Had been going around the Orchard neighbourhood for quite a bit in recent times and found out that there has been some changes in the F&B tenants occupying the higher levels of Ngee Ann City — it does seem that Empire Fine Chinese Cuisine (not to be confused with Empire Hotpot & Cantonese Cuisine located just right across the aisle where Empire Fine Chinese Cuisine was ) had seemed to have ceased operations, and is replaced by a new Chinese restaurant that is named Phoenix Garden instead. Considering the rather luxe entrance of Phoenix Garden as one looks at the establishment from the outside, the establishment actually takes up a rather small area; the dining hall being situated just right behind the area where the counter is. The entire establishment features a dark interior design with a contrast of white elements and wooden elements that exudes some sort of grandeur for the otherwise simple dining hall; mirrors are also used to create a perception of a larger space as well. Phoenix Garden primarily serves up Chinese cuisine in communal formats — similar to the Chinese restaurants serving up Teochew or Cantonese cuisine, though one can also find a little bit of local / Malaysian influence in some of the dishes served up on their menu. Their menu comprises of sections dedicated to Dim Sum, Appetisers, Meat & Poultry, Fresh Seafood, Specialty Fish & Live Selections, Stone Pots and Sizzling Hotplates, Vegetables and Beancurds, Specialty Rice and Traditional Noodles, as well as Dessert. Beverages available at Phoenix Garden includes items classified under Special Drinks, Homemade Drinks, Canned Soft Drinks and Gryphon Tea categories in the menu.

Visiting Phoenix Garden for their dim sum, we eventually found ourselves leaving the establishment being more impressed with their Singapore Hokkien Mee. It is actually quite surprising to find a restaurant like Phoenix Garden to serve something this local — hence needless to say we weren’t really expecting much with their Singapore Hokkien Mee initially. Phoenix Garden doesn’t describe the elements that come with their dishes on the menu, though on first look, the Singapore Hokkien Mee comes with thick Bee Hoon, yellow noodles, crispy pork lard, squid and prawn; the dish also comes accompanied with sambal chili and lime juice on the side. On first sight, the Singapore Hokkien Mee at Phoenix Garden does look more like a version of a wet Hokkien Mee — the stock can be evidently seen at the bottom of the plate here. Considering how this version of the Hokkien Mee is served up at a restaurant, one can find some differences between this and the hawker versions out there; apart from the gentrification of the dish by adding crayfish, it also seems that the noodles aren’t wok-fried here as well before being simmered with the stock — this also resulted in a lack of wok-hei for a more “refined” version of one may. Without the addition of the chili, the stock of the Singapore Hokkien Mee can be said to be umami on its own; the entire dish comprising of slurpy thick Bee Hoon and yellow noodles with fresh seafood amidst the selection featured in the dish — one thing we really enjoyed here was how the yellow noodles were totally rid of the alkaline notes that one will often associate with yellow noodles typically. This in itself made the entire dish really easy to have; all along with the crispy pork lard that added a crunchy texture amidst the slurpy noodles and bouncy seafood elements here. Adding the sambal chili gives it the Singapore Hokkien Mee an added note of savouriness and also an extra kick of spiciness that tickles the tastebuds even for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness, though it is also worth noting that one should also add the sambal chili bit-by-bit to ensure that it is added to an optimal level that isn’t too salty for one’s tastebuds.

Apart from the Singapore Hokkien Mee, another dish that we felt was quite worth the mention was the Okinawa Black Sugar BBQ Pork Bun — these buns came in a serving of three pieces per portion and are essentially BBQ Pork Buns, though the bun itself comes in a hue of light brown from the infusion of Okinawa Black Sugar into the dough used in the making of the dish. One can taste a light note of the earthiness of Okinawa Black Sugar lingering at the back of tongue — quite a faint flavour, but compliments that BBQ Pork filling that comes with an adequate amount of honey BBQ sauce with a good sweetness; the pork was also not too chunky as well. The other dim sum dishes such as the Fresh Butterfly Pea Prawn Dumpling and Steamed Fresh Prawn and Pork “Siew Mai” with Baked Unagi were a bit lacking in execution — both having pieces of dim sum that were stuck together or with the dim sum basket liner; the latter also sounded being inventive on paper but the outcome felt more of just throwing in a premium ingredient to the dish for the sake of it as well. The Sautéed Carrot Cake with Home-made XO Sauce and the Steamed Rice Rolls with Prawn were considered dishes that are decent with nothing too much to shout about, though one can still nitpick on the latter coming with rice rolls that are a wee bit thick especially for those with a more discerning tastebud.

For dessert, we preferred the Golden Swan Durian Pastry slightly over the Straits Signature Chendol — the former being served warm and in a portion of thee pieces per serving, these were rather hefty pastries containing durian mousse within; no doubt the pastry skin was less delicate and felt more like a deep-fried layered curry puff pastry instead, it does feel more premium than the Straits Signature Chendol which felt rather mis-matched against the $10.80++ price tag. We did like the Gula Melaka used for the Straits Signature Chendol, though it does feel like a pricey food court-style Ice Kachang-meets-Chendol with a dollop of coconut ice-cream over the top given the quality of the other ingredients used. Overall, our experience at Phoenix Gardens was hits and misses; one thing that stood out with us particularly was how Phoenix Gardens does have attempts in serving up dishes with a bit of modernity — that being said, those said attempts just felt a little hack-and-slash to say the least with mostly being the inclusion of a more premium ingredient on a dish to justify for the slightly upmarket price tag, and lacks integration somehow. This would be quite evident with the Steamed Fresh Prawn and Pork “Siew Mai” with Baked Unagi to say the least, and could even be said with the Singapore Hokkien Mee that we have liked as well. Prices of the dim sum at Phoenix Garden can be a little steep; the items starting from a price tag of $7.80 to $11.80 per item with the lowest-priced item being the Baked Egg Custard Tartlets, and the priciest one being the Steamed Rice Rolls with Honey BBQ Pork and Steamed Rice Rolls with Prawn. Competition is fairly stiff within its vicinity however, we establishments like Kai Duck, East Ocean Restaurant and Empire Hotpot & Cantonese Cuisine all serving some form of Chinese cuisine or Dim Sum within the same level at Ngee Ann City; it would be interesting to see how things will pan out with Phoenix Garden in the long run …