Dim Sum Garden
59 N 11th St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Neighborhood: Market East


"Dinghy" is how I would describe the exterior of Dim Sum Garden.  Having walked by here quite a few times, I had always wondered how a place like this could operate and break even.  However, a friend who had come here said the dim sum was good and recommended it.  That was a shocker, so I definitely had to try it out myself.

We arrived noon-ish on a windy Sunday.  It was packed.  The establishment itself is relatively small, and oddly enough, it appeared to be quite family friendly.  First, the food.  We had the Shanghai Siu Mai, Fried Soup Pork Buns, and Crabmeat + Pork Buns.

The Shanghai Siu Mai looked a little bit weird and tasted a little bit weird as it was mostly rice.  The Crabmeat + Pork Buns were yummy.  Despite being Asian, I've never had "Shanghai" style - where they're filled with broth and you make a small hole in the "bun," suck out the broth, then eat the rest.  I learned something new!  The same went for the Fried Soup Pork Buns as the name suggests.

Overall, food was good, but I would say it's comparable to other good dim sum places in Philly.  We actually didn't find this place that cheap relative to other dim sum joints.  For those three dishes, it was about $20 bucks with tip - that's quite steep for a dim sum dive.

Maybe it's priced higher because service is so great here?  No.  Our waiter was inpatient and walked by and dropped off our plates without even looking at us or telling us what dish he landed on our table.

Yummy Lan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House
131 N 10th St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Neighborhood: Chinatown

It's the battle of mythical proportions.  The Chinatown noodle house showdown.

Though similar in name, Lan Zhou and Nan Zhou are not the same.  Where to start?  Let's go with service.  We walked into the restaurant and stood at the entrance waiting to be seated.  When it looked like the staff wasn't paying any attention to us, we went ahead and sat ourselves.  When it looked like we were still being ignored, I went up and grabbed menus from the register for ourselves.  Finally, when it looked like we weren't go to get our orders taken, I flagged down one of the waitresses and told her we were ready.  Nan Zhou is like the New Jersey of gas stations - full service, and Lan Zhou is like other states - no service.

Because I wanted to compare Lan to Nan, I ordered what I normally order at Nan - fish ball soup.  The fish balls and broth here tasted very similar to those at Nan, so no differences there.  The noodles on the other hand appeared to have been sitting somewhere, cooked, for quite a while.  They were stuck together and I had to use both my chopsticks and spoon to pull them apart - that is, unless I wanted to eat them like they were lasagna.

Since both Lan's food and service were not on par with those at Nan (pricing is similar at both places), I will be returning to Nan and saying goodbye to Lan. 

We landed at Changi Airport around 2 AM and got through customs without a hitch. I hadn't paid fully for my hostel yet so I needed to get to an ATM before leaving the airport. The airport lobby is huge, with a lot of empty modern spaces. I asked a Hertz rep where an ATM could be found, and after locating it, I pocketed my cash. When I looked up from the ATM, my eyes popped open. A police officer and two soldiers, armed with assault rifles/submachine guns, were walking directly towards me. I looked at them with blanked eyes and then they turned around and walked the opposite direction. Whew.

It took slightly longer than expected to get to Beary Nice! (BN!), the hostel I'm staying at, because the taxi driver had no idea where Smith Street, Chinatown was located. BN!'s a very welcoming place, there are teddy bears everywhere, the walls are painted bright green, red, orange, yellow..., the beds are clean, the bathrooms are spotless, and there's free coffee! 

By the time I got all situated, it was already 4AM. I snoozed for 3 hours, woke up, showered, grabbed a map, and headed out. My first impression when I walked out into Chinatown was that it was the cleanest Chinatown I've ever seen. The cleanest. It was crowded as expected as I squeezed my way out onto South Bridge Road.

My first goal was to head to Marina Bay Sands, a three-tower resort on top of which is the Sands SkyPark - a one hectare sky terrace. But of course, being me, I got lost and ended up wandering around for an hour and a half until I found my way. This turned out to be a good thing, however, as I got the chance to explore the less "touristy" part of town. 

Singapore is an interesting place, especially with regard to the languages. While English is the official main language, every other person I turned to spoke something else - Cantonese, Mandarin, Tamil, Malay...This of course means that, me being Asian, everyone assumes I speak Cantonese and Mandarin. While the former is correct, the latter results in some confusing conversations until they realize that I'm not responding in Mandarin. 

The western/British influence is strong - evident in their driving on the left side of the road! Then of course, there's the Lady Gaga and Backstreet Boys playing outside in Chinatown. Although Singaporeans sure know how to one up westerners - turning Burger King from an old fashion fast food restaurant into a "Whopper Bar" - fully stocked with your liquor and burger needs.

After a bit of wandering, I finally caught sight of Marina Bay Sands, rising above the other towers surrounding it. At that point, it was just about walking towards the building.

I took a detour into the Marina Bay luxury mall, an extravagant place for people with deep pockets. One thing I've noticed at all the mall complexes is that there are no places to sit like in American malls. In Singapore, you are there to shop, even if your legs are about to drop. But back to the point, I finally made it up to SkyPark (SGD20). The day was a bit hazy, but take a look at the amazing views.

Up next was Clarke Quay, a bustling area along the Singapore River. It's made up of five blocks of pastel-color painted warehouses that now feature over 50 restaurants/pubs. Take a look.

I made my way back towards Chinatown, but in the process, ended up detouring into several mall complexes, including China Square Central, Chinatown Point, among many others whose names I've forgotten.