Majestic Bay

I have been hearing about Majestic Bay restaurant ever since they opened within Gardens By the Bay in 2012 but had no chance to try out their food until last December when we were visiting the Flower Dome

Located just below the Flower Dome and opposite the entrance of the Cloud Forest, Majestic Bay is helmed by Chef Yong Bing Ngen who also owns the successful Majestic and Jing restaurants

The spacious restaurant seats up to 190 customers with private rooms available for gatherings. The view of the restaurant is fantastic with a floor-to-ceiling glass window concept which looks out to the waterfront view of Marina Bay

We came here mainly for dim sum lunch before heading for our visit to the Flower Dome so we ordered a few of the favourites like the steamed prawn dumplings and steamed pork siew mai which were made in the perfect bite size per piece. The flavours were light and you can taste the natural flavours of the meat without any overpowering seasoning. There was nothing to nitpick about the dishes

The xiao long bao was surprisingly delicious as the dumplings were full of broth and the broth itself was extremely flavourful. You could taste the intensity of the meat flavours in the small amount of soup but yet it was light and non-greasy. The meat itself was tender and springy but my only complaint was the thick skin which could have made this the best dumpling if it was just a tad thinner

Other steamed dim sum we ordered included the steamed rice roll with prawns and steamed pork ribs. Both items were decent as the rice roll was soft and smooth with huge prawns wrapped inside and the steamed ribs were tender and juicy

As a Cantonese, I really love soup so I could not resist ordering some of their soups which came as individual servings. We had sweet and sour soup which was not sour enough in my opinion and the fresh crab meat with fish maw in yellow broth which was lacklustre in taste. While both soups were decent, it was definitely not hitting the spot like the ones from Crystal Jade

As we were ordering the dim sum, the server also introduced to us their specialities which were the Chilli Crab as well as their crispy Soon Hock fish in light soya sauce. As our stomachs were filling up fast, we opted for the crispy Soon Hock which was having a 30% promotion during lunch as well as the fried buns with SG chilli crab sauce to just test the flavours of their Chili Crab.

The crispy soon hock was fried to perfection with every part of the fish crispy to the bite without the grease. The meat was firm and sweet as it was freshly caught from the tanks and the light soya sauce complemented the fish to perfection. This was definitely a value-for-money promotion and I would order this again. As for the fried buns and sauce, I found the chilli sauce too watery and missing the creamy flavours we can get from other chilli crab sauces

We decided to order some of their sweet buns as desserts instead so we ordered these very cute-looking duckling buns with lava chocolate as well as the mango and prawn rolls and the charcoal custard buns. The prawn and mango roll and custard buns were decent but the duckling buns were really quite the nightmare. While they were cute on the plate, the lava chocolate and steamed bun really did not match and we ended up having difficulties trying to eat them

Overall, the service was impeccable and the environment was bright and mood-lifting with the beautiful waterfront view as part of your dining experience. We did call to book the tables next to the window early. In terms of food, the dim sum items were decent but nothing too extraordinary. From the verdict of tasting the fish and chilli crab sauce, I do think it is another hit-or-miss restaurant with its dishes whose main selling point is perhaps the location

Address: 18 Marina Gardens Dr, Below Flower Dome, Singapore 018953

Operating hours: 11.30 am to 3 pm and 5.30 pm to 9 pm