Yan Palace

I still find it quite amusing that Time possesses such a paradoxical quality. Here I am, on a Tuesday evening, waiting for my little snack to digest so that I can shower and then resume doing some work.

Since I'm supposed to give my brain a short break from work, I decided to write a blog entry bout my family's visit to Yan Palace. Truth be told, I've never heard of this restaurant in my entire life and if not for my sister's recommendation, I would have never known that it existed.

The day we visited Yan Palace must have been an auspicious one because most of the tables in the restaurant were reserved for a Chinese wedding. Nevertheless, the restaurant still accepted other non-wedding guests and we were seated at the remaining tables.
Personally, I feel that the entire look and feel of this restaurant screams "traditional chingchong Chinese"! I guess it looks this way because it has probably been around for quite a long time.

The restaurant was filled with the usual wedding cheer which, no offence, soon became some kind of white noise that my ears grew accustomed to. There wasn't much conversation going on at our table mainly because it was very difficult for us to hear each other.

We did our usual choose-one-dish-per-person routine and then we placed our orders. On the whole, the food at Yan Palace wasn't fantastic but it was comparable to the average or above-average zichar fare.

The fried vegetarian goose ($9), which tasted like fried beancurd skin, was pretty good (: I didn't think a dish with such an animalistic name could taste so normal.

The deep fried crispy chicken ($24) was probably the dish of the night because everyone, including my fussy brother, had a go at it!

I think broccoli with scallops ($33) is fast becoming the favourite family vegetable dish (: The broccoli and scallops were particularly fresh and tasty.

A claypot full of beancurd with mushrooms and minced meat ($24). I thought the combination of the above mentioned ingredients were perfect for this dish. Love how the springy mushrooms complement the soft egg tofu! =)

For dessert, we tried the mango pudding ($3.50), which was average,

the mango pomelo sago ($4.30), which was probably the best dessert that night, and

yam paste with ginko nuts ($3.80), which wasn't up to expectations =(

I think Yan Palace is a good place to dine at if you're looking for an alternative to the usual zichar places. One advantage that Yan Place has over regular zichar stalls is that it is airconditioned so you can dine in some comfort (: Other than that, I would say that the quality of food and service is average.

Alright that's all for now (: We shall press on with the rest of the week!