Most restaurants in Hong Kong are now up in old buildings you least expect it to be. Just shy off the Wan Chai Market, locates this Private Dining called Xi Yan. Because of limited seating, booking your table is essential as they DO NOT take walk-ins.
If you're Chinese, you might recognize these preserved fruit and wine. There's apple, lychee, plum, strawberry and the usual salted citrus.
It's normal to have some nuts or preserved vegetables already served on the table, just as you get a small bowl of nuts when you're at a pub drinking. Here, we have marinated peanuts with plum. It was interestingly sweet which makes you feel more peckish for food.
Menu for Tonight |
Prices per head can change depending on the menu you choose.
It ranges from HKD$388/ $528/ $688.
As for this menu it's priced at HKD$528.
There's a 10% Service Charge, HKD$18/ Person for Cover Charge (Tea)
If you do decide on bringing your own wine, Corkage is HKD$100/ Bottle
Menu changes biweekly, so make sure you check with the restaurant what the menu choices are within a week or two of your booking.
Egg White with Hokkaido Milk, Cordyceps Flowers and Prawn |
Slow Cooked Australian Wagyu Beef with Red Wine |
This Australian Wagyu Beef with Red Wine Sauce served with rice was really one of the best out of all the dishes we've had. |
Longnan and Jujube Sorbet with Aloe |
White Fungus, Peach Resin, Pork's Lung and Walnut Almond Soup |
Poached Tianjin Cabbage with Soup |
I was very impressed by how it was presented however, I think a little more soup would have been nice. However, by this course, we were all very full and satisfied. |
Homemade Black Garlic Ice Cream |
This Black Garlic Ice Cream did give me a bit of a scare when I saw the menu...
One, I know a few people who actually do make black garlic at their own home in a rice cooker and even I say vampires wouldn't go near it. Would have been rude not to try and when I did, surprisingly, it didn't have that garlicky taste but instead it was sweet and didn't leave that garlic
taste lingering for too long.
Overall, there wasn't anything that really wowed apart form the Wagyu Beef in Red Wine sauce, however, personally, I have had better homemade ones whether it was Mom's or a friend's recipe. There was definitely enough food for everyone considering each dish was served individually after being presented in one at first. Black Garlic Ice Cream went down surprisingly well.
At the moment, I don't think I will return to the restaurant until the menu sparks an interest.
Xi Yan
3/F, 83 Wan Chai Road,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
No comments