Wen's Delight: Red Star Restaurant

5th Sep 2010

Red Star Restaurant has been around since the 70's. Probably is one of the oldest authentic Chinese restaurant in Singapore, used to be managed by one of the Top 4 Chinese Chefs in Singapore, Master Chef Tan Rui Jia. Though he has since passed away but the restaurant still remain as it is, serving dim sum in the traditional pushcarts and authentic Cantonese cuisine. My aunt attended his restaurant cooking class before in the 80's and even till now she will refer to his cookbook for certain dishes.

We heard that there are always a long queue for dim sum on weekends as they don't accept reservation but evening is not so crowded. We decided to try their dinner instead as Aunt Peggy just recuperate so she cannot go to crowded places. The moment you step into the restaurant, you can feel the charm of the 'old days' with a strong nostalgic ambiance. Even the serving staffs seem to be growing old with the restaurant, mostly are aunties and uncles in the the 50's. Haha service standard still need lots of improvement.

Now's let talk about the food, it was not as good as expected and a bit pricey. The food was either too bland if not too oily and salty though there's some hits. Either we did not order the right dishes or is more value for money to order set dinner than ala carte in this kind of Chinese restaurant. Still, we will want to return to try their dim sums some other times.

Roast Pork & Char Siew Platter - S$16.00

These were sinfully good, lots of fats but were nice. Both were well flavoured and roasted.

Shark Fin with Crabs Meat - S$48.00

This is one of their signature dish and the portion is good for 6. Very little fins though crab meat was quite a lot. We find it ordinary probably because it's almost similar to my aunt's version. She cooks a good shark fin soup too (recipe), I think she also referred to Master Chef Tan Rui Jia cookbook for recipe...lol!

Fish Head & Mustard Green Soup - S$12.00