feizhu's Reviews
1=SGD 0.058735 Yebbers Online!
Double Yebber Dollar Category for April:
Arts & Entertainment
Click here for future month
WELCOME TO YEBBER
You can use your Facebook Account to register in Yebber and start reviewing your favourite or least favourite businesses
Please click the login button below and proceed to create a new Yebber ID at the next step.
Nestled amongst the old shop houses along Craig Road, Xi Yan, as mentioned earlier, is by reservations only and you need a minimum of 6 pax to dine there (exceptions can be made if you do not meet the required number of people, but you need to order the pricier menu. Rule of thumb is - You need to spend about $500-$600/table). The entrance to Xi Yan is discreet, without even a hint of its presence (That explains the difficulty we had in trying to locate it). Here's a clue though. It shares the premises with Sui Japanese Restaurant.
The interior is cosy and modernly furnished with hues of red and brown. Abstract paintings don the sides and ambient lighting is practised. Simplicity at its finesse .
Greenhouse Tomatoes in Sesame Sauce - As the name suggests, the tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse aka organic tomatoes and are much bigger than your average tomato. Not to mention that they cost ridiculously more as well. According to the waiter, these organic tomatoes are juicier and taste better. I am inclined to agree. The tomatoes were juicy and full of bite. With the wasabi infused sesame sauce, the tomato was refreshing and truly an appetizer.
Cold Tofu Pork Floss - Interesting dish with the tofu topped with pork floss, salted egg yolk, dried shrimps and deep fried shallot.A nice combination with the saltiness of the dried shrimp complementing the sweetness of the pork floss with the shallot to give it fragrance. However, the tofu which was supposedly imported from Japan, lacked the silky smoothness which good tofu should have.
Shrimp and Crab Paste on Baguette Toast - A fanciful presentation and preparation method, but tasted nothing out of this world. It is Hong Kong's version of our Heh Bi Hiam. I did find it weird eating bread during a Chinese dinner, but maybe thats just me.
Sichuan Pickles in Spicy Sauce - This dish came with pickles (or jerkins if thats what you know them by) and radish soaked in a spicy concoction of Sichuan peppercorn and a wee bit of sugar. I took a bite of the radish and sweared off it as it was way too sour for my liking. If you like sour and spicy stuff, then this might suit your tastebuds.
Deep Fried Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk - A few grievances about this dish. First of all, the prawns were only averaged sized. For the price we were paying, I had expected huge prawns. Second, the prawns weren't cleaned properly. The innards(or shit if you prefer) could still be seen. The good thing was, the salted egg yolk coating on the prawn shells tasted better with every mouth. It did come across as a little too mild at first though, but the more you suck at the shell, the better the taste.
Stewed Beef Shin with Tangerine Peel - The beef shin was quite good, soft and tender from simmering in the pot for 2 hrs. I could detect a tinge of sweetness as well, probably from the tangerine peel. However, the raw beef taste can be quite overwhelming at times and thats coming from someone who likes steak medium rare.
Sichuan Salivating Chicken - Please do not be mislead by the odd sounding name of this dish. The chicken does not salivate. The sauce is supposed to be so good that it makes the consumer salivate. Quite an audacious claim I must say. Ingredients in this dish are quite interesting actually, with chicken slices, yam noodles, roasted peanuts, chilli, coriander and century egg. I personally found everything normal except for the yam noodles which were surprisingly chewy and full of bite. I've never tried anything like it. Just for the record, this dish did make me salivate, but not from the goodness of the sauce, but from the chilli in it. An underhand method? You decide.
Fried Lemongrass Shrimp Paste Grouper - According to our waiter, many other restaurants would actually steam a good fish in order to exhibit its freshness. But not Xi Yan. What they have done is to deep fry the fish first till its 70% cooked and then coat it with the lemongrass shrimp paste and then deep fry again. The result? A crispy exterior with a soft and moist interior. I laud the skill in the preparation of this dish, but denigrate the quality of the fish. The flesh came across as rather bland, not sweet as I would have expected it to be.
Furong Chicken Soup - This soup was supposedly boiled for 4 hrs before serving. Though relatively long, it still doesn't qualify as double boiled soup and it certainly can't match the other superior soups that I've tried. But still very decent without a doubt.
Young and Old Happy News - Interesting name, uninteresting dish. The young referred to the Dou Miao while the old referred to the preserved vegetables. Lightly fried and beautifully presented, but nothing outstanding.
Tofu Ice Cream on Pandan Glutinous Rice - This was probably the best dish of the day. The ice cream was quite well done but in no way reminded me of tofu. The base of pandan glutinous rice was not too sticky and just right on the texture, tasting pleasantly of pandan. Does this remind you of the Thai style mango atop glutinous rice?
The 6 of us chalked up a hefty bill of $630, which we felt was grossly expensive given the quality of food and ingredients used. Sure its an exclusive novelty, but novelties can only last so long. Service was excellent though and the cooking process of every dish was explained to us by our waiter in great detail. However, that alone is not enough to entice us to return. Not unless the price drops to about $50-$60 per pax down from the $88 .
