Birthday lunch at Lei Garden @Chijmes

My evil sistas are celebrating my birthday with me and I chose to dine here. Many has compared this place with the Royal China @Raffles Hotel just across the road. I had my last year's birthday celebration there and the food and service was good. So how do they compare? Read the low down here..

The restaurant occupy two floors of this entire stretch of shop space...facing the church.

There's an oriental reception area when we stepped in the entrance..

**photo credit: Pauline Tan

First floor general dining area behind the chinese style divider..

We made an advanced booking and were led to the dining room upstairs...the staircase is very nicely decorated with victorian feel..wall with portraits and modern chandelier.

There is a spacious waiting room at 2nd floor. On the right, a long corridor leading to many private and non private dining rooms. All rooms on this level can be partitioned into private dining room of different sizes.

Our table is at room no.1, there are about 8 tables set up in this dining area..

Nicely painted wallpaper adorned both ends of the room.

Table settings..

公筷...in a different color

We ordered a whole Peking roast duck to share and multiple dim sum dishes..

**photo credit: Pauline Tan

The duck skin was cut into thin slices and served wrapped nicely with a crepe skin...the duck skin is crispy but very oily even when eaten with the crepe and cucumber. The balance duck meat was brought back to the kitchen to be shredded and cooked with Ee Fu noodles and served later.

Some dim sum items we ordered...

豉椒凤爪...didn't try this

素鹅...didn't try this

酥皮鸡蛋挞...didn't try this

白玉鲜虾饺...very good!

香煎萝卜糕...best dish of the day, thumbs up!

瑶柱腐皮卷...skin a bit oily

鲜虾滑肠粉...nice!

卤水豆腐...not bad

日式鸡中翼...super salty!

鲍鱼汁炆凤爪...not bad

上海小笼包...not bad

旋风流沙包...not bad.

皮蛋瘦肉粥...normal

鸭丝炆伊面...nice

Overall, food served here was very delicious and of comparable standard with Royal China...accept for the oily roast duck and the salty chicken wings. However, the same cannot be said for the service level here...the staffs weren't very attentive and basic things like refilling of tea and ice water needed to be prompted repeatedly. We had to wave very vigorously multiple times and call out loudly to get their attention for additional orders. Ambiance wise, although both has a similar east meet west kind of decor...I feel Royal China won with its 'Tiffany blue' themed color that has a bit more character. Last but not least, do note that this place charges a 'cover charge' of $2.50 per pax (children counted too) that will make dining here more expensive than it should be...this coupled with the poor service, definitely make this place not worth coming back again.



Lei Garden Restaurant @Chijmes
Address: #01-24 Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street, Singapore
Tel: (65) 6339 3822

Opening Hours:
Lunch : 11.30am to 3pm
Dinner : 6pm to 11 pm

**Thanks to my friend Pauline for letting me use two of her photos :)