As my father recently survived a major operation, he wanted to invite our relatives for dinner to celebrate that and to celebrate his birthday in advance. Tung Lok Signatures at The Central serves fantastic food and their service is excellent. However my sister had just held her wedding dinner there last December (pity I did not have a camera then to take pictures of the food). It had been more than a year since I enjoyed Tung Lok Seafood's lunch buffet, so I suggested the venue to my father. After taking a look at the dinner buffet menu, he immediately booked a table for 11.
Relaxing and soothing ambience at Tung Lok Seafood
Note: As much as I wanted to take perfect pictures of every dish untouched, it would have been rude to say "STOP!" and then take a few pictures before allowing our guests to dig in. The food looked so good, and all of us were hungry. Consequently I took the pictures in-between people spinning the Lazy Susan, and will make a note if any of the dishes below had been touched before their pictures were taken.
Seafood Salad with Fresh Fruits (touched)
Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce (touched)
Fried Carrot Cake with Sausage in Spicy X.O. Sauce (touching now!)
This was one of the dishes that I had eaten at the lunch buffet earlier, and was eager to have some again. Unlike the carrot cakes served at restaurants and hawker centres, Tung Lok's version comes with lots of beansprouts, egg and spring onions. I love it because I love eating all those three ingredients, which give the carrot cake dish more texture and makes it less of a starch brick.
The fried carrot cake was delicious and gobbled up by my relatives really fast. We ordered another plate right away. The best carrot cake I have ever eaten.
Tung Lok Chilli Crab
Tung Lok's Chilli Crab tastes different from the usual chilli crab dish. As a result of combining the tomato sauce with orange juice, the gravy tastes sweeter and less spicy. For our table of 11, we were given 3 crabs.
Crispy Fish Skin with Salted Egg Yolk
Salmon Sashimi
Altogether our table had five plates of salmon sashimi. The sashimi was absolutely fresh and a joy to eat. Additionally, the chef was generous with the cuts of salmon, and served us many slices of soft, buttery salmon belly.
Crisp-fried Shishamo (foreground)
Crisp-fried Minced Seafood Beancurd (background)
(both touched)
Baked Half-shell Scallops with Cheese
Oh, these large, plump, juicy morsels were gorgeous! There was little taste of cheese on them, but it did not matter because the scallops alone carried so much taste.
Fried Man Tou
Crispy Eggplant with Pork Floss (touched)
Braised Shark's Fin with Fish Maw
Barbequed Salmon Fish Head with Salt
My grandaunt, aunt and cousin really enjoyed nibbling on the fish heads.
Sliced Beef with Ginger and Scallions
You can see the pair of chopsticks hovering above the tender looking slices of beef, ready to attack once I take a picture.
Crispy Soft Shell Crab with Salted Pepper
Crispy Prawns with Butter and Cereal
Deep-fried Marble Goby with Chef's Special Sauce
Sauteed Chinese Spinach with Three Kinds of Eggs
Poached Baby Kai Lan served with Chinchalok
Deep-fried Chicken marinated with Prawn Paste
What I liked about Tung Lok's version of prawn paste chicken was that the prawn paste was spread onto the chicken skin, and no batter was used. This enhanced the taste of the prawn paste - delicious! I am less partial to versions which have piece of chicken coated in a thick prawn paste batter before being deep-fried, because it is like eating KFC chicken with prawn paste.
Sliced Fish with Spicy Black Bean Sauce
Sauteed Sliced Venison with Black Pepper Sauce (touched)
Herbal Jelly served with Honey
Sweetened Sesame Cream
Sesame Pancake with Lotus Seeds Filling
Tung Lok's sesame pancake was a hit with my relatives: heaps of sesame sprinkled on light, warm, flaky pastry with creamy lotus in between. We ordered two plates of the pancake, and each plate was emptied pronto.
Ice-cream Puff
By the time the plate of ice-cream puffs spun round the table to in front of me, only one lonely puff was left (and promptly eaten by my mother). Each ice-cream puff contained a dollop of ice-cream and was small enough to pop into the mouth.
Good food, good company. All of us had a magnificent time at Tung Lok Seafood and left in great spirits with full bellies. And I will have to return again soon because I want more chilli crab, carrot cake, scallops and salmon sashimi, and there are still a few dishes on the menu which I want to try!
Tung Lok Seafood
Orchard Central #11-05
181 Orchard Road
Singapore 238896
Tel: 834 4888
Fax: 6834 4266
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sat
- Lunch : 11:30 - 3:00PM
- Dinner : 6:00 - 10:30PM
Sun and PH
- Lunch : 10:00 - 3:00PM
- Dinner : 6:00 - 10:30PM
Lunch ala-carte buffet (minimum 4 persons)
Monday to Friday
- Adult: $24.80
- Child (below age 12): $14.80
Saturday, Sunday and PH
- Adult: $26.80
- Child (below age 12): $16.80
Dinner ala-carte buffet (minimum 4 persons)
- Adult: $38.80++
- Child (below age 12): $28.80++
Menu available at: http://www.tunglokseafood.com/menu.php
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