See all my pictures here
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!The fried grouper looks kinda scarey to be eaten leh. haha.
24 Sep 2007 at 10:59 am
The Wok Fried Fresh Scallop Cubes with Tropical Mango in Fresh Milk and Egg Topped with Crab Roe served on a bed of Vermicelli tasted uncannily like the excellent Shredded Scallop with Fish & Egg White from Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant, except that it was smoother and richer in taste due to the fresh milk. However, the scallop cubes were rather bland and didn't add any life to the dish. Not that this dish wasn't good though. In fact I like it enough to want to order it again when I return.
The Poached Live Prawns came deshelled, with the exception of the head. The prawns were bigger than your usual ones and were extremely fresh, crunchy and juicy. Add that to the fact that they were perfectly cooked and drenched in a garlic concoction which served to complement the natural sweetness of the prawns. Definitely a winner! But at $90/kg, you might want to think long and hard before placing your order.
The Homemade Seaweed Beancurd Topped with Shredded Abalone, Dried Seafood and Vegetables didn't quite meet expectations. The tofu, though soft, was flat in taste and lacked the natural wholesome goodness of the one I had at Li Bai. The vegetables were cooked in a way that I personally dislike - soft with thick gravy.
The Crispy Boneless Chicken Stir Fried with Fresh Strawberry in Honey and Lemon Sauce was a bummer. I thought this dish would be interesting with the use of fruits to enhance the taste of the chicken, but oh boy, was I wrong. The chicken tasted exactly like Sweet and Sour Pork, albeit of a softer texture. The sweetness from the honey didn't exactly go well with the chicken. It tasted a little too strong and the strawberries didn't really make much of an impact on the dish. But having said that, its still an above average dish.
With a name like Chilled Coconut with Sea Coconut, I had expected fresh chilled Coconut meat served with Sea Coconut, but that was not to be. It is actually a layer of Coconut jelly and a few slices of Sea Coconut served in a small Coconut husk on a bed of ice. This is one dish that would score high marks for presentation. I guess you can tell why just from looking at the picture. And it was rather pleasing to boot. The coconut jelly had a strong coconut taste and coupled with the thick and sweet syrup, it was a pleasure to consume. The Sea Coconut tasted rather normal though.
See all my pictures here
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Parking is a breeze because you can literally park anywhere you want along the slope that leads up to the restaurant. It all depends on how much you are willing to walk. As I stepped into the restaurant compound, everything seemed so surreal. The building and its surroundings seemed to have come out straight from some ancient martial arts flick that I used to watch. The interior of the restaurant brought me back to reality though. Sparsely furnished, this is one place that believes in spacing out its tables for the comfort of its guests and I appreciate it.
The Peking duck was both good and bad. The skin was crackling crispy and had minimal fats under it. This is probably the crispiest Peking duck skin that I've ever eaten. Such a delightful skin was only let down by the rather lacklustre skin which was thin but tasteless. The meat on the other hand, was a total letdown. A tad dry and not as tender as I had expected. There was also a discernible, albeit faint, fowl taste.
For the price ($25) , the shark's fin and fish maw soup was good. First looks, it actually reminded me of curry because of the yellowish soup base. The soup was rather intense in flavour and came across as thick and starchy while the fins and fish maw were aplenty and pretty decent. According to the waitress, the soup base is boiled for 42 hours using old chicken, old duck (literal translation) and some other stuff that are supposed to be beneficial to the body.
The Fried Golden Butter Prawns came looking rather messy and not the least bit like prawns, more like chunks of fried stuff. The batter was lightly salted and crispy with a lingering buttery aftertaste while the prawns were fresh but none too succulent. I did find this dish a little disappointing because the butter batter came across as bland, unlike the egg yolk variations I've eaten before which were decidedly more savoury. But then again, its quite decent.
Pan Grilled Miso Marinated Beef Tenderloin - Honestly, I didn't think too much of this dish. It looked like it had been drenched in oil and the black pepper taste was overwhelming, so much so that I couldn't really make out if it was beef or pork. The doneness of the beef didn't help either.
Desserts weren't fantastic but decent nevertheless. The crust of the Red Bean Paste Pancake was a little too thick for my liking and the red bean filling seemed a little runny and low on the sugar content. The Yam Paste in Coconut fared better. It's actually Orh Nee served in a coconut. The yam was very smooth, not too coagulated and mildy sweet. Only bone I had was that too much coconut milk was added and it didn't gel very well with the yam paste. The Black Glutinous Rice with Ice Cream derived its sweetness from the scoop of vanilla ice cream in its midst but was average tasting.
I'll be lying if I said that I could walk up straight after such a hearty meal because I simply couldn't, try as hard as I might. And it didn't exactly cost me a bomb either. Standing just shy of $120 for 2 pax, it's certainly not cheap but definitely a notch or two down the price scale relative to restaurants that serve up a similar quality of food.
