Tian Xi by Red Duck

who doesn't love dimsum? especially when it's accompanied by a pot of hot tea.. hmmmm.. definitely a good way to spoil yourself, soothe your feeling and refresh your mind.. it's unsurprising when I found out that dimsum literally means 'to touch your heart' :)

talking about dimsum will bring us to its elder tradition called drinking tea (yum cha - 飲茶) in Chinese history.. the tradition of drinking tea started in the Silk Road, the main trade routes which linked Asian continent with the Mediterranean world.. people travelling through the Silk Road created a demand for a place to rest..  farmers near the area also needed a place for a relaxing cup of tea.. 

at the beginning, people would only drink tea, since combining tea and food was believed to bring excessive weight gain.. it was known later that tea was good for human digestion, that owners of the tea houses started to include snacks in their menu as a company to the tea.. there was a tradition for elderly people to gather and eat dimsum after their morning exercises.. that's why dimsum is usually served only from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.. nowadays, however, a lot of restaurants served dimsum for the whole day.. 

I spotted Tian Xi in the corner of Senayan City where dimsum is served all day with a very reasonable price of Rp55,000++ per pax for an all-you-can-eat dimsum (valid only on weekends and holidays).. it's one interesting offer I just can't miss.. though eating dimsum was not recommended for a date -it was another tradition that dimsum is supposed to be shared with family, so restaurants serving dimsum were labelled to be full of large group of people talking in each table-, I had my dimsum lunch as a date with bf.. I gotta warn you that below picture captured what was eaten by two hungry individuals in the middle of the day.. please, please forgive our greediness.. *we managed to finish the whole food, though*

black pepper phoenix talons, steamed beef ribs, chicken and fish belly wrapped in bean curd skin, pocai and seafood dumpling, lo mai gai, xiao long bao, steamed meat balls, crystal wonton, fried shrimp dumpling with mayonnaise, fried shrimp in taro, bean curd spring roll, Shanghai guo tie, fried seafood spring roll, tan tart, steamed asparagus dumpling, siew may, hakau

it was one overwhelming lunch we had.. let me just highlights those items that I truly love and other items I don't like.. other non-highlighted items were considered standard issues..


on top of my favorite list would be the chicken and fish belly wrapped in bean curd skin.. I have never tried this menu before anywhere else.. it was steamed bean curd skin filled with chicken and fish belly and served with this sweet sauce.. I LOVE IT.. it was really good.. the second item would be Shanghai guo tie, a crunchy thin dumpling skin filled with meat and cabbage, served with black vinegar.. then I also love the steamed meat balls, a ball of shrimp on top of steamed tofu served with sweet gravy.. one bite of this dish and I'm addicted to it.. it was delicious, the shrimp and tofu went well with the sweet gravy.. the lo mai gai was quite good, it was filled with chicken and salted egg, which I like.. xiao long bao was not my favorite, though.. bf's favorite was  the steamed beef ribs.. it was not a common dimsum, either.. well, he found that the ribs was juicy and well-seasoned that he ordered another plate of it haha.. 


on top of my dislike list would be the seafood spring roll.. it was described as seafood salad wrapped in spring roll skin and almonds.. however, I found this dish was not a good choice... the seafood salad, spring roll skin and almonds were not a good combination.. the taste was like, separated between those three.. the almonds were just too much.. next, I also didn't fancy the pocai and seafood dumpling.. it tasted sour, which confused me.. I can't think any dimsum that tasted sour before.. the dumpling skin was too thick and the fillings didn't help, either.. xiao long bao should be filled with soup, so when you bite a bit of the skin, the soup would pour out.. Tian Xi's xiao long bao was dry, which was really disappointing..

overall, I had quite good times here.. a few dishes I don't like, but there's more dishes that I like.. it was about the choices you make when you're eating in an all-you-can-eat restaurant.. I made few bad choices, but more good choices.. 


Tian Xi
Senayan City
Lower Ground Floor 06-08
Jl. Asia Afrika Lot 19, Jakarta
Ph.: (62) 21 72781532