Bei-Ing Dimsum Club: Creative hawker with over 40 dishes like truffle xiao long bao & mentaiko siew mai

Who doesn’t love a good ol’ dim sum meal? With fried, steamed and sometimes baked options, dim sum is one of my favourite types of food. I love seeing how various local hawkers and restaurants come up with new and innovative dim sum dishes. Hence, I was excited when I first learnt about Bei-Ing Dimsum Club.

Bei-Ing Dimsum Club is located within The Bullion Hawker Bar along East Coast Road. The modern dim sum concept was opened by the hawkers behind Bei-Ing Wanton Mee in November 2022, and boasts a huge range of ultra-unique dim sum dishes. I was drawn to the list of interesting ingredients used in their dishes, including truffle, aburi mentai, squid ink, carbonara and even nacho cheese!

What I tried at Bei-Ing Dimsum Club

I started my meal at Bei-Ing Dimsum Club with the dish that enticed me the most: The Truffle Xiao Long Bao (S$4.50), which donned an eye-catching black appearance.

The xiao long bao skin was a little too thick for my liking, but I enjoyed the meatiness of the pork fillings. The truffle taste wasn’t very strong, unfortunately. I would have preferred for there to be more soup within the xiao long bao.

The Nacho Cheese Shrimp Cone (S$4.50) was a fascinating dish. I had never seen nacho cheese on a dim sum menu before! The dish was served with 3 pieces of fried shrimp drizzled with nacho cheese.

The Nacho Cheese Shrimp Cone was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The nacho cheese gave the dish a salty taste, and while it wasn’t extremely outstanding, I found it to be quite tasty. However, the shrimp cones were a little too skinny in relation to the price.

Next up was Bei-Ing Dimsum Club’s Aburi-Mentai Siu Mai (S$4.50), which came with three pieces of siu mai topped with torched mentaiko mayonnaise.

The mentaiko mayonnaise was savoury, though I felt that the mentaiko aspect could have been stronger. The siu mai itself was satisfying and I liked how it was generously filled with meat. The skin of the siu mai wasn’t too thick either, allowing the fillings to shine through.

I would have liked if the mentaiko was also incorporated into the fillings themselves.

My favourite dish was undoubtably the Sesame Mango Prawn Fritter (S$4.50). Each golden brown fritter encased juicy shrimps and mango pieces.

The textures of the Sesame Mango Prawn Fritter were sublime as the crispy fritter and soft fillings complemented each other perfectly. The mild sweetness of the shrimp was further enhanced by the fleshy, fruity mango.

I couldn’t get enough of the Sesame Mango Prawn Fritter and I’d definitely get this again!

Another great dish was the Steamed Chicken Yam Wrap (S$4.50). Each wrap encased juicy chicken chunks, a crunchy carrot stick and a block of yam.

The Steamed Chicken Yam Wrap was a nice break from all the fried dishes. The earthy flavours of the yam and the savouriness of the chicken was comforting and delicious.

If you like the fried red bean pancakes from Chinese restaurants, you’ll definitely love the Crispy Red Bean Banana Roll (S$4.50).

The deep-fried morsels were crispy yet gooey, and I enjoyed how it wasn’t too sweet, despite containing both red bean and banana. The red bean element overpowered the banana a little, but the rolls were still satisfying and delicious.

A classic dish for salted egg lovers is the Custard-Lava Sesame Ball (S$4.50). Each glutinous rice ball was studded with black sesame seeds and filled with molten salted egg.

Bei-Ing Dimsum Club had a pretty solid take on the popular dish. The salted egg was slightly grainy and had an umami flavour, while the ball itself was chewy and nutty.

I couldn’t resist getting the Chicken Money Bags (S$3.50), which were filled with minced chicken meat. Taste-wise, it reminded me of the siu mai that I had earlier, as the fillings were almost identical. I enjoyed the crispiness of the skin, though I did find the price to be a little steep for the small sizes of the Chicken Money Bags.

The dish with the best presentation was undoubtably the Teriyaki Squid Ink Ball (S$3.50). The 3 squid ink balls were served atop a literal piece of wood!

While the Teriyaki Squid Ink Balls had the slight sweetness of teriyaki, it tasted almost like a regular meatball, but with a softer texture. However, I loved the crispy beancurd skins that were served with the balls, as they were crunchy and fun to eat.

I wasn’t a big fan of the Spicy & Sour La Mian (S$3.50). It was too oily and the sourness of the sauce overpowered any other flavour that the la mian had.

Moving on to the paus, I was interested in the Cheesy Chicken Pizza Pau (S$1.80), which combined Western and Chinese cultures. The fillings tasted very much like pizza, though the amount of fillings was a little disappointing. The small size of the bun was also not worth the price.

The Cocoa Chocolate Lava Pau (S$1.80) was a little more exciting, and I could even opt to get it either steamed or deep-fried! I decided to have it deep-fried, and loved how flowy the fillings were. The cocoa taste wasn’t very rich and tasted a little cheap, but I liked the generosity of the chocolate.

Final thoughts

The dishes at Bei-Ing Dimsum Club were hits and misses, but for the price, I thought that it was worth the experience. If I were around East Coast Road, I would certainly return to get their Sesame Mango Prawn Fritter, Crispy Red Bean Banana Roll and Steamed Chicken Yam Wrap again.

I applaud Bei-Ing Dimsum Club for their creativity and innovation in creating such unique dishes and would love to try the other items that I missed during my visit!

Expected damage: S$2.90 – S$10 per pax

Lai Heng Fried Kuay Teow & Cooked Food: Generous char kway teow portions that lack wok hei