Ushering in good fortune, fuss free.
With the festive season nearing, it can get pretty troubling to prepare a feast, spring clean and also try to have a wholesome time with the family. While spring cleaning cannot be avoided, you can have a choice have your feast elsewhere, in the comforting Sze Chuan Court & Kitchen at Fairmont Singapore.
Usher in prosperity and fortune with Sze Chuan Court & Kitchen’s Chinese New Year Menu that promises a scrumptious feast for your family and you.
Lobster, Salmon, Abalone Yu Sheng ($438). Unlike the usual ones, this yusheng has a refreshing twist to the palate with the addition of rock melon, honey dew, peaches and other fruits. Remaining tangy and full on texture, there is an added sweetness from the fruits, making it big on flavour yet also delicate on the palate.
The lobster, salmon and abalone are extremely fresh, combining well. I certainly had a hard time stopping myself from getting a third serving of this. This fruity rendition of yusheng is available on request and I highly recommend you go fruity this Chinese New Year.
Double-Boiled Conch Meat, Bird’s Nest, Superior Fish Maw ($58 per person). The clear broth is slightly on the saltier side but still exceedingly nourishing and robust. The bird’s nest is crunchy, the fish maw is smooth and melts in your mouth. I’m quite sure my skin would be more supple after finishing the broth.
Wok-Fried Flower Whelks, Trio Mushrooms, Honey Beans, X.O Chilli ($40). Albeit spicy and like the festive good, ‘Hei Bee Hiam roll’ (spicy dried shrimps), the trio mixture of mushrooms is extremely aromatic and savoury, accompanied with the occasional surprise by the little nuggets of hei bee hiam, which is bursting with flavour. The flower whelks are chewy but can get a little tough on the edges.
Poached Golden Snapper, Soya Bean Milk ($68). Instead of steaming this in the usual soya sauce base, chef decided to use freshly grounded soya bean milk to steam the golden snapper. He told us that this would make the flesh of the snapper smoother and retains its moisture.
Admittedly, I was very intrigued by the entire concept so it kinda scored brownie points before I even tasted it, but the dish didn’t let any of us down. The flesh was more tender than usual and all of us slurped up the soy milk sauce, which was velvety and both sweet and savoury at the same time.
Definitely less salty than the usual sauce, this is only available during the Chinese New Year period of 2016 so I’d urge all of you to opt for this instead.
Vegetarian Pumpkin Broth, Truffles, Brown Fungus ($30 per portion). We could all smell the aroma of the truffles way before the dish made its way to our plates and that certainly whet our appetite. Chef is very generous with the truffles, sliced slightly thicker than usual, allowing a more substantial taste while savouring of it.
I’d recommend to have the fungus first, to take in the blend of crunchy fungus with the slightly sweet and creamy pumpkin broth, before allowing the fungus to overwhelm our tastebuds with its fragrance. I think we all agree that this vegetarian dish doesn’t lose out to the meat dishes at all.
Steamed Abalone, Preserved Sausage Fragrant Rice ($12.80 per order). Though the rice appears to be slightly bland at first, pairing it with the abalone’s savoury sauce and the preserved sausage makes for an aromatic dish. Not forgetting the tender and chewy abalone that is rich in flavour of course.
Pairing of Traditional Nian Gao, Coconut Cream Black Glutinous Rice Nian Gao ($12.80 per order). The traditional glutinous flour cake is not overly sweet and the coconut flakes coating it gives a fragrant kind of sweetness and texture. The black glutionous rice flour cake is softer than the traditional one, making it slightly stickier and sweeter.
Hot Creamy Red Bean Soup, Black Sesame Glutinous Rice Balls ($10 per person). I’m a huge fan of red bean and black sesame so I was definitely going to finish this dessert no matter how full I was. The red bean sweet soup is creamy, not too thick or too watered down like the ones we get outside.
There is a slight zesty hint from the orange peel, which is how traditional red bean soup should be. Finally, the black sesame tangyuan wraps up the entire dessert and I’m happy.
I thoroughly enjoyed the fruity and refreshing yusheng and would strongly encourage anyone considering to get it to hesitate no more. I also love how much thought has been put into the poached golden snapper and I think that’s reason enough to head there, let alone the aromatic vegetarian truffle dish. So yes, hesitate no more and make your reservations for this lunar new year.
Sze Chuan Court & Kitchen offers up a variety of set meals, with an Auspicious Set Meal starting at $438 for four pax to a Heavenly Harvest Set Menu that goes at $1388 for ten pax. If set menus aren’t really what you’re looking for, they do offer their signature barbecued dishes, fish, poultry, ala carte dim and many more. There’s always going to be something for everyone.
