On a saturday afternoon, Taste Paradise is already packed with hungry patrons as early as 12noon when they open doors for business.
Melvin, an old friend and the manager boasts that the dim sum is only freshly made as orders from tables pour in. Nothing is prepared overnight. This attention to dedication and detail can be felt, and in this case, very much tasted in their custard buns.
I don't normally fancy this traditional sweet dim sum. But here, I always order 2 servings! The pipping hot custard flows out richly with the first bite, threatening to burn the most delicate of tongues. Yet this rich yellow filling is not as sweet as it appears. The salted egg yolk sedates the sweetness and makes every bite such a yummy delight.
The egg tarts are my second favourite. It's hard to find a good egg tart nowadays. The tart is thin and crisp, and the egg custard is so freshly out of the oven, it's almost molten liquid!
The roast pork isn't as good as Peach Garden or Crystal Jade. A little too salty and not as crispy as I would have liked it. But it's got a good amount of meat and fat.
As the rest of the dim sum arrive on the table, we are lost in a sea of good traditional streamed dumplings, and new interesting fried items. I won't bother to pen down the names of the variety we tried, you can probably guess from the pictures. We did make it a point not to try the usual siew mai and chicken feet, etc, and we were definitely not disappointed.
We tried the foie gras xiao long bao since it had been strongly recommended by several other foodies. But we were rather disappointed. We could barely taste even a hint of foie gras. It tasted pretty similar to their regular xiao long bao.
But a passing complaint to Melvin and the next order came bursting with foie gras! Now that was more like it! *drool*
We also wanted to try some of their new signatures just to ensure that the quality of their flagship at Mosque street was not lost in transition. And I am only too happy to shift my alliance to the Ion branch. Parking is easier, shopping is certainly more accessible for after-meal digestions and the food is definitely up one notch.
The carrot cake is still offered in the Ion and rightfully it should. Their XO carrot cake is pillowy soft and fragrant still.
We also tried their baked kurobuta pork, flavoured with tang gui. The herb provides the unique fushion without any of the medicinal stigma that comes with dishes cooked with herbs. The pork is soft and baked to perfection.
The sister had to have her wasabi prawns and its nice to see some familiar classics on the table.
We always ordered the baked lamb rack whenever we come to taste but we heard they had a new signature. This is better since the lamb rack had seen better days and has some how dropped in standard in the last few orderings. But I won't say I was extremely 'wow-ed'.
From the seafood, we ordered one from the new and one from the old. The chef recipe for the cod fish has always been a must. And we also ordered a new item - salted egg york crusted scallop on a bed of avocado and sweet corn. The fish never fails. Even when we bring guests here, never once has the fish failed to garner solid superb praise. This was no exception.
The scallop on the contrary doesn't give good first impressions. But as you continue with each bite, the flavours grown on you and the avocado and sweet corn adds a light and interesting new dimension.
By this time we probably should have stopped. :) But being the greedy people we are, we also had to fill up on the carbs. We got the usual fried rice and tried the lobster noodles. No complaints for either. The lobster noodles was excellent. My only complaint - we shouldn't have order it last.
All in all, it was a superb leisurely Saturday lunch. Taste Paradise definitely ranks one of the top best restaurants in my books. Now with them open and look set to stay in the Ion, I'll probably be succumbing to temptation fairly often now!
Taste Paradise at ION Orchard
ION Orchard #04-07
No. 2 Orchard Turn
Singapore238801
Tel: 6226 2959
Opening Hours
Mon – Fri
11.30am- 3.00pm (last order at 2.30pm)
6.00pm - 11pm (last order at 10.00pm)
Sat, Sun & PH
11.00am – 5.00pm (last order at 10.30pm)
6.00pm - 11.00pm (last order at 10.00pm)
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