What to Order at Yi Qian Private Dining: A First-Timer's Guide
- 19 hours ago
- 4 min read
Our menu runs to more than a hundred dishes across two cooking traditions, Teochew and Cantonese, not including the other dishes off the menu. If it's your first time with us, this is the guide we'd give you.
TLDR: there are three dishes we would recommend to anyone on their first visit — the Pig's Stomach and Chicken in Pepper Soup, the Stir-fried Shark's Fin with Crabmeat served with Superior Stock in Teapot, and the Roasted Irish Duck.
The three dishes we'd recommend
1. Pig's Stomach and Chicken in Pepper Soup 招牌原只猪肚鸡汤
$128 a pot, serves four to six. One day's notice.
A whole Kampung Chicken wrapped in pig’s stomach, simmered over high heat until the broth turns milky and heavy with collagen. The crushed white peppercorns bring a warmth that builds slowly at the back of the throat. Balanced with ginkgo nuts and fresh spices, every bowl offers pure, restorative comfort. When it reaches the table, our staff cuts open the stomach and serves the tender chicken separately from the broth.
2. Stir-fried Shark's Fin with Crabmeat served with Superior Stock in Teapot 茶壶汤蟹肉干捞翅
$68 per person.
The dish that gets photographed. The fin is tossed with crabmeat and served dry, with the broth poured separately from a teapot at the table — hence the name. The theatre is the point, but so is the technique underneath it.
Wong Ah Yoke wrote about this dish in The Sunday Times: the chef pan-fries the fin briefly before serving, crisping some strands while the rest stay moist and soaked in seasoning. That contrast between crisp and soft in the same mouthful is what sets it apart from a conventional braised fin.
3. Roasted Irish Duck 爱尔兰烧鸭
$63 half, $118 whole.
Most roast duck in Singapore is a local or regional bird. Ours comes from Silver Hill Farm in County Monaghan, Ireland. Silver Hill bred their duck for one thing: the fat-to-meat ratio. The fat renders slowly while roasting, basting the meat as the skin crisps above.
It takes a chef's skill to time that roast just right to produce meat that's flavourful and tender throughout.
Silver Hill supplies up to 98% of London Chinatown's roast duck restaurants. So if you've had roast duck in Chinatown in London and miss it — here at Yi Qian Private Dining, you'll find it.
Also worth ordering
• Chilled Full Cream Crab, Teochew Style
• Teochew Crispy Yam & Prawn Omelette. Crisp outside, fluffy inside, studded with yam and prawn
• Braised Treasures Platter. Braised duck, octopus and beancurd from the master stock. The clearest way to taste what lou sui means.
• Teochew Yam Paste with Ginkgo Nut. One of the great endings in Teochew cuisine.
How a Chinese meal is shaped
A typical Chinese meal orders for the table, and it follows a rough sequence. Use it as a guide to build a balanced spread.
Open cold or crisp (Appetisers)
Something to wake the palate up before anything rich arrives.
Chilled Full Cream Crab, Teochew Style 潮式冻羔蟹
Marinated Jellyfish and Celtuce with Scallion Oil 葱油莴笋海蜇
Chilled Japanese Cucumber with Aged Vinegar 手拍日本青瓜
Crispy Eggplant with Pork Floss 肉松炸茄子
Soup
Soup arrives near the start of a Chinese meal, where it opens the appetite.
• Pig's Stomach and Chicken in Pepper Soup 招牌原只猪肚鸡汤
• Hot and Sour Soup, Szechuan Style 四川酸辣汤
A centrepiece
One dish the rest of the table is arranged around. Pick roast meat, a whole fish, or crab.
• Roasted Irish Duck 爱尔兰烧鸭
• Whole Soon Hock, steamed Teochew style 笋壳鱼潮州蒸
• Sri Lankan Crab, cooked to your choice of six styles 斯里兰卡大肉蟹
Two or three dishes around it
One seafood, one meat, one vegetable is the spread that never goes wrong.
• Seafood — Teochew Crispy Yam & Prawn Omelette 鲜虾芋头烙 or Sautéed Prawns with Chives 韭黄炒虾球
• Meat — Honey-glazed Barbecued Pork 蜜汁叉烧 or Sautéed Kurobuta Pork with Japanese Barbecue Sauce 日本烧汁黑猪扒
• Vegetable — Sautéed Celtuce with Preserved Vegetable 雪菜炒莴笋 or Poached Spinach with Three Kinds of Egg 三蛋灼苋菜
Rice or noodles near the end
Carbohydrate comes late in a Chinese meal.
• Wok Hei Fried Kway Teow with Diced Kai Lan and Preserved Radish 玉兰菜脯炒河粉
• Fried Rice with Egg White and Dried Scallop 瑶柱蛋白炒饭
• Claypot Rice with Waxed Meat 腊味煲饭
Something sweet to finish
• Teochew Yam Paste with Ginkgo Nut 潮州福果芋泥
• Almond Cream 生磨杏仁茶
How much to order
A general guideline is one dish per person, plus one. Four people, five dishes. Six people, seven etc.
Dim sum (Only available for Lunch)
Our dim sum menu runs alongside the main menu, but only at lunch. A few favourites to try:
Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumpling 水晶虾饺
Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings, Fish Roe 鱼籽烧卖皇
Glutinous Rice with Chicken in Lotus Leaf 荷香珍珠糯米鸡
Steamed Barbecued Pork Bun 松软叉烧包
Hong Kong Style Pan Fried Radish Cake 香煎萝卜糕
Lunch runs 11.30am to 3pm, last order 2.30pm.
Service & Location
About us
Yi Qian Private Dining is a Chinese restaurant serving up Cantonese and Teochew fare.
Bringing your own wine
Corkage is $30 per bottle. We waive it one-for-one on every bottle you buy from our list. We also waive it at a spend of $100 per person.
Finding us
2 Leng Kee Road, # 01-04 Thye Hong Centre, Singapore 159086 — tucked inside an Thye Hong Centre building, which is why people walk past it. Find us on Google Maps.
Nearest MRT: Redhill, about 5 minutes on foot.
Parking is available at Thye Hong Centre. Open daily. Lunch 11.30am to 3pm, last order 2.30pm. Dinner 6pm to 10pm, last order 9.30pm.
Booking
WhatsApp +65 8170 6208 with your name, date and time, number of people, and anything you'd like pre-ordered. You can also call +65 6513 6377. Walk-ins are welcome subject to availability.