Scenes from Xi Yan

This was another dinner that was a long time in coming. If I remembered correctly, several prior arrangements had been made and things never took off because of various personal commitments by the attendees with various excuses for not being able to honor a simple dinner appointment at the last moments. This time round, some of us have actually made it. For the record, all the anticipation of this dinner probably set expectations higher. For $105, I had certainly expected better.

Xi Yan is a private dining room (it actually looks like an art gallery) that hails from Hong Kong. The place is located along 38A Craig Road. How this place works is that one turns up for their appointment with them and you eat what they have on menu for that day. There is no a la carte order from the menu and this featured dinner was a 12 course contemporary Chinese dinner which comes with a vocalized introduction of how each dish is painstakingly created upon service. Right. I mean, right on to the pictures....

greenhouse tomatoes in sesame sauce - these tomatoes were purported to be organic and grown in greenhouses. The texture of the tomatoes were noticeably different from regular ones and were actually more like persimmons rather than tomatoes. The sauce was a sesame vinaigrette taste a lot like the bottled types. Still, this turned out to be an appetising starter.

cold tofu pork floss - this chilled tofu was the second starter. The server made mention of the tofu being freshly made instead of using those that are factory made. Apart from the soy sauce which made it appetising, there was actually nothing special we could discerned about the tofu.

shrimp and crab paste on baguette toast - as mentioned by the server, the paste of shrimp and crab tasted like 'hay bee' or dried chilli shrimp. This was totally uninteresting and in fact, tasted cheap.

Sichuan pickles in spicy sauce - apart from tasting cheap, this was probably really cheap. Strip sliced gherkins and radishes that were marinated in some spicy Sichuan sauce. The effect was a combination of spiciness and sourness with a heavy hint of herbs. It didn't taste good to me.

deep fried prawns with salted egg yolk - the saving grace of the prawns was actually the sauce which was made with salted egg yolk. Mouth watering stuff. The prawns themselves weren't the fresh crunchy type I had expected. Didn't think I was asking for too much to expect that. The result was a disappointment. Did I mention that they weren't well cleaned as well?

stewed beef shin in tangerine peel - I couldn't taste any tangerine peel in this, but the sauce that was used to stew the beef was full of tangerine flavor. This stewed beef was pretty tasty.

fried lemongrass shrimp paste grouper - I couldn't find anything very special about prawn paste fish. What I really enjoyed was the very tangy citrus pomelo salad filled with chopped water chestnut. It made a  good compliment to the fried grouper.

basil sorbet intermezzo -basil sorbet with chopped fruits. Did it's job There is nothing more to say about the palate cleanser.

furong chicken soup - a chicken soup which was less flavorful than I was expecting. Another dish that fell off the mark. I'm sure I've had better soup elsewhere.

young and old happy news - for dou miao stir fried with preserved vegetables, this dish certainly had a cryptic name that got everyone on the table intrigued. The reason for the name on the other hand, was crappy. This was a very normal dish of fried dou miao, and I'm sure is rather inexpensive and easy to whip up. Thumbs down for a $105 dinner.

tofu ice cream on pandan glutinous rice - with the general impression of the food items here being mediocre, I had low expectations for the dessert. The pleasant surprise here was that this was actually very good. The fragrant pandan glutinous rice was coupled nicely with coconut milk and the cold ice cream. Tasted very Asian and was good enough that I wished there was more. Someone out there should mimic this. It probably will sell.

The general consensus for the dinner is that it was expensive for what was had. Xi Yan is probably good for an experience, not so much of that culinary adventure that one might expect from the place. Execution fell a little short and I think there was poor quality control over of some of the ingredients used. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it beyond a first.

Simply the best from Lawry's

Lawry's is currently having a promotion which they dub 'Simply the Best'. Each day of the weekday has a different promotional offer. But I'll clue you in straight on what's actually good. Go for the Wednesday early bird special where you get 50% off the bill. The promotion's good til the end of April as I was told by their staff. It's half price off menu items and it's the only time you can get a solid slab of 450g prime rib for less than 50 bucks.

