Yàn 私房菜
Yàn was one of my considered venue for our Singapore wedding reception since we decided to do something more traditional to cater to our families and i knew the food was gonna be good. Sadly we had to drop it as our guest list turned out to be larger than what the restaurant could accommodate. Well, my disappointment was greater after tasting their enhanced menu by new Executive Chinese Chef Lai Chi Sum. Yàn has been delivering fine Cantonese cuisine and Chef has now included some fine 'home-style' meals or ‘私房菜’ which features traditional recipes cooked slow and long to distil rich, soulful flavors. The hearty dishes would really work well for the communal banquet but oh wells...
Well let's start with the oldies but goodies. All-time favorites such as the Signature Crispy Roast Suckling Pig served in 3 ways (read about the lovely lemongrass pork fillet here), Peking Roast Duck, Steamed Thousand Layer Beancurd and seafood delicacies such as abalones, lobsters, clams, crabs, and sea cucumbers remain.
Yàn Peking Roast Duck Served in 2 Ways ($55 for half, $105 for whole). The peking duck wrappers were super yummy and the servers did a marvellous job of wrapping them up quickly for the starving bunch of us. The rest of the meat is typically diced, and stir-fried with diced vegetables and served in lettuce cups.
The Steamed Thousand Layer Beancurd ($22/33/44) is a showcase of the excellent knife skills of the chefs. In the center, there are glazed pork cubes, conpoy, mushroom and gingko nuts. A wholesome and pretty dish too.
A new Yàn signature is the House Special Baked Pork Ribs with Black Olive ($13.80/pax) which originated from Chef Lai's experiences in Hong Kong. Inspired by the Guang Zhou farmers who uses preserved olives with their food, Chef created this dish which also tastes of plum and honey.
Another special is the Baked Crab Shell with Crab Meat and Onion ($18/pax). Fresh flower crabmeat is cooked with onion, bechamel sauce and superior stock, then filled into the empty crab shell, topped with breadcrumbs, and baked. This dish was created in Hong Kong back in the early 80s. There's plenty of sweet chunky crab meat, along with the crunchy onion (without the sting), and mushrooms. Yums!
The Braised mee pok with fresh mushroom and XO sauce ($22/33/44) was amazing as well! The noodles are thin, almost thin hor fun like, but they maintained their eggy crunch. There's not need for any fancy ingredients, other than the homemade XO sauce of course, which consists of more than 20 ingredients mainly dried scallops, dried shrimps, salted fish, 'Jing Hua' ham, prawn roe and chilis.
For desserts, i had the Hot Walnut Cream ($8) which was rich and nutty, but not too thick that you'd get sick of it quickly. The Chilled peach resin with diced honey dew ($8) had a lovely crunchy bird’s nest texture if you're looking for a refreshing dessert.
Well if you are looking for a place to enjoy some nostalgic Cantonese dishes, or perhaps a restaurant for a small wedding banquet, look no further than Yàn.
Yàn
1 St Andrew's Road #05-02 Singapore 178957 Yàn
National Gallery
Tel: +65 6384 5585
Daily: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6 - 10.30pm
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