Sunday, December 17, 2006

Zi Yean Restaurant: New Favourites, Old Favourites

With mien, liverpool1965, smart, iwatch_ueat and tamago


Zi Yean has been one of my favourite Cze Char/Restaurants since the days when they were still at Stirling Road. Since moving to their new premises at Lengkok Bahru, they have been offering a really good value Dim Sum and La Mian Menu which I have already blogged about earlier.

If you are a true Canard Connoisseur, you will immediately recognise that the weird looking thing in the picture above is Braised Duck Tongue. Duck tongue is one of those things that you put in the same basket as Chicken Feet. It's stuff that Westerners throw away that we Chinese have elevated to a delicacy. I have to be honest and say that I really don't know what the fuss is all about. Its just a bit of savoury salty morsel with a bone in the middle that caught me by surprise. How can one talk with a stiff tongue? Guess that's why they only go Quack Quack! $12 per plate 3.75/5




Those around the table who love innards really loved this dish which is Chicken liver, mushrooms and chopped vegetables wrapped in a crispy skin. So far, the only liver I really enjoy is foie gras. This one was alright but I would not say that I love it. 3.5/5



Now let's get down to the stuff I like. This Dog Stew Duck was was something that got all of our tails wagging. Man it was shiok. Dog Stew is traditionally eaten in China to provide "Heat" during the cold winter months. Here in Singapore, we don't eat dogs (legally), so the Chef replaced Goofy with Donald and wella! The Duck was superbly braised till its tender and it did not have the "fowl" smell. The gravy was so awesome that we literally ordered extra noodles and licked the plate clean. This gravy is very similar to the one used for Beef at Guangdong Wanton Mee which we are beginning to recognize as Dog Stew Gravy. $12 per portion 4.5/5



The classic Abalone and Mushroom dish was done very well. The Abalone was braised for more than 10 hours so that it has absorbed all the stock and become tender to the bite. The mushrooms were also very good quality and cooked to perfection. $25 4.25/5



This dish has been popular in Hong Kong for quite awhile but this is the first time I got to taste it in Singapore. Braised Pomelo Skin is healthy, high in fibre, low in fat and good for the skin. I found the texture powdery and quite bland. Trying to find a frame of reference for it is difficult and we thought that pumpkin would come closest. I don't know how to appreciate this, but I am sure Hong Kongers will love it. $10 3/5



Another "Happening" culinary trend is the use of Sour Plums in dishes. Those who want to try something new might like to order the Sour Plums Drunken Prawn. Live Prawns are first soaked in wine infused with dried plums then quickly deep fried and then tossed in a ginger, spring onion and dried plum sauce. I found the taste and sweetness of the plums a bit overpowering to the extent that I could not appreciate the natural sweetness of the live prawns. But it was a very novel experience. $5 per 100gm 3.5/5



This is my favourite "Must Order" dish at Zi Yean. The Stir Fried Ribeye is done very well and everytime I eat this I still shake my head at how nicely marinated and tender the beef is. If you are fortunate, you might get more of the tender marbled part of the ribeye which is simply marvellous. $12 4.5/5



The Emperor Chicken is another of their signature dishes. I could just eat plain rice topped with the Mei Chai/Chai Poh stuffing and be happy. $16 per whole chicken. 4/5

Conclusion

The Duck, you must try the Duck!! Everyone around the table are bringing their families back just for the Duck. Prices are still quite reasonable and if you choose to dine in Air Con comfort, the difference is only the 5% GST.

8.25/10 (T3+V2.25+S2+E1)

Zi Yean Restaurant
Blk 56 Lengkok Bahru
#01-443
64740911 (Air-Con)
64710253 (Non Air-Con)

You may also like to see tamago's review by clicking here

Disclosure:
This was a prearranged tasting session organized to provide feedback on some of the new dishes that the restaurant is offering.

Postscript:

Some useful information has been provided by tiantianchi from the makansutra forum:

Dog Stew Duck can also be found at the tze char stall at the junction of Sims Avenue and Aljunied Road. Ping Duo Yuan or something like that for the stall name. This is a popular dish in Malaysia. The style of cooking ( ie the ingredients used - basically the 5 spices and fu yu) is similar to stewing dog meat which was banned ( in the 80's if I do not remember wrongly) and the brilliant chef was trying to replicate the taste of dog stew and he found the gamey taste of duck came rather close ( and also catering to more people whom do not eat game meat such as wild boar), thus became his choice. Duck tongue ( in various form of cooking - stewed, braised, plain boiled, ma la, salt and pepper) is not that difficult to find. Places like Crystal Jade and Lei Garden have them on their menu..also here http://umami.typepad.com/umami/2006/03/tiong_bahru_lun.html#comments

Using pomelo skin in dishes has been around in HK for donkey years. Done well, it is similar to winter gourd.

