26 thesundaytimes January 6 2013

Perfect start for the new yearHua Ting’s Fresh Salmon “Lo Hei” Yu Sheng and Xi Yan’s Orange Peel Crispy Spare Ribs are among Gregory Leow’s top picks for the festive feast

Re-imagining the classicsXi Yan does things differently. If it’s been done before, the restaurant will not ven-ture down that route. An offshoot of Xi Yan Private Dining in Hong Kong, this modern Chinese cuisine eatery in Craig Road seeks to offer new experiences in dining, but not to the extent of alienating diners.

Every aspect of their 3 Treasures Prosper-ity Yu Sheng (from $98) is given a twist. A healthy chunk of thick sliced raw salmon, tuna and swordfish is used, and the heavy plum flavour is replaced by a kumquat and honey sauce mix. The preserved aspects of the dish like the jellyfish, papaya and melon strips are taken out and instead of shrimp crackers, light and crispy wonton skins are used. Together with a salad mix of lettuce, peppers and red cabbage — plus a little olive oil — the overall effect is a west-ern-style salad which is fresher and lighter tasting and perfect as an entrée to the meal.

Diners who are tired of the usual sweet and sour or coffee pork ribs in Chinese restaurants will appreciate the Orange

Peel Crispy Spare Ribs (from $48). Every bite is filled with the flavour of preserved tangerine peel and special note is the light sweet potato batter, which gives the dish a light crispness.

The restaurant’s reinterpretation of the Cantonese roast duck, the Lychee Roast Duck ($68 for whole duck), is a winner. A robust marinade of lychee puree and Indonesian kecap manis (sweet sauce) is used and the duck undergoes a two-stage cooking process resulting in meat which is very tender and juicy, yet the skin still retains its smoky exterior.

Xi Yan is located at 8 Sentosa Gateway, Singapore 098269. Call 6220-3546 for reservations. From Jan 1 till Dec 31, 2013, Citibank Cardmembers get 10% off Chef’s lunch and dinner menu.

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WITH Chinese New Year round the cor-ner, restaurants have announced their lo hei platter and special menu pricings. There are many that offer traditional menus with tried and tested celebration dishes, but seasoned restaurants know that it takes more than just good food to excite the foodies.

Two such restaurants are Hua Ting, which has been dishing out top-notch Cantonese cuisine since 1991, and eight-year-old private dining restaurant Xi Yan, which focuses on modern Chinese cui-sine. Both have gone beyond classic dish-es to offer new takes on Chinese cuisine.

But they do not follow the same crea-tive path, choosing different philoso-phies when it comes to innovation. Hua Ting offers traditional food with slight touches of innovation. Xi Yan pushes in-novation to the limit while still resting on a bed of tradition.

Tradition with subtle twistsMasterchef Chan Kwok’s deft command of classic Cantonese dishes is one of the reasons why Hua Ting has remained a favourite among Cantonese cuisine lov-ers. Changing menus and slight updates even to classic dishes ensure that you never get bored.

ful stock made with Chinese ham, chick-en and pork that adds a wonderful ro-bustness and brings the dish to life. The addition of the restaurant’s famous roast duck — placed on top so that the stock does not ruin the crispy skin — is the cherry on top of a very luxurious dish.

The restaurant’s lesser-known pros-perity dishes like the Stewed Pig’s Trotter ($32) with fa cai (black moss) and cab-bage are also worth trying.

The skin is supremely soft and the meat fall-off-the-bone tender. The rich-ness of the meat is tempered by a delicate stock sauce so that the dish is not too heavy on the palate.

Hua Ting is located at 442 Orchard Road, Singapore 238879. Call 6739-6666 for reservations. From Jan 7 till Feb 24, 2013, Citibank Cardmembers enjoy up to 18% off festive goodies and ala carte orders, and exclusive complimentary bottle of wine with every Chinese New Year set menu at $888.

The restaurant offers what looks like traditional lo hei with their ever-popular Fresh Salmon ‘Lo Hei’ Yu Sheng (from $58), but there are added ingredients which one would not expect. Thin slices of deep-fried yam — not normally found in yu sheng — are added for a crunchy, floury texture. The sweetness of the plum sauce is reined in, as is the oil, resulting in a dish that is less heavy and a balance of the sweet and sour notes.

Like many restaurants in Singapore, they have also integrated the Pen Cai (from $328) into their menus. This is a traditional Hong Kong and southern China dish that has become popular in Singapore over the last decade or so.

Every restaurant has their own ver-sion of pen cai, but Hua Ting’s has a se-lection of premium items like dried oys-ters and scallops, abalone, sea cucumber with many added ingredients like braised pork, cabbage and black fungus.

The premium ingredients are treated with care — every mouthful of abalone and sea cucumber is cooked just enough with the right tenderness, yet retains some bite. But even “lesser” ingredients like dry braised belly pork marinated with nam yee (red fermented beancurd) give a won-derful fatty richness to the dish.

The highlight is the intensely flavour-

Above: Lychee Roast Duck and

Orange Peel Crispy Spare Ribs (right).

PHOTOS: GREGORY LEOW,

HUA TING

Fresh Salmon “Lo Hei” Yu Sheng and Pen Cai from Hua Ting.

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