Man Fu Yuan’s Fabulously Rich Chinese Fare

Here’s a restaurant that would blow Grandma’s socks off. But whoever you bring, make sure they are people you really love, and who can appreciate fine Chinese food. For two reasons: it’s really not cheap, so you have to be happy paying the prices; and the fine food served would be wasted on those who don’t have an appreciative palate.

Where’s this? Man Fu Yuan, the newly revamped Chinese restaurant at Hotel Intercontinental Singapore, which has been positioned as a fine dining Cantonese restaurant.

The Not-So-Great Bits
First, let me touch on the weak bits, as I am a believer in saving the best for the last. The new decor (below right) did not hold any ‘wow’ factor for me. The interior design and ambience, which was pleasant enough, was still a notch or two below expectations. The private rooms were a lot nicer. Considering the fine food and prices served, I would have expected more touches of luxe. Also, perhaps due to not having enough noise-absorbing soft furnishings, the noise from the lunch crowd – mainly corporate accounts and wealthy silver dollars – echoed. But it was a comfy space, elegant enough and people were clearly enjoying themselves. No dour faces or sour teens with hand held games!

Splendid Stocks
Having said that, the food here is good, and the menu features possibly one of the widest ranges of Chinese gourmet delicacies in town, by which I mean dishes using high end, ‘imperial’ ingredients like abalone, scallops, lobster, shark cartilage and fins, and fine soups. This is Chef Chan Siu Kong’s forte and it shines through. His stocks are fantastic – evident in the rich sauces, gravies and soups. If you are a person who cooks, you’ll know that no expense has been spared – in terms of good ingredients and time – to prepare them and which form the building blocks of Chinese dishes. Dishes here are traditional and authentic, but also updated, reinterpreted so they are creative and fresh. I liked that.

 

Now To The Food
My tasting menu started with an elegant trio of dim sum. I particularly liked the Deep-fried Glutinous Rice Dumpling in Traditional Style, a.k.a. ham sui kok ($5.20 a la carte, no pic sadly) which my late grandma’s old maid (also late) used to make so well. You hardly see this pillow soft, chewy, comforting morsel anymore either in restaurants or home kitchens, so it was such a pleasant surprise to. Quite a large dumpling, it was smooth and springy soft as the glutinous rice dough should be, and filled with a lovely, flavourful filling of moist meat making it a must try when y you are dining there. The Cheong Fun with Scallops and Garlic ($8.80 a la carte), while common, was smooth and subtle, the Deep-fried Beancurd Skin Roll with shrimps ($6.80 a la carte) crisp and delicate, bouncy fresh shrimp encased in a delicate, crumbling filigree of deep fried batter. All hand made in  house by the restaurant’s dedicated dim sum chef Simon Poon, the dim sum here are really hard to beat! 

Next came Chef Chan’s piece de resistance for this menu – Buddha Jumps Over The Wall with four ‘treasures’ of shark’s fin, abalone, fish maw and sea cucumber ($108 per portion, sigh…no pic either). For one person, this is immensely filling and supremely rich. My meal could have ended after this soup for it filled me up to the brim. Indeed, just this dish alone would make a lovely one-dish meal, but what a wonderfully indulgent one it would be. The soup was pleasantly unctuous with slippery collagen which has been boiled out of the ingredients, the stock was so full of flavour and each item a large-ish portion which cut through easily with one bite, so you don’t end up wrestling with it with your fingers. Lovely. So rich and incredibly sinful, you feel like an emperor eating this!

By the time I cleaned out the bowl, I was way too full and nibbled at the other dishes just to catch their flavours. The sauteed diced beef with foie gras and black pepper sauce ($40, serves 2-3 people, left) was good, fragrant with pepper and the beef was very tender. The foie gras was unnecessary though.

This was followed by one of Chef’s signatures, Stewed Lobster Noodles (above). Each portion is about $20, based on $12 per 100 gram lobster. It was lovely – another dish I would recommend if you wanted one single plate for an indulgent light meal. Thick smooth rice noodles accompanied the lobster which was done just right, firm and springy. For me, the star attraction here is the robust gravy that came with it. Lovely.

 

The ending came in the form of a granny-friendly Double-boiled Superior Bird’s Nest with Rock sugar ($72 per portion, right). A generous portion crowded with shreds of bird’s nest, it is warm, comforting broth which was a little on the sweet side. If you don’t have an active sweet tooth, best ask them to tone down the sugar. This comes chilled too, I believe. All in all a most indulgent meal. This tasting menu I tried goes at $188++ per head, but it’s not on the menu, so you’ll have to ask for it. Other dishes that are worth trying would be the shark cartilage soup, smoked duck with tea leaves and brown sugar, braised pork ribs with Zhen Jing vinegar, and for dessert, the layered cake with egg custard.

 

Chinese Tea Pairing
Also worth noting is another of the restaurant’s speciality – gourmet Chinese teas. For the relaunch of the restaurant, Man Fu Yuan worked with four-generation tea purveyor Pek Sin Choon to come up with a specially blended tea, Man Fu Yuan Special 5 Elements Blend, a golden hued tea with notes of lychee. The menu also features six other connoisseur teas such as White Dragon Pearl, West Lake Dragonwell and Aged Puer. To complement this, the staff have been trained to brew and serve the perfect pot of Chinese tea, and can offer tea pairing recommendations. The menu also includes pretty creative tea-infused dishes created specially by the chefs, such as chilled winter melon marinated in rose tea leaves, prok ribs in pu-erh tea with lemon sauce, and osmanthus pudding (left).  

 

Good to know: The restaurant is helmed by a strong team of sifu’s. Apart from Executive Chef Chan, originally from Hong Kong, there’s also dim sum chef Simon Poon who’s dad was a dim sum master chef in Macau, and Barbecue Chef Tong Kok Seng who’s signature includes the tea smoked duck.    

Level 2 Intercontinental Singapore
80 Middle Road
Tel: 6825 1062