Zi Yean Eating House

Come here only if you’re prepared to be «chopped» by the lady boss.
The reason why we went there is because we wanted to have Dim Sum and it’s the nearest place to my house.
Lady boss keeps pushing the zi char menu to us and keeps telling us that we should order some. When she asked what we want to drink and we told her Chinese Tea, that’s when her face got even blacker. She keeps saying that we also can have Barley. It’s home made. We confirmed that we want Chinese Tea with her again and she was super unhappy.
She came over with the pot of tea and cups and left without serving us. We had to walk to her to pass her the order form. She then tried to make us order more again by saying «this is enough for all of you???» We then said «we will order more if needed later»
Guess what? She said «Sorry we are closing already». Wtf?
Just close shop la. I went to google for reviews when I was there and saw many similar bad reviews. Stop conning tourists money!!! I think you only survive cause of them.

The dim sum here rocks. It’s worth the walking and trudging under the sun to get to the location. But of course if someone’s driving then it’s ideal.
We had a department ‘gathering’ and my boss recommended this place. It’s his favourite dim sum location. The restaurant is separated into two areas, one air-​conditioned, one without. They each provide different experiences: the air-​con one for the big family gatherings and ‘more formal’ dinners; the non air-​con for the authentic Cantonese kopitiam-​styled dim sum.
The service staff were probably more attentive in the air-​con restaurant, much like what you’d expect in a typical Chinese restaurant in the shopping mall.
The dishes were listed in a paper menu that you can tick and select the ones you’d want. The dim sum were mostly hits — the har gow, the siew mais, the chee cheong fun, they were all delicious. Don’t forget to grab a few egg tarts, they run out of stock easily so you might want to make the order early.

Looking for some old school breakfast where there is no fuss about queues and high expectations? Zi Yean is the place to go with your whole village of relatives if you are not there sourcing for the best, but just plain comfort dim sum. Nothing fanciful, your usual siew mais and har kaos, but one thing to rave is the mei cai kou rou bun (stewed preserved vegetables with pork). It is just the right balance of sweet and salty, with a fragrant garlic aroma when eaten hot. It is a simple bun, but it does make you want more. The siew mai uses finely diced lean meat rather than minced meat, giving it the textural bite and freshness often lacking in siew mais. For two person having a decent dim sum breakfast of 6 steamer trays, you would expect to pay about $ 25.