zi yean

sl wanted to meet up for dinner so i suggested zi yean since i've heard so much about the place from eric and tracy. finally have the chance to try the food there after a failed attempt during chinese new year with the jc gang.

the restaurant occupies the entire void deck of the hdb block, just a short walk from redhill mrt station. it's divided into air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned sections. the difference being the gst charges levied at the air-conditioned section. i also read that this section also serves the more expensive stuff like shark's fins and 'live' seafood.

doris spotted apple who helped to recommend the dishes to us. janet commented that we seemed to have over-ordered when all the dishes arrived. in the end, we finished almost everything. that's testament to the good cooking and delicious flavours. all of us enjoyed the meal lots.

an interesting speciality here is the deep fried shrimp in beancurd skin. it's not a pretty sight but somehow the combination works. the other is the dog duck. no worries, no dogs were harmed in the preparation of this dish. the name is such because it's supposed to be dog stew but with the dog meat substituted with duck meat.

the deep fried fish skin was interesting. crispy yet not fishy. could it have come from all the salmon used for the chinese new year yusheng? :P i like the chicken especially. didn't really catch the name of the dish. but it's flavourful and goes well with the rice.

dessert was black sesame paste. not too sweet and thick a consistency. the sweet deal? it's on the house!

yummy! :)