Dinner at Xi Yan

I had dinner with Group CEO and other top management folks last night.

It was an appreciation dinner for a small group of us, about 40 pax, and held at Xi Yan restaurant.

I wasn't too looking forward to it initially, despite being told the dinner costs a good $100++ per pax. It was precisely because of this, another function where I had to sit through with plastic smiles and make small political talk.

Well, it didn't turn out too bad afterall.

With a few glasses of red wine later, everyone was less solemn and more make-merry. So, I had quite an enjoyable night.

The food - cantonese cusine, I was told the top chef only makes a trip here every 3-4 months from HongKong and when you dine there, the chef decides what you eat, you don't place an order.

Our 1st appetiser was the Japanese Tomatoes in Sesame Sauce.

I don't fancy tomatoes, so I only took a small serving of this. The waitress made an introduction that these were specially hand-picked from Hokkaido and they were just in the right size for their optimum taste.

Our menu, specially printed for our presence.

I saw these oil paintings on the way to the restroom and couldn't resist taking a picture.

Halfway through dinner, we were served this - Basil Sorbet Intermezzo.

It was really just ice-cream with mixed fruits and meant for clearing our palates for the Furong Chicken soup that was coming up next.

Dessert - Xi Yan Signature Tang Yuan in Old Ginger Soup.

Just tang yuan right, wrong. The tang yuan were handmaded with very unique stuffings - water chestnut, lotus, sesame, papaya and the flour made of salted egg yolk and butter.

So much for a $100++ per pax dinner, we were asked to leave our namecards after the dinner, so that the restaurant can contact us the next time the top chef is in town.

I'm not paid to afford such fine cuisine every 3-4 months, so I didn't bother.