Restaurant Review: Yan Ting – Fine Cantonese Dining

Restaurant Review: Yan Ting – Fine Cantonese Dining

St. Regis Hotel

29 Tanglin Road

Singapore 247911

+65 6506 6866

Yan Tin is a Cantonese Fine Dining restaurant located at the St. Regis Singapore. The restaurant describes its atmosphere as “Elegant Contemporary”, which I reckon is true, but my first impression was that the interior is also somewhat unimaginative. If you have a special event to celebrate and have a strong emphasis on atmosphere, that is the first point against Yan Ting. Unlike the impressive St. Regis, which houses Yan Ting, the restaurant is nothing less but also nothing more than you’d expect from any fine dining restaurant. The staff was friendly and helpful, again as you’d expect in such a refined setting.

The dining experience I’m basing my review on was a family occasion, held at one of Yan Ting’s private dining rooms, whose biggest hallmark is the minimalistic interior. Aside from a table and chairs the room was literally barren. Now, one might argue to eat one does not need more than a table (granted there was a flower arrangement on it) and chairs, yet given the lush interior design of St. Regis itself, I’d have expected more. The menu we had ordered for the occasion was a mixture between the Experience Set Menu and the Luxury Set Menu comprising six courses.

The first course was made up of an Appetizer Trio of Deep-fried Yam Croquette with Diced Chicken, Steamed Lobster Dumpling with Asparagus and Steamed Vegetarian Dumpling with Mixed Mushrooms. As I’m a big fan of dim sum, I was really looking forward to this trio of delights, yet besides the nice presentation, the appetizers were nothing special at all. The croquette was too dry for my taste and the dumplings were just so-so.

After this first disappointment, I had already lowered my expectations when the second course in the form of Braised Superior Shark’s Fin in Golden Sauce arrived. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of shark’s fin due to the texture, but my fellow diners all agreed that even though Yan Ting’s version of Golden Sauce was decent, it was not as good as it could have been, and the shark fin should have been more tender. As it was, we had to struggle a bit to slice pieces of sharks fin off with our spoons into bite-sized portions.

My personal favourite was the third course of Pan-seared Marble Goby in ‘Soon Hock’ with XO Sauce. The fish was seared to the point, crispy yet still juicy on the inside and Yan Ting’s resident XO sauce was to my liking as well. In my view, this was the only dish living up to the restaurant's reputation.

The Wok-baked Lobster we had for the fourth course was ok as lobsters go, but there was too much breading and the meat itself was not juicy enough. This was a big disappointment for me as a lobster aficionado.

The fifth course consisted of Stewed Hand-pulled Noodles with Deer tendon and Mushrooms. This dish was decent, but once more I would have expected more of a culinary experience in a fine dining restaurant such as Yan Ting.

To crown the meal, the sixth and last course comprised Yam Paste in Pumpkin and Osmanthus Cake with Wolfberry. The Yam paste was rather dry and stuck to the palate, with the pumpkin sauce insufficient to make the whole dish sweet, as you’d expect from this type of desert. The osmanthus cake was rather flavourless, with the wolfberries only serving to add a herbal taste. None of us finished either of the two deserts, with the latter being the bigger disappointment.

Overall, for a fine dining menu priced at close to S$ 160 per person I would expect more, namely a better dining atmosphere and better, higher-quality food. Tastes vary, and my review is purely based on this one set meal, and maybe the chef had a bad day. However, if you’re set on trying out Yan Ting, I would recommend the Champagne Dim Sum Brunch on the weekends, which I hear is better value for money and at least includes some bubbly.

3/5 Stars