Xihe Yayuan has over 30 branches in mainland China alone and most recently, they have expanded overseas to Singapore and Hong Kong.
Despite not having advance booking, we were able to find ourselves a table and a pretty good one too. This is almost like private dining but without the "special" price tag.
Scrambled eggs with truffle and baby oyster (松露蠔仔煎蛋) ($88) - I don't think one could ever go wrong with scrambled eggs and black truffle together. This is a clever twist to the famous oyster pancake (蠔仔煎) from Chiuchow cuisine. Very tasty and we can smell the truffle well before the plate touched down on our table.
Fried squid with salted duck egg yolk dressing (金沙鮮魷魚) ($168) - I love deep fried squid especially those in typhoon shelter style. Just way too tempting to resist. My expectation was high when I first saw this version with salted duck egg yolk dressing on the menu. I thought they really got something there.
But unfortunately, the execution was way off. This was the blandest fried squid I have ever had in my life, even with the salted duck egg yolk. I thought the smart way to do this would be to mix a bit of salted duck egg yolk into the batter to give it some much needed flavors but that was not the case. Instead, they had the salted duck egg yolk in the form of powder to sprinkle on top of the fried squid and that wasn't doing the job (of course, if the squid was fresh, then we probably don't even need that kind of seasoning too but...).
Xihe Pork Pancake (羲和小肉餅) ($48) - Next up for us was some pork pancake. This came with multiple layers of crispy pancake and minced pork, almost like a mille feuille (but in the shape of a roll). Seriously tasty even without the sauce.
Xihe's Peking duck (羲和馳名烤鴨) (Half bird, $328) - This was what we came here for, their signature Peking duck but before our prized duck arrived, our server set the wheels in motion by dropping off some nice condiments.
This is quite a lot of condiments, even if we compare it to the world renowned Da Dong.
Our baby duck finally arrived.....
As soon as the chef finished peeling off the crispy skins and meat, our server came over to introduce the three different cuts and proposed sequence to eat them (and how).
We were supposed to start with the skin first. This came from the breast area.
The way to eat them was to mix it with some homemade blueberry sauce and pop rocks. Interesting results! It felt almost like having a dessert!
Next up was duck meat from the breast area.
We were told to dip it with this special mustard sauce and eat without the pancake. Unfortunately, it paled a bit in comparison with the previous cut (the skin).
Finally, we had the meat from the leg area. We were recommended two ways to eat it; firstly with cucumber, scallion and hoisin sauce all inside the pancake. This was the traditional way that we've been doing it all along. I thought fairly decent.
Then, a contemporary way with hawthorn (山楂) and purple onion. The acidity there was quite an interesting match with the duck meat but I guess I would prefer sticking with the traditional way, cucumber and scallion.
I came away with mixed feelings about this meal due to two reasons - one really bad dish (fried squid) and another seriously undersized dish (the Peking duck). The roasted duck, for what they're charging, should easily cater for 2 to 3 people but I was still feeling hungry after just sharing half a duck with Jelloman (The three little plates were all we've got from our order). I knew food was getting more expensive but it looked like inflation has just reached its new heights.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop OTE203, 2/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2157-3128
Website: www.xiheglobal.com
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