Spring Court @ Far East Square

Armed with a SGD28 voucher given to me by a colleague, my lunch kaki and I eagerly trooped to Spring Court for lunch, hoping to a good meal at great value.

Spring Court is located in its own private enclave in Far East Square and resembles a Chinese Pavilion complete with a courtyard, wooden interiors and sporadic bamboo plants. The first warning bell sounded when my kaki and I realised we were the only ones occupying the whole restaurant. The staff were over enthusiastic but generally charming so we decided to go ahead and give the place a shot.

Here is what we ordered:

Mixed vege platter comprising black fungus, water chestnut, some crunchy turnips, carrots and asparagus. Everything looked so white, starchy and healthy. My kaki enjoyed this dish but i couldn't take it half way and had to use the soy sauce dip.

Hing Hwa Beehoon with seafood. This is supposed to be one of their specialities but I found the taste lacking. Even my mom can cook better! Hing Hwa Beehoon is supposed to be thin, fine and melt in the mouth (somewhat like dragon beard candy) but this one was coarse and uninteresting. The accompanying "special" sauce failed to excite my tastebuds. For the best Hing Hwa Beehoon, my vote goes to Pu Tien.

Fermented wine pork pieces. I enjoyed this dish the best. Nuggets of battered pork pieces enveloped in a saltish red marinade. Somewhat like sweet and sour pork. Delicious. The portion was also quite generous.

Vegetable based dim sum. This is supposedly a "daily chef special". There were four pockets in each dim sum, containing a different shredded vegetable. I could only make out carrot and turnip. The flavors did not harmonise well together and tasted bland. My kaki and I both did not like it.

Orh-Nee (yam paste). The orh-nee didn't come in a mashed up dollop like other restaurants serve it. This one came with a cutesy spiral "ice cream" top. The taste was just right with only a hint of sweetness. I found the texture a little too dry but my kaki liked it and finished her whole bowl.

Muah chee balls coated with peanuts. This tasted exactly how I expected it to taste. Gooey, sweet and satisfying with the right amount of bite. Yum.

The bill came up to about SGD60 for 2 of us. After factoring in the SGD28 voucher, we paid SGD30 which was okay-value considering we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

Would I come back again? Without the voucher, probably not. There are better lunch deals out there.