10 comments:

3KMum said...

After eating this small dog duck (kow chai ngap)many many times during my growing years, finally I realise the story behind the name.
My mum used to cook it with 5 spices powder,ginger slices, scallions,dried mandarin skin.

The pomelo pith dish is really what people in poverty eat. It is usually cooked with dried
prawns.Really hated this dish.Really taste bland.Plain rice with kichap taste better.

smart said...

Whenever we go to an established chinese restaurant we are 3G, not your mobile but Greedy, Glutton and Gourmet.Zi Yean dishes are well created by the chef.
Duck Tongue: This is a delicacies rarely available in Spore.My sort of exotic dish. Whenever I am in Melbourne I go to Shark Fin House Chinatown to have duck tongue.
Chicken Liver Roll: Cheaper than fore gras, the chef made a perfect Roll not oily but great taste.
Doggie Duck: This is the Mother of all Zi Yean dishes. I rated it 100% score on the sauce and the texture of the Duck is so soft and no duckie taste.
Emperor Chicken: Well you can feel you are a King eating this dish but my only complain is it is a bid sweet. Great with a bowl of porridge.
Prawn: It hurts me that live prawn is cook this way. I always like it steam with garlic, ginger and egg.
Beef: They marinated well but I suspect they add too much tenderizer instead of tenderising the meat. Neverthe less a good dish.
Abalone and Musroom: Done perfectly well. Abalone bite is not rubberish and pleasant, so is the Musrooms.

p.s.: I guess when we were invited to taste the food the chef is well prepared to please.So last Sunday I went with my family. Both the Duck Tongue and Chicken Liver not available, must order 1 day in advance. Family voted Doggies is the Surpeme. Beef like I said too much 'chemical' you dont get the bite of the Beef. Ordered the Spinach soup. Very disappointed no trace of spinach nor the flavour, just bland.

Damien said...

Rarely in Singapore do we get to enjoy stewed duck tongue. Apart from Shatin (which has recently relocated to Geylang Lor 3), I haven't seen it on the menus of Chinese restaurants.

You'll either like or dislike the tongue - I licked my clean :)

Agree with ieat and Smart that the highlight of the meal was the "gou zai ya". Love the silky sauce which the duck was braised in and what better way to truly enjoy this dish but to order a plain serving of la mien to lap all the sauce up.

The deep fried stuffed chicken liver was another killer dish. The liver, which was mixed with mushroom and chives went very well with a plum sauce that we requested.

The mei cai chicken was good, but the overall taste hinges on the sweeter side, thus, if you do not have a sweet tooth, then you probably should miss this.

Another dish which I found a wee bit too sweet was the steamed prawns in plum sauce. Personally, I too find it a waste to smoother live prawns with an overwhelming sauce that masks the sweetness of these crusteceans.

Again, the braised pomelo skin is a dish which you either like or dislike - I whacked 3 pieces of it and could probably gobble up the entire plate if I had not eaten the 20 pieces of duck and 10 pieces of abalone :)

Ah.... the abalone... Chef Fok commented that the superior sauce was simmered for 10 hours. The abalone, together with mushroom and kailan was simply exquisite. Every bite into the abalone and the mushroom brought me a step closer to heaven.

Overall, a good experience but would definitely drop by again incognito to see if the quality of the food wavers.

liverpool1965 said...

there are 3 things that I will go back again and again to savor...

the dog stew duck, emperor chicken, and the beef..

The dog stew duck can go with anything....a bowl of steaming hot rice, a plate of hor fun, in between a man tou..

19/12/06 01:23

liverpool1965 said...

the prawns with the xeng buay was not too bad...I actually liked the spring onions, ginger and xeng buay taste...but I'd rather have simple fresh steamed live prawns with an nice sauce

the braised pomelo skin tasted like bitter gourd..( I like my bitter gourd fried with fish sauce, garlic) and eggs. I liked smart's suggestioned that it would have made a good dessert if you simply braised it without any sauce and have a scoop of ice-cream on top...

smart said...

Hi Liverpool1965, Zi Yean also serve Fried Ice Cream but more like pancake wrapped ice cream. My daughter prefer the Fried Ice Cream done by a Malay family at Pasir Panjang or Tiong Bahru F.C.

Anonymous said...

scandalous man...

ieat said...

Hi Samuraisama,

Thanks for the background history of Zi Yean. Please do me a favour and do a rewrite so that it is rated PG. The info is interesting but the use of strong language is not condoned on this blog.

wahcow said...

thats a juicy piece of news though....no wonder the standard of food has been dropping....wonder if ah yean will be able to recapture his old fans....or he is now too old for that....

ieat said...

Yes I hope that he will post a PG version of it for our readers.

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