Xiu4 Cai2 - The Scholar. What an appropriate name for a Chinese Restaurant that opens in the grounds of the National University of Singapore.
On Tuesday, it was one of our colleague's first day back to work after 4 months being away. The whole team with our boss, the 13 of us, welcomed her back with a treat to The Scholar, a modern and chic Chinese restaurant in the new Guild House in the NUS Kent Ridge Campus.
It's very Chinese, yet contemporary. We realise that it's quite full too. We did not place any booking thinking it's so new, it wont be crowded. We were wrong. Lucky for us, one of the VIP rooms was not booked and there was a table inside that can fit the 13 of us.
The lady-in-charge told us, we should try this set. It has all the 'jiao pai' (signature) dishes. By the way, their executive chef is award winning James Aw. She said we can order this and do a + 3. ie, pay an additional $38.80 for the 3 extra persons. The menu looks good ya?
Oh yes, there's a Smart Casual policy here. Haha.. to prevent students and Profs from walking in with their t-shirts, shorts and slippers. (Yes, I mention Profs LOL)
The Crispy Duck Mango & Plum Sauce.
It's delicious. The slight sourness of the mango goes kinda well with the duck.
The Braised Shark's Fin with Bamboo Pith and Crabmeat was served in a nice big bowl.
Oh, we had 'full service' so they served us. Hmm we even had a dedicated server in the room. I think the must love working in this place. She is full of praises for the chefs here.
Oh yes, we had a anti-shark activist amongst us. He showed his disapproving look while the rest of us enjoyed the sharks fin. hehe....
The Famous Crispy Coffee Pork Ribs.
Oh, when this dish was brought in, we could smell the aroma of the coffee.
The Steamed Sea Bass Teochew Style.
Fish was fresh and was walloped off by the 4-5 fish lovers. Nothing was spared.
The Pan Fried Spicy Prawns.
Somehow these prawns taste really good. The spicy and salty combination works very well.
It was also slit on the top to make it easier for us to eat.
The Braised Bailing Mushroom & Sea Cucumber with Seasonal Vegetables.
Our boss was chatting with the server and found out that they have 20 over chefs and kitchen helpers. They need so many people because it is really busy during lunch and dinner.
Since I took this photo of my half eaten sea cucumber, just show it here lah... :-)
This is the Braised Dual-Rice Noodles with Shredded Duck Meat.
Looks plain and simple? But it's delicious! We realise that many places are now having this dual-rice noodles combi. Bee Hoon and Tang Hoon does go together!
This closeup lets you distinguish between the two different kinds of noodles.
The dessert: Pumpkin and Coconut Cream.
I think pumpkin prepared this way is delicious!
It was such an enjoyable meal.
If you are wondering why the photos looks longish, it's in the HD mode on the camera. I brought out my camera without a memory card! Don't laugh! So this mode actually uses less disk space, so... :-)
It's a NUSS members only place. Ask a friend who is a NUSS member to bring you there or grab a friend who works in NUS to bring you in.
The Scholar
National University of Singapore Society
Kent Ridge Guild House
9 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore 119241
Reservations: 6586 3710
Opening Hours, etc: Check the Scholar's website.
8 comments:
Greetings from Canada,
Wow, the food looks good. Wonder how mango with duck taste like. Those closeups are good. Now I know how sea cucumber looks like.
BTW, why smaller pics now? Has the world financial crises shrink the photos? Appreciate the food better with the bigger pics. :)
Cheers.
nice place, i didn't know nus got this restaurant until i saw your review. haha
Actually, I didn't even realize the format of the photos had changed till you mentioned it to me --- I guess I was too absorbed in drooling at the dishes! :P
P.S. Hope you're enjoying your little getaway this weekend... :)
Eh Keropok Man! You could have seen me at the Guild House leh! I went to the Scholar to get a flyer on their menu before going for lunch at the Cafe on the Ridge! Ermmm... I'm the aunty wearing all black and black high heeled boots lah.
Heh yeah, I didn't notice also the photo size difference. The food just took all of my attention!
Gosh, the mango duck looks awesome, and I don't even like duck! I love sharks fin soup too! But I believe Chinese use all parts of the shark, not just the fin!
This place looked so lovely and not to mention the yummy food. You are lucky to have so many nice eating place near where you work.
oh. my. god. the pumpkin and coconut cream dessert is so unexpected. it is such an uncommon combination of pumpkin, coconut cream and some dark rice - maybe wild or black glutinous? There is no obvious pumpkin flavour as would be expected, so you can't imagine what it tastes like until you've tasted it. its flavours are subtle and they are not many, but they have blown me away because they work so well together. basically i've never tasted anything like it. i'm will definitely go back for more because i don't know where else on earth i'm going to get this.
PS: its a cold dessert - cool not chilly.
by the way, we ordered Orni - Teochew yam dessert too. The texture of the yam paste is unbeatable - gummy, sensous and luxious. aw... what an amazing experience.
like other relatively good chinese restaurents their peking duck is good. The duck and cabbage noodle soup was delicious and is something that i would recommend. The spinach and roasted garlic stirfry was nice particularly due to the unique pairing of anchovies and spinach. but i can't compliment on the lobster congee, it just tasted like someone threw in a plain, uninteresting lobster into a little overly-seasoned, though, well-textured congee. such a waste of that lobster's life :(
however, altogether nice place, nice ambience, had dinner with my family and absolutely enjoyed it.
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