This Peking restaurant is located at Harbour City in TST and is the branch of the restaurant of the same name from Beijing, famous for its Peking duck. It is right on the harbour front, with an outdoor terrace, so customers can enjoy a wonderful view, especially during sunset.
The decoration is neat with plenty of ‘old Beijing’ elements put into the design, including brick wall, wooden partition panels, and lanterns. The large tables are on the window side, with some banquette seats on the other side of the corridor. The latter can still enjoy a nice view.
We order the Summer Menu ($1,588) which is good for two people. The starter is Boiled Abalone Japanese Style, with the abalone having a good bite but not difficult to chew, infused with deep umami flavours from the sauce, with some marinated radish on the side. A nice starter.
Next comes Braised Fish Maw in Supreme Pumpkin Broth. Signature soup of the restaurant, the broth has a rich and good taste, a nice sweetness from the pumpkin but balanced well with the savoury flavours of the broth. The large piece of fish maw is premium on the appearance, with also a good texture and no wonder this is one of the must order here.
The Grandma Zhang’s Pork Ball is a braised pork ball in dark sauce, with the minced meat soft and fluffy, big in flavours. On its own it may be too heavy, so the chef has thoughtfully provided a bit of rice on the side to go with the meat, and enable customers to savour the sauce as well.
Then it is Baked Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk, with the prawns cooked together with the salted egg yolk, to create an ‘evil’ yet highly savoury delicacy, which are finger-licking good. The prawns are of decent size too.
The Xihe Signature Peking Duck (half set) is apparently the star in the menu and is also what got this restaurant its fame. The duck is carved on table side by the chef in three servings, one is the neck skin, one is the breast meat, and the last is the thigh meat, offering different texture and enjoyment.
To pair with the duck there are also a range of condiments, including the interesting pop rock candy, mustard, blueberry sauce, and the traditional BBQ sauce. The flavours are not bad, but perhaps because I have too much expectation, I think it is only decent overall.
The veggie is Stir-fried Cauliflower and Sliced Pork Belly, served in a sizzling hot stone pot. This is probably my other favourite after the soup, with the slight spiciness in the dish appealing and appetizing, the pork belly providing a fragrant note and flavours to enrich the taste of cauliflower.
The Crab Meat and Seafood Soaked Rice has a tasty broth, with plenty of different seafood like shrimp, scallops, crab meat, together with zucchini and shiitake mushroom to bring up the fragrance. A rewarding anchor but honestly by now we are all so full that we can barely finish it.
The final course is Bird’s Nest in Coconut Milk, and what I like is that this dessert is not too sweet, and together with the bird’s nest it is a premium and delicate finale to a big meal, to our satisfaction.
The bill on the night is $1,791 and quite reasonable. However, when I asked a staff to slow down the service (the first four courses come at the same time basically), her response was simply the food would come after order was made, without any hint or effort to help, which can upset most people as you can imagine. The service needs to be seriously looked into.
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