The year’s eating has started off on an auspicious note – my first Chinese restaurant meal of 2009 was at a dinner tasting hosted for food bloggers by Yahoo Flickr and Yan Ting 宴庭, the Chinese restaurant at St Regis Hotel.


For something to tickle our tastebuds, we were served a small plate filled with two morsels of pan-fried radish cake (萝卜糕) and yam cake (芋头糕). The former was soft, smooth and flavourful with delicious bits of wind-dried sausage (腊肠) in it. The yam was slightly harder in form, but it was no less delicious. The slightly sweet and spicy homemade chilli bean sauce (豆瓣酱) served on the side complemented both very well. To wash down the oil, we were served seven-year-old Pu-er (普洱) tea which tasted really good I must say. As tea connoisseurs will know, the older Pu-er is, the nicer it tastes, and the more expensive it gets too! Pu-er, which are sold as cakes of disc-shaped compressed teas, can cost thousands of dollars per cake.


吉庆满门 （三文鱼生）Prosperity ‘Yu Sheng’ with Salmon
Next up was the Prosperity ‘Yu Sheng’ with Salmon. Personally I’m a big fan of Yu Sheng. The different colours symbolise that life should be what the Chinese call 七彩缤纷，i.e. full of colour, variety and excitement. The yellow strips are Japanese pickled radish and the red strips are dried papaya. We were told by the Yan Ting manager and sommelier, Danny Chan, that the oil that was poured over the salad was fried together with shallots so as to have its flavour infused into the oil. The plum sauce was specially concocted by Executive Chef Chan Siu Kong and it contains apple, orange and pineapple juice, enhancing the aroma and taste of it.


The aftermath of the tossing yielded a delicious salad that had salty and sweet flavours in a fine and delicate balance. The crushed peanuts, cashew nuts, and crackers (symbolising gold ingots) added texture with their crunchiness.


川流不息 (三宝炖鲍翅) Doubled-Boiled Shark’s Fin with Three Treasures
The star of the night for me was this dish. It requires several hours of preparation what with having to simmer the broth for about three to four hours and then having to double boil it together with the mushroom, bamboo pith and shark’s fin. The result of which was, of course, a light yet extremely flavourful broth that set well on the palate with all the goodness flowing down the throat.
The shark’s fin was a substantial piece and 鲍翅 is the dorsal fin. Its other name is 裙翅 (literally translated ‘skirt fin’) so called because the piece of fin wraps around to look like a skirt. Delightful name. Hidden beneath the skirt are the mushroom and bamboo pith.


Pampering our tastebuds even further, Danny brought out a bottle of Riesling Kabinett. He told us that German Rieslings are good for pairing with Cantonese food because of their high acidity that leads to their sweetness. Boy was he right. I loved the wine as it was crisp, clear, light and slightly sweet – a great pairing with the food that we were having as the wine didn’t overwhelm the natural flavours of the fine cuisine we were served.


福满人间 (发财生蚝配黄焖豆根鲍片) Prosperity Oyster with Braised Sliced Abalone
The next dish consisted of an oyster sitting on a bed of onion strips and baked with cheese together with bits of bacon, mushroom, and black moss (发菜). The combination was a delightfully tasteful one with the cheese giving a slightly creamy texture and taste. In contrast, the sauce that accompanied the slice of abalone, beancurd and spinach was light and was a fantastic complement.


富如东海 (清蒸东星班配鲜虾腊味糯米饭) Steamed Coral Trout ‘Tong Sing’ Grouper accompanied with Wok-Fried Glutinous Rice with Wind-Dried Sausages
The steamed coral trout was good and cooked just right. It’s easy to get fish wrong as it’s so easily overcooked! The wind-dried sausages that accompanied the rice were delicious with its fine balance of sweet and salty flavours and we were told that Chef Chan orders it from a boutique supplier in Hong Kong.
The tasty wok-fried glutinous rice takes quite some time to prepare, unlike normal fried rice, because it requires the constant pouring in of broth into the wok as it’s being cooked – similar to the cooking of Italian risotto as the rice soaks up the broth. The result was rice that wasn’t overly sticky or heavy, something that surprised me because I’m usually not a fan of glutinous rice as I hate that sticky texture.


年年纳福 （脆皮年糕配百年鸿运）Traditional Azuki Bean Paste with Crispy Glutinous Rice Cake
The dessert platter consisted of three things (I couldn’t photograph all three nicely in one frame so I’ve split them here) and the one shown above consisted of a strip of crispy glutinous ‘year cake’ (年糕 – left)) made from cane sugar and a strip of water chestnut year cake (马蹄糕 – right). The batter was melt-in-your-mouth light and crispy. Really nice.


In the middle of the platter lay two traditional Cantonese desserts – deep-fried sesame ball (笑口枣) and deep-fried dumpling filled with nuts (角仔). Personally I was a little disappointed with these two as I felt they tasted rather flat. Perhaps they could have done with slightly more sugar. Nevertheless, I like the name 笑口枣 as 笑口 means to break into a smile. With a little imagination, the sesame ball looks like someone breaking into a smile with its curved shape. All very auspicious sayings and symbols for the new year!


On the right of the platter sat a bowl of traditional Cantonese red bean soup dessert. The beans used were Japanese Azuki beans and accompanying it were lotus seeds (莲子), lily bulb (百合), and tangerine peel (陈皮) that had been aged for 30 years! Gosh, it’s probably the first time I’ve eaten something as old as me. Somehow, I feel a certain kind of reverence to have had something like that.


九如献瑞年糕 Nine Fish Year Cake
We were also shown the special Year Cake 年糕 that the chefs have come up with this new year. The Nine Fish Year Cake (S$68) comes in a set and this display totally grabbed my heart. I loved the lifelike appearance of the koi with the realistic orange markings on their scaled, curved bodies. Served on a square glass platter with a slight blue-green tint and decorated with purple orchid blooms and sprigs of ivy, the presentation evokes poetic images of a happy family of nine koi swimming in a pond set amidst a lush traditional Chinese garden filled with the blossoming flowers of spring. This would make for a great gift I reckon, as the pronunciation of the number ‘9’ sounds like the word 久 which means everlasting. Hence the number symbolises everlasting unity and bonds of a family.
The menu for the night was a slight variation of Yan Ting’s Abundance 年年有余 6-course Set Menu (S$108++) for the new Chinese New Year period. The only item we didn’t have was the crispy soft-shell crab with pan-roasted rack of lamb scented with Uigur Spices (it sounds great just by its description!). But seriously, we were already stuffed after eating the five courses. For those with bigger stomachs, there is also the 8-course set menu. A vegetarian set menu (S$108++) is also available.
I really enjoyed the meal and company, and many thanks again to the people at Flickr and Yan Ting!
Yan Ting 宴庭
The St. Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road
Tel: (65) 6506 6866