Yan Ting

My 1st meal at St Regis with 8 other foodies :D A good start to the evening was realizing that they had given us a semi-private corner with a large table and cushy Cheena seats. Located on level 1U, the entrance I find is a little too hidden, so much so you'd probably not notice it unless you've been there before.

The place was surprisingly empty for a Friday evening, but then it means we have the attention of the wait staff and not too many clink-clangs of china ware distracting us from the food and conversation.

10 dishes for 9 people was a feat I've not experienced before, but well, that's probably just sufficient to satisfy 9 foodies. The dishes were served really fast, leaving us no time for a breather between taking photos and eating, so I'd try to remember what all of them tastes like. Here goes:

Peking Duck ($60) - What we call 'instant duck' as it appeared like 10 mins after we placed our order. At least they carved it in front of us. The bun that came with it tasted a little dough-y but I believed they make it in-house, which I rather have instead of those standard buns I usually see. For me personally, the sauce was too little but other than that it was quite good.

2nd Serving of the duck meat ($27) - we can have it either fried with rice, noodle, or minced served in lettuce. We chose the last option, which came nicely flavoured in crispy lettuce. Nothing to complain about.

San Bei (3 cups) Chicken ($20) - I like claypot anything, so this was a winner for me. Came with a few leaves of basil and very aromatic pieces of tender chicken :D

Shi Chuan (loosely translated as "long lost") Chicken ($28) - Sorely disappointed at how normal this tasted despite the name, which hinted of a long lost recipe which should have been spectacular, no? Just another baked chicken for me.

Dou Bei ($26) - supposedly a better breed of dou miao, but erm honestly tasted like normal dou miao.

Mango Prawns ($36) - Deep fried prawns encasing the meat and mango strips. While the dish was quite nice, I couldn't quite get used to the combination. Plus the mango was sour.

Scallops with shrimp mousse ($32) - We were all wondering what's shrimp mousse when we saw the menu. Turned out to be something like prawn paste on top of pan fried scallops. I quite liked it, but tasted like fishcake according to LIC haha~

Cereal Cod Fillet ($28) - One of the better dish. A different take on your cereal prawns. Very nicely deep fried chunks of very fresh fish coated with cereal. Hmmm~~

Garlic pork ribs ($28) - I don't usually take pork outside but this was quite good too. Simple, tender pieces of pork deep fried with fried garlic.

French Beans ($20) - A common dish but very easy to flop at it too. Luckily they did well, with crunchy beans and very savoury minced meat . Not too oily too, which is a big plus for me.

Herbal Jelly, Mango Pamelo, Almond Tea, Honey Dew Melon ($6 each) - These were what we ordered for desserts, and mine was almond tea. Too watery for my liking and the price. Avoid.

Char Siew Pastry ($3.60) - Came highly recommended and the chef had to make it especially for us because it is usually available during lunch time, haha. The pastry was very freshly-buttered, and nice lean filling. But a little too ex for me for 1 piece though.

Chinese Tea ($5 per pax) - normal Chinese Tea but I have to include this just so to inform that its priced per pax.

Service was very good, and I think it was one of the captains who served us throughout the evening. Courtesy of the 25% discount we got, it came up to $40 per person which I find very reasonable for the variety we got to try. Plus they have this cute way of displaying their individual sauces and cashew nuts for a snack.

But still am not sure if I'd return because it is quite expensive without the discount. But it was a good experience for me :D

Met up with a few friends for an ad hoc dim sum lunch on the weekends at the St Regis restaurant called Yan Ting. St Regis is billed as a six star hotel with both the hotel and the restaurant run under the Starwood hotel management company. The executive chef of Yan Ting however, is Mr Chan Siu Kong, a Hong Konger who left his post as a chef with the Tung Lok group to helm this 6 month old restaurant. Reviews of the food has been mixed at best for its dinner and lunch offerings so we were there to find out how its dim sum held up to scrutiny instead.

The screen shots above should give you a rough idea of exactly what kind of place this is. It is definitely posh with its million dollar chandeliers and stained glass window ornaments. Even the table settings have a undeniable style to eat with its gold themed cutlery and cups. The service begins the moment you reach the hotel and extends to the lift, which has a seat inside should you be so inclined, to the impeccable attitude of the manager and the serving staff in the restaurant. Six star is definitely not exaggerating when you talk about this hotel and to cut the story short, i enjoyed my visit the moment i set foot into the place. Alas, the place also comes with obvious six star pricing and the same goes for Yan Ting and the dim sum. Everything is priced at per piece rates or per person rates with nothing in between. So its important to come with a well versed idea of what is good or bad and thats what this blog can help you with.

