Today is Mother's Day so my family and I visited Xi Men Ding (Non-halal) at Vivocity to try out their dishes. My mum isn't fond of dairy products like cheese so we chose chinese cuisine instead. For non-chinese, Xi Men Ding is actually the name of a district in Taiwan.
Location: Vivocity 1 Harbourfront Walk, #01-51A, Singapore 098585
I tried the homemade barley $2.80 per cup. It taste like those in the kopitiam. Thick and sweet, to my liking. Good but overpriced.
Next is the salted vegetable with tripe soup. $6.90. The taste of the salted vegetable is infuse in the soup with a slight hint of pepper and tripe. Surprisingly good and appetizing.
Grilled fish roe - $17.90 This dish is on the recommended list but it is very deceiving. Unlike the large slices of fish roe we saw on the menu but when it served, it is a pathetic small triangular plate with 8 pieces of thinly slice fish roe. I understand that fish roe are expensive but the pictures are very misleading. My mum says that the radish, spring onion and the fish roe are supposed to be sandwiched together and eaten at one go (which I did). I can't really describe the taste fully but it tasted like crunchy radish with an overpowering spring onion taste in the mouth with slight hints of salty fishy egg yolk to me. I dreaded this dish and my siblings too. I don't know, maybe you will like it.
Stir-fried eggplant with meat sauce - $13.90. This dish goes very well with rice. The meat sauce tasted like fermented beancurd and the eggplant is really soft. I like this dish a lot.
I really like the texture of this dish. Taiwanese fried beancurd - $6.90 Crispy skin and soft beancurd. This dish is actually quite bland but if you dip it in the meat sauce, it is really tasty.
Next is "San Bei" chicken with basil. (三杯鸡) - $17.90. This is recommended on the menu as well. There is a slight sesame oil, wine and soy sauce taste. I didn't really like the texture of the chicken though, it's a little tough. The gravy goes well with the rice.
French beans with crispy intestines - $9.90 I really like pig intestines but this one is horrible. I think it isn't handled well and there is a very strong pig smell. I only had one and decided to skip this. Yikes. French bean was good though.
One of my favorite dish - Deep-fried oyster. ($13.90) It tasted like those taiwan street snacks. Crispy skin, seasoning with fresh oysters. If you like to eat oyster omelette, I would recommend this.
"Lion head" signature meatball - $10.90. This reminds me of the movie cloudy with a chance of meatball. 10 bucks worth of meatball with slightly thicken sauce. I love the meatball. A mixture of meat and fats, goes really well with the rice!
I realized we ordered a lot of fried food. Deep-fried prawn with egg yolk. - $19.90 (Four pieces) This is my favorite dish. I love the giant fresh prawn. The white stuff surrounding the prawn is not batter but minced prawn. Very crispy and sweet prawns with salted egg. Must try!
Argh wrong focus! I hope you can see how it looks like despite the failed close-up.
Moving on to the desserts. If you have a sweet tooth like me, you'll probably like this egg pudding - $4.90. I love the soft egg pudding with sweet caramel on top. Absolute delight! I suggest sharing this bowl of goodness as I find it a little cloying after several spoons.
Almond tofu - $4.90. I think the top layer of mango goes really well with the almond tofu. Almond tofu can be a little strong at times but I think this combination with the sour mango goes really well!
After eating the above two desserts, I find the Sweet Taro soup - $4.90 a relatively bland. On its own, it is really delicious. If you love taro, this is a thick stuff of goodness. I suggest eating this first before trying out other desserts as they may overpower the taste of this.
Overall, the food is relatively good. I like the ambiance of the restaurant. Typical family style restaurant with nice paintings on the wall. The above food cost us around $170 for 4 pax. We eat a lot.
Rating: 3.8/5 Penalize for the bad pork dish. Good place to dine.
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