From The Straits Times    |

Si Chuan Dou Hua is the perfect example of a Chinese restaurant that favours tradition – the outlet at Parkroyal is charmingly quaint, with sliding wooden partitions and an adjoining teahouse.

 
Before our meal began, a tea master dressed in flowing traditional Chinese garb strode in toting a bronze kettle with a metre-long spout, skillfully perching it over his shoulders and directing the steaming hot trickle of tea accurately into each of our tiny cups. He turned the mere process of serving tea into an elegant piece of performance art. The whole act was pretty mesmerizing.
 
I tried the new Bird’s Nest set menu, which is available and on promotion for the month of August. The 6-course meal, priced at $68++ per person started off with the Dou Hua Two Delicacies Combination, a pairing of Chicken in Spicy Paste Sauce and Bird’s Nest with Prawn Salad. A word of warning: the chicken dish was extremely spicy, but so flavourful, it was worth putting up with a runny nose. The creamy prawn salad also helped cool off my tongue.
 
 
Next was the Bird’s Nest with Minced Chicken Soup & Bamboo Piths. I didn’t care very much for the chewy texture of the bamboo, but the soup was refreshing and made me feel nourished and comforted, like what home-brewed soup cooked with love does to one’s senses. The Deep-fried Cod served in two styles – with a sweet sauce and a savoury soy-based sauce – could have been rather dry if not for the excess sauce that helped balance things out.
 
The dish I most enjoyed was the Spare Pork Ribs and Broccoli with Garlic and Chili Sauce. The large slab of pork put up little resistance against my knife and then practically melted in my mouth.
 
I ended the meal with another Bird’s Nest concoction – double-boiled and served with Home-made Beancurd, which was smooth, while the Bird’s Nest was positively delicate.
 
For more Bird’s Nest creations, try the 2nd Bird’s Nest set menu and take home the Snow Skin Mooncakes with Bird’s Nest Custard available at the Tian Fu Teahouse, located within Si Chuan Dou Hua.
 
Must-tries:
Chinese Tea, served by one of the tea masters
Dou Hua Two Delicacies Combination
Spare Pork Ribs and Broccoli with Garlic and Chili Sauce
 
Where: Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant at Parkroyal on Beach Road
Opening hours: 11am – 2.30pm, 6.30pm – 11pm daily
 
For reservations, please call 6505 5722.