See all my pictures here
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Getting there can be quite a hassle as the route to the restaurant is quite complicated unless you drive and park at the complimentary valet carpark. But even then, you will have to make your way up a flight of stairs just to get there. But its all worth it. The old bungalow is beautifully restored with modern finishes yet retaining its rustic charm. Ambient lighting is practised and the windows overlook Fort Canning's lovely foliage. There is an option of sitting indoors in the cosy air conditioned area or outdoors at the veranda, with the latter being ideal for cool evenings.
The complimentary sourdough bread was quite good - served warm with the crust lightly crackling and the interior soft and fluffy. Definitely a welcome dish to temporarily stem our hunger pangs. Just don't get carried away and stuff yourself with it or else you are not going to be able to enjoy your other food (aka the ones that cost money).
Carpaccio of Hokkaido Scallops - The only thing that I found interesting about this dish was the breadstick which was served alongside. It was extremely brittle and came coated with a layer of seaweed, giving it a nice salty taste. The thinly sliced scallops, which were supposed to be the main draw, were a little too soft and tasteless for me. Not that my other friends disagreed also.
Double Baked Alaskan King Crab Soufflé - "Where's the king crab?" was my initial reaction to this dish. Clearly that was top of my list when I ordered this dish. After a few prods and scoops, the elusive king crab was still nowhere to be found. Not that this dish tasted bad anyway (It was cheesy with a slight hint of crab). In fact, it was so good that I had the urge to order another serving, but at $25 a pop, it was a no brainer really.
My main course, the Braised Kurobuta Pork Belly. Just to reiterate that Kurobuta Pork is akin to Kobe beef in the pork hierarchy, therefore making it highly prized and expensive. The Kurobuta pork belly was nothing short of excellent, with the fats literally melt in your mouth tender and the meat fibrous yet retaining a certain firmness. Did I mention anything about the skin being crackling crispy as well? The accompanying Sauteed Portobello mushrooms were juicy and soaked up the wonderful Star Aniseed Jus, making for a wonderful and flavourful side. Please be warned that this dish is definitely not for the health conscious.
The warm Pur - Caraibe Chocolate Fondant was slightly different from the usual renditions offered by other places. There was no molten chocolate in the centre to ooze out when I broke open the shell. Instead, molten chocolate was generously poured over the entire cake and allowed to cool, resulting in a gleaming black chocolate coated cake. Taste wise, I couldn't have asked for more. The cake was moist and spongy and I could detect teeny weeny pockets of chocolate within the cake that would burst forth as I bit into it.
The Fresh Peach and Vanilla Creme Brulee kinda lowered the standards a little. Granted that the pudding was smooth and not too sweet, but the layer of charred sugar atop was way too thick. Thick enough to get stuck in your teeth and irritate the hell out of you with every bite. The accompanying Chempedak and Mint ice cream was good though, mildly sweet with a tinge of the familiar chempedak flavour. Best of all, the ice cream is placed atop a base of slightly burnt Gula Melaka and coconut shavings which only serve to enhance the taste.
Excellent food, excellent ambience, excellent company. I'm a happy man (Not so happy after I got the bill amounting to almost $520 for 7 pax). I personally feel that the price isn't too steep for the quality of food you get here and especially the fantastic ambience. Service is great to boot. On a side note, thanks to all who turned up for the dinner!
See all my photos here
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!$520 for 7 which works out to be $70-$80 per person. If the food, ambience, service is excellent... I dun see why not. thanks for the recommendation!
23 Sep 2007 at 7:17 pm
Try the Kangeroo Loins and let me know how they taste like if you happen to go :P
24 Sep 2007 at 12:12 am
Located at the courtyard of Raffles Hotel just behind Seah Street Deli, Raffles Creamery is the latest "culinary" offering from the grand old dame. A brightly lighted counter adorned with glass jars filled with various condiments greet you in the middle of the courtyard in accompaniment to 2 smiling waitresses who seem to get really flustered with the sudden influx of customers.
I had the Rocky Road ice cream with toppings of Banana Jelly and Oreos. To my surprise, they didn't offer to mix it up for me nor did they ask me if I wanted it mixed up. It was simply take a scoop of ice cream, put some banana jelly and oreos by the side and there you go. Honestly, I was shocked. So much for offering a mix in option. That aside, the ice cream was really creamy and smooth but thats not exactly a compliment as the taste of milk was quite overbearing. And the so called "imported from Germany" banana jelly tasted like chewy candy with a banana taste. Now how special is that?
I paid almost $6 for a scoop of ice cream with 2 seperate condiments. It isn't expensive but without the novelty factor, I could have gotten better ice cream from Ben & Jerry's for the same price. Last I checked, no revisits are in my schedule.
See my pictures here
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Hmm... maybe they forgot that they were supposed to mix it? It looks quite sad for a $6 ice-cream to me. :(
20 Sep 2007 at 11:36 pm
It is sad. And how can they forget to mix it for me when thats their selling point?
21 Sep 2007 at 4:56 pm