Dinner at Xiao Ya Tou or known as XYT is a cool experience of having to walk through the neighborhood of hip bars and restaurants and walking into an eatery that is decked out in an almost kitsch meets vintage Chinese themed restaurant filled with distinctive red lanterns, plastic chairs, and loud decor just call out to you as you walk past.
XYT’s menu serves a plethora of playful and somewhat cheeky named food and drink offerings—all of which find their inspirations stemming from cuisines from all across Southeast Asia.
We started off with their non-alcoholic beverages since the sweltering weather deters us from drinking much. My calamansi and sour plum soda was super refreshing and tart, and barely sweetened that I am very happy about. One of my friends had the Thai iced tea that was really good and the other had a longan, red dates, white fungus and wolfberry soda that is technically a Chinese tong sui (a sweet soup) but they interestingly made it into a soda that was very tasty.
The deep fried otak otak rolls makes for a good snack. The crispy wonton skin is followed by the spicy, tangy and subtly sweet otak paste (a Nyoyan fish quenelle). We also had the Gu Gu’s Ngoh Hiang (五香), it’s a type of five-spice meat roll five-spice meat roll and while I liked the texture of the dish, I wasn’t too familiar of the flavor profile that errs on the sweet side.
The Truffled Duck was a delicious roast duck that reminds me of the Cantonese style of roast duck except it’s subtly flavored with truffle oil enhancing the duck’s inherent gamy-earthy flavors. The skin was crispy and rendered out all of the fat nicely.
XYT Hokkien Mee takes the typical Singaporean hawker stall-bought Hokkien mee and elevates it a notch higher by introducing ingredients such as smoked pancetta and premium seafood. The noodles oozed an apparent “wok hei” note and the pork broth, along with the various ingredients, did well to amp up the flavor of this dish.
Information:
Xiao Ya Tou
Official Website
6 Duxton Hill #01-01
Singapore 089592
Phone: +65 6226-1965
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