Dim sum means a bit of heart, and is the name given to a Chinese cuisine which involves a variety of dumpling-like dishes served traditionally along with Chinese tea. P!ng specialises in dim sums, and boasts of over 30 kinds. You have a variety of dim sums in several meats and veggie selections, and can be had steamed, grilled or fried.
In the non veg platter, the threaded crab dumplings with wasabi mayo stoodout, with the fish and shitake coming close second, while the steamed prawn dim sum felt doughy, preventing us from appreciating its taste.
We had decided to go all out on dim sums - it's not always you get to binge on starters alone and enjoy it - and so we ordered a few more: prawn and cilantro sui mai, fire cracker prawns, spicy chicken and basil cheong fan, and shitake and green onion cheong fan. The fire cracker prawns, served with an orange and chilly dip, was fabulous - the sweet from the orange contrasting with the heat from the chilly, yet blending together with the roll-shaped batter-fried prawns, with the tail sticking out like the wick of a cracker. The sui mai tasted good, but since I knew there were essentially two types of sui mai (Cantonese version, which are smaller, firmer pieces, while the version from the south is larger and tougher), I had hoped there would at least be a mention of it. The cheong fans are more a Southeast Asian dish, and are rolls with rice or rice noodles with meat, covered with a chilly and soy sauce mixture. Texture and taste wise it was nice, although how someone could eat something this flimsy with chopsticks is a mystery to me.
Moving on, we then had a chicken wrapped in banana leaf, and a signature dish called lotus leaf parcels with chicken and shitake. The chicken wrapped in the banana leaf was very good - spicy enough for the Indian palate to appreciate, yet subtle enough to not overwhelm you. The flavour imparted by the lotus leaf to the steamed concoction of sticky rice, chicken and shitake was great, and although the contents by themselves came across as being a little bland, the unique lotus flavour and the aromas alone would be appreciated by any gourmand. We ended our main course with a sea food pan fried noodles, which had pieces of lotus stem tossed in giving it a nice crunchy texture and a unique taste. Unfortunately, the fish in it played spoiler, neutralising the good work done by the rest of the ingredients.
Although the dessert section says 'Dessert Bay' and made us imagine we'd have a variety of desserts to choose from, the only variety was a multitude of ice creams, and a handful of non-ice cream dishes (of which I liked the blueberry tart). The co-owner of P!ng, Rajanikanth, mentioned that this menu is still a work in progress, and the plethora of ice creams is primarily to attract the swarms of college students in the area, who'd otherwise end up in a Barista or Coffee Day. All things considered, a very nice place, and with a few improvements, I'm sure this place could end up with a 5 out of 5.
fiddlesticks
Replied by: Culinary Connoisseurs, Management , on Sep 24, 2009 Flag this
Thank you for all the valuable feedback and the comments made by you.
Indeed, it would have been difficult for even us to capture the essence of our signature dishes, the way you have.
We look forward to seeing you again at P!ng