Eat Out - Camy Shanghai Dumplings

Day 95

After my failed attempt to make 饺子, Mr Tan suggested having them for tonight's dinner. We have visited Dumplings Plus 2 weeks ago and it was that visit that got me craving for vinegar and 饺子 all over again! I searched the net for other dumplings places and Camy had some pretty good food reviews and some horrible service reviews. I was apprehensive about bringing Mr Tan there as he has zero tolerance towards people with attitude problem. I cannot stand bad service too but my tolerance level is slightly higher than his. I brace myself for what is to come.

There were no available tables when we got there but luckily, there was no queue. We were ushered to our seats within 5 minutes. We shared a table with another 2 angmohs. There was no available menu and I had to walk to the counter to get one. We ordered 担担面，狮子头面，虾仁菠菜饺子 and 辣椒油饺子. The lady took our order with no smile. While she was taking our order, a waiter served the angmohs their order and he threw the plate on our table and walked away. The angmoh commented, what service this is. The 4 of us shook our heads. While we waited for our food, the waiters had to squeeze between chairs to serve the dishes. A waiter knocked Mr Tan's coat onto the floor and he simply said sorry and walked off. Mr Tan was pissed. He stared at the guy for a long time while I tried to douse his fire. The area was cramped and the waiters kept bumping into our chairs as they moved around but nobody said a word of sorry! It was as if this was normal.

Our food finally came. The 担担面 was spicy. It was not chilli hot, it was Sichuan type of hot. The minced pork serving was huge. The noodles had a nice chew to it and the portion was just nice for me. I could not finish the minced pork and by the time I was done, there was still a good amount left. It looked as if I had not even started on it. It was too spicy for me and I was turning into "Jolie". But I like the noodles very much and didn't stop eating until there was none. :)

Next to come was the 辣椒油饺子. They are bigger than the ones from Dumplings Plus but Dumplings Plus tasted way better than these. The skin of the dumplings was thick and powdery. The chilli oil was more like water with oil, it was tasteless. The filling tasted average. Well, you pay for what you get. We ended up removing the skin of the dumplings as we ate them. But we still could not finish all 15 of them.

 

Then we had 虾仁菠菜饺子. 6 bite-sized dumplings with spinach and shrimp. The skin for these dumplings are thinner than the ones used for 辣椒油饺子 and it was tastier too. A pity that the shrimps were too little. This was the only dish that we could finish.

Finally, Mr Tan's 狮子头面 was served. It was 2 HUGE meatballs with a hard-boiled egg and Kailan. They are the biggest meatballs that we have ever seen and likely the biggest that we will ever see. They were tasty. Mr Tan commented that it was so meaty that it can be overpowering.

When we went to pay, the old lady simply pointed to the amount on the register and did not even look at us. Mr Tan was totally pissed. He threw the cash on the table and as we walked out, there was a queue at the door. Cheap food with bad service draws the crowd.

It is cheap. 4 dishes only cost us $25.30 but we will never return. The food was average but the service was atrocious. I knew from the reviews that service is bad but I never expected it to be SO bad. In Mr Tan's opinion, it actually takes effort to give people bad service and it is as if they set up to displease diners.