. With a team of seven chefs, she is tasked to delight discerning palates with an artful balance of traditional techniques and innovative ideas.

The dim sum feast started with a beautiful trio of bite size dim sum – Steamed Gold Sago Shrimp Dumpling ($7/3pcs) , Steamed Pork Siew Mai ($6/3pcs) and Steamed Teochew Dumpling ($6.50/3pcs) served in a steamer basket. One unique dim sum is the green translucent dumpling filled with baby abalone, pork, dried shrimp and chives.

Next up is Crispy Fried Fresh Prawn Roll ($6/3pcs) with Lychee and Mayonnaise Sauce, Steamed Xiao Long Bao with Crab Roe and Steam Rice Roll with Fresh Prawn. I had eaten prawn roll with mangoes before but this is my first time eating prawn roll with lychee combination. Even though it wasn’t as photogenic, but the juiciness from the lychee meat gave the prawn roll some moisture. With a beautiful orange skin made from pumpkin, the steamed xiao long bao ($7/3pcs) has a toothsome crab roe, pork filling and a spoonful of light soup.

Deep fried bacon roll ($6/3pcs) gives a modern take to the traditional dim sum. Wrapped with enoki mushroom, chicken and prawns, this crispy roll is definitely a popular choice for bacon lovers. The Steamed Turnip Cake ($5.50/3pcs) , on the other hand, is lighter in flavours and flooded with conpoy, chinese sausage and dried shrimps.

My personal favourite is the yuan yang pork dumplings ($7/3pcs). Done two ways, the dumplings can either be pan fried or boiled. I enjoyed the boiled version totally as the dumpling is dipped into a pool of Japanese sesame sauce with truffle oil.

When I asked Chef Kerene what’s her most well-liked dish? Without second thoughts, the answer is char siew bao (5.50/3pcs). So we ordered a bun each to try. Fluffy steamed bun, checked. What about the fillings? The generous portion of sweet BBQ pork is mixed with pine nuts for an extra crunch! Well, if you are not a fan of buns, can try their BBQ pork pasty ($6/3pcs). Not forgetting the steamed salted egg yolk custard bun ($6/3pcs). The flavour of the oozy salted olk custard and the bun texture were excellent. It had a good balance of sweet, salty and creamy.

Shang Palace

Address: Shangri-La Hotel, 22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258350
Tel: 6213 4138 (Book online here)
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri: 12pm – 230pm; 6pm – 1030pm. Sat, Sun & PH: 1030am – 230pm; 6pm – 1030pm