Premium Chinese Tea ($5 per person), Amuse Bouche - The tea, of which i've forgotten what kind it is, is conveniently light and palatable for washing down the food which we will be having in a while. At $5 a person, its pretty much on the expensive side for a simple offering though. The amuse bouche is made of small fried shrimps and chicken floss which yields a sweet and tangy flavor while the cucumber neutralizes and tones down the taste for a balanced flavor.

Har Gao aka Shrimp Dumplings ($2 per piece) - The shrimp dumplings that came were bigger then usual with a generous amount of shrimp stuffed into each dumpling, i count about 2 to 3 shrimps can fit into the dumpling (mashed up of course). The skin is light and surprisingly thin which means you'll get the shrimp taste immediately without delay. The price is still a little over the top though.

Char Siew Sor ($1.60 per piece) - Drop everything you are doing now and go out to Yan Ting to buy the char siew pastries aka char siew sor. I'm not kidding. This has to be the best tasting char siew sor i've ever had the privilege to eat. Succulent and sweet char siew wrapped in a wonderful pastry with a light butter undertone. What you get is an extremely fragrant and wonderfully tasty treat not to be missed. One is never enough so this is a must try!

XO Fried Chee Cheong Fun ($4 a serving) - Everyone would have heard about XO carrot cakes but this is the first time i've had an XO chee cheong fun. To sum up the taste, it basically tastes like our homely Char Kway Teow albeit a little more fragrant and less oily. I also could not discern the taste of the XO sauce in any way. It was interesting but really could be better.

Siew Mai ($2 per piece) - The siew mai is bigger then usual and is basically a more stuffed version of this common snack. The meat is lean and the prawn is very fresh and tasty but still, it hardly justifies the price.

Char Siew Bao ($1.60 per piece) - The pork bun was rather pleasing to me. I liked the tasty BBQ pork which has predominantly lean meat. No fatty meat here and the way it was prepared was with a slightly sweet sauce which is delectable. The fluffy bun itself was light and easily likable. Still too expensive though.

Chives Dumpling and Beancurd Roulette ($2 and $1.80 per piece) - The chives dumpling was quite a let down really. The dumpling itself is pan fried and has a crunchy and soft exterior while the chives within was strangely lacking in taste. Now, chives is something you either love or hate with a passion, i love chives but when a chives dumpling comes without a strong chives taste, something has to be wrong somewhere. The Beancurd roulette was a rather oily experience but there's no denying that its crunchy and fragrant. The fillings were pretty decent as well, being sweet and strangely juicy (probably due to the oil).

Custard Bun ($1.60 per piece) - Its more or less a given that i would order the custard buns whenever they serve the little addictions, but Yan Ting's rendition left me wanting, not in a good way though. I like the softness and fluffiness of the bun but the fillings were rather ordinary and left little impression.

Egg Tarts ($1.60 per piece) - The egg tarts were really small when served and had one major flaw in them. The filling simply wasn't good. I found the tart tasteless and it wasn't even sweet enough while the only thing that was good was the pastry, which had the same buttery taste the superb char siew sor had.

Radish Cake ($1.60 per piece) - The radish cake was simple enough, pan fried till slightly crispy and served. It was rather normal with the usual trappings of being smooth, slightly oily and had a nice touch of having carrot slices within but otherwise, it was rather normal. The one saving grace here was the chili, which was excellent and should be used whenever a chance is given.

Xiao Long Bao ($4 per piece) - The Xiao long Bao was ridiculously expensive at $4 a piece but was a rather big portion when it was served. In average, it was about the size of half a char siew bao if you need to know the proportion. It also turned out to be one of the better items that day, make no mistake, it was filled with soup and pork meat. The skin itself was a thicker version so that it could contain the bigger amount of soup and the soup itself was excellent without having a strong pork taste to it. Overall, i'd say this is one of the better Xiao Long Bao's i've had so far. Still ridiculously expensive though.

Chicken Wrapped in Glutinous Rice ($1.80 per serving) - This is without a doubt one of the biggest let downs that day. Served last as it was a last minute order, the glutinous rice was lacklustre and lacked much taste. An egg yolk can be found in the centre with there are portions of mushroom and chicken wrapped into the rice but it was still strangely lacking in the taste department. Leave this out when you visit.

HoneyDew Melon ($6 per serving) - What i had was a simple and cleansing honeydew melon dessert which was refreshing, mildly sweet and tasty. In fact, i found it very tasty and recommend it as a dessert if you visit.

The final bill for this little dim sum affair came up to $204.60 for 5 people which works out to be about $42 per head. I'd say that it was reasonable but certain orders can definitely be left out.

I can't say i didn't enjoy myself in the place. The service is faultless and the ambiance has to be experienced to be believed. Its the closest i could get to feeling like a king in a posh environment and not feel out of place. The manager was also kind to introduce us to the different rooms and offerings which was very professional. Food wise, though there were still misses, the misses were still above average and the hits are definitely worth your while to try. I'd return if only for the char siew sor alone.