More lunch at Garibaldi

Garibaldi has of recent months(?) upped their cost for lunch. It used to be $29++ and now it's $32++. I'm not sure about a $3 increment in experience though. The deal for the lunch is still the same as before, 3 courses plus coffee or tea. This lunch was done with a reader whom has responded to and old post from last year. It's dated, but what the heck. It's usually interesting to meet new people and perspective. Especially people who enjoy a good meal.

I wasn't expecting any noticeable changes in the food quality as it wasn't that long back since I last ate here. I will try to remember to come back for dinner instead. It'll be more interesting than lunch and you'll get to see something else other than pasta (which is btw, always an excellent al dente in hot sauce). ;)

crostini di polenta con funghi e fonduta de taleggio
penne alla carbonara I

penne alla carbonara II

penne alla carbonara III

chocolate and a forgotten flavour

Some photos from Morton's

This was a belated dinner treat that was a long time in coming. :) Morton's of Chicago has so far not disappointed. From the warm bustling ambience to the perceptive spontaneity in service, the restaurant made visible effort to justify what one pays for eating here. Sure the prices are hefty but it would also be otherwise difficult to find a place that does better steak and service together.

This was the first time I am having their crab cakes. I have to say that they were $35 good. The same went for the excellent lobster bisque which I admit to being slightly skeptical towards initially. It was a rich, hot and creamy lobster soup with a hint of brandy just on the edge and in my books, it could be the best one around.

the evil onion loaf

jumbo lump crab cake

lobster bisque

boneless prime rib

bone in ribeye

grilled asparagus in balsamic glaze

chocolate cake

to be continued...maybe....perhaps.....someday....possibly

Highlander Bar, Clark Quay

Decided to check out this place after seeing it mentioned in a blog. Highlander Bar ( #01-11, The Foundry) is located near the central junction of Clark Quay just beside Pump Room. This could be the first and probably for a long time, the only Scottish themed place. There aren't any others around that I know of. The "al fresco" seats at the bar/restaurant made use of pretty eye catching cross section tree trunk table tops which while was interesting to examine, didn't really function that effectively as a table.

Highlander serves Scottish ales/larger from the tab and a small selection of other bottled beers. Not forgetting also, a selection of whiskeys which can be had pretty steep looking prices. A bottle of Baileys here costs $210. We opted for an all entree dinner which featured some outlandish/highlandish sounding items.


haggis - This stuff was surprisingly addictive. Haggis is suppose to be a traditional Scottish dish that is made up of minced innards of sheep mixed with onion, oatmeal, spices, salt and stock. The result is a pudding that has a texture akin to minced meat and tastes a lot like pate and oats. Came with a cream based sauce and a scoop each of mashed carrots (although it says turnips on the menu) and potatoes. This was probably the most interesting item in the starters section of the menu. Definitely worth a try. The ingredients were probably not too far off from what sausages are made of anyways.


grampian stovies - which was essentially pan fried herbed beef with potato and onion cake. It was quite bland with mashed potatoes (real mashed potatoes) being the most recognisable ingredient along with tiny bits of beef. That was pretty much all there was.


scotch eggs - I've never tried scotch egg before. For $10 you get 2 hard boiled eggs encased in minced beef, breaded and deep fried. Chris thinks that this would make an excellent all in one option for breakfast. The carbs, meat and egg, all in one package. I don't disagree and as a hot snack was great with beer.


tattie scones - the menu describe these as potato patties. They tasted like fried tapioca cakes, albeit one that was not sweet. Another unremarkable dish which is saved solely by the cheese dip on the side.


smoked kipper toasties - this was nice. Fragrant and crispy cheese toasted with some fish. I couldn't get any texture of fish meat in there, but the flavours were definitely present. Salty and went well with drinks.

A random ayam penyet from Chong Pang

This chicken didn't look smashed to me. I was thinking splintered bones but apparently, all the smashing did was to break the meat (tenderised?!) and made them easily removable from the bones.

Aside from being "smashed", the ayam penyet tasted like the regular fried chicken from Muslim chicken rice stores. The only difference was the sambal spruced flavours by quite a bit. That sambal was not bad. This stall in Swee Sian Yuen Eating House located at Chong Pang central claimed to be a branch of the original that hails from Changi Village where the ayam penyet rose to fame as a dish. I wonder how it stacks here versus the original. For Malay fried chicken rice, this was decent stuff.