Xi Yan

Xi Yan Restaurant Review:

Not everything translates between Hong Kong and Singapore, but this private dining restaurant of the former with a cult-like following made the leap from one island to another without losing its charms. Find your way to the second floor of a traditional shop house in the Tanjong Pagar district, otherwise known as Chinatown. The cozy eatery splashed in bright red tones offers only six tables, so entry is strictly by reservation. Weekly changing prix-fixe menus are served exclusively: six courses at lunch and 12 courses at dinner. The Chinese fare is not haute cuisine but home-style prepared with modern flair. A signature starter, the greenhouse tomatoes doused in a mild, sweet and tart wasabi sesame sauce, look fresh off a Chinese scroll painting in their artful presentation. When you bite in, the tomatoes come alive with ripe, juicy and slightly acidic flavor balanced by the sweet wasabi. Chicken dishes excel, whether it’s the aromatic oolong tea-smoked chicken seasoned with the lightest shake of salt and served with a sweet-and-sour mango salsa, or the piquant, spicy Szechuan chicken with chili, Szechuan peppercorn, ginger, garlic and shallots. Xi Yan has a limited collection of 30 labels of wines, a good mix of old-world (French and Italian) and new-world (Australian, New Zealand and Chilean). Palm sugar ice cream on pandan glutinous rice is our favorite sweet flavor by far.