ah yat!

it's been a crazy couple of weeks and this girl's finally got some time (and inspiration!) to sit down and quickly punch out one of the many posts that i owe mojitos. discovered literally as a result of scaling the 30m vertical wall in orchard central, ah yat tian xia turned out to a nice little surprise, serving up some good quality chinese classics with a hint of flair.

known by most for specializing in abalone, the tian xia outlet i guess is the ah yat's group attempt to break into the the more generic market by diversifying its menu for the regular budget while trying to stay true to its abalone roots. the menu did have the theme of abalone running through it (think the likes of braised beef brisket and abalone noodle!) but deliberate efforts were made to have the abalone play a more subtle supporting role in their dishes. being loyal dbs card members, we treated ourselves to the one for one set lunch which turned out to be quite fantastic value. 

the seven course degustation-styled lunch started off with a refreshing fresh scallop fruit salad with fish roe - perfect to whet the appetite with the sweet fruit and equally sweet morsels of scallop. this was followed by a bubbling claypot of braised shark's fin soup with crab meat...a fantastic contrast to the scallop dish, as the soup was not only earthy, but had the almost creamy texture with a hint of familiar saltyness.

course three, four and five consisted of a steamed prawn with dou fu in black bean sauce, pan-fried fish fillet with mushroom sauce and abalone hong kong wan ton noodle. very simple dishes but classically done with fresh ingredients, which i think were key in bringing out the flavors of these dishes. the noodle dish was one that i found particularly unique as the noodles were more refined than the usual egg ones and had a very distinct crunch...blanched in a nice rich stock and presented with a generous portion of abalone, the wan ton noodle tasted almost exactly like that served up in hong kong!

lunch was concluded with a petit egg tart sprinkled generously with bird's nest and a petal bowl full of almond tea. again, an exquisite display of refined cuisine with flaky pastry and creamy egg custard...not too big a serving as well which allowed the meal to be concluded without you feeling overly stuffed. the tea was apparently pretty good too, if almond essence flavor is your thing (i'm not a fan)....otherwise, i think the egg tart does justice enough to bring the meal to a close. 

definitely worth the value at buy one get one for fifty five big ones....if not, i would still vote for giving ah yat's a la carte menu a try, just so that i will at least figure out how well beef brisket and abalone go together! *grin*

ah yat tian xia

181 orchard road

#05-34/35/36

orchard central

(65) 6884 9979