353 Chapel Street, South Yarra
Phone 03 9826 9933
What better way to celebrate Dan’s grandma’s birthday than with a bang-up banquet at a newly opened restaurant touting a celebrity chef from Hong Kong (unfortunately his name escapes me). Welcome to San Choi on Chapel, sibling of San Choi in Kew.
It was Dan’s Uncle that recommended the restaurant, and Dan’s Uncle who took care of the ordering. Plate after plate of food arrived, and I was stunned at the array of dishes presented. Unfortunately my camera (or should that be the user), forgot to change the setting from manual focus to auto, so my first few photos were all unfortunately blurred.
But to whet the appetite, we started with delectable snow crab sauted with thin egg noodles and duck liver pate. Sounds a little weird, but it was surprisingly good in a meaty peppery liver-y kind of way.
Then it was on to some prawns, coated in salted egg yolk and deep fried. Yes, this is a contender for the deep fried goodness dish of the night, as the prawns were tender and the coating salty. The yolk has the effect of making the coating feel almost powdery in the mouth. An interesting effect.
Next up, a couple of cold dishes (oooh, I wish I got photos of these!). First up, sliced jelly fish with roasted duck. Secondly, jelly fish with sliced fatty pork and a vinegary carrot salad. I find I quite like the crunchy gelatinous nature of jelly fish, despite its lack of flavour. The taste comes from the vinegary and sweet dressings which usually accompany it.
Now to the pictures, and where we got stuck into the lobster (yes, this ended up being a rather expensive banquet!). The first way we had it served was sashimi, raw and diced and ready for a hint of wasabi and soy. Oh, I can not begin to express how wonderful raw lobster sashimi is! It is sweet beyond belief. As you can see in the photo above, all the dishes of the evening came with some rather elaborate carvings. This carrot fisherman was entirely adorable!
The rest of the lobster was deep fried with salt and dry chilli. I must admit I like my lobster to taste like lobster, and would have preferred this in a simple noodle braise with ginger and spring onion. But, on the balance of the other dishes, some more deep fried goodness doesn’t go astray.
I must confess I didn’t not try this dish. Chicken/Phoenix feet – yes, I have conquered. Ducks feet…hmmm, perhaps not yet 
Anyway, this hearty claypot braise contained the webby duck feet, bone marrow and sea cucumber. We usually eat a similiar dish on Chinese New Year, but instead of the feet, we just have the duck. And it’s much better.
This is one of my favourites – mainly due to my penchant for both tofu and fish paste. The blocks of firm tofu are hollowed out just a little bit and stuffed with fish paste. The packages are deep fried and then braised, sometimes in a light gingery chicken stock sauce, other times in a thicker, heartier, oyster-ish type sauce. Some steamed greens sat to the side.
Deep fried goodness again – a trio of white bait, scallops and squid done salt and pepper style. The fisherman was busy at work on this plate!
Slowing down considerably (….but the dishes kept coming!), we had some stir fried quail meat and black fungus on garlic chives. The sauce was heady with ginger, and quite rich and dark.
I hate to say it, but this looks like someone threw up all over the Chinese broccoli. Alas, it was actually a salted egg yolk sauce, but my head just could not get around the presentation and this remained untasted. Urgh…apologies if you happen to be eating dinner when you read this.
Lastly (well, for the savoury dishes anyway), was Mustard beef. Tender cubes of rump had been pan fried with a wasabi / mustard flavour, although it was not hot in the least. The beef was oh-so-tender, and the asparagus to the side tender crisp.
All up, the meal was a four hour eating fest, which finished with a strawberry birthday cake, which was thankfully of the light Breadtop variety. The service was pretty good, but then, we were a big party buying up all the expensive stuff out of the tank!
I’m not afraid of the duck feet but I find it doesn’t taste as good as chicken feet. The skin of the duck feet has a stronger smellier flavour and it’s thinner than the chicken’s. But bone marrow, mmm, mmm. Did you try the marrow Mellie?
Those carvings are really nice. I think they tend to reuse them because my sister wanted to take one from a restaurant once and they actually asked for it back.
Lobster sashimi is absolutely fantabulous, can I just say. This is the first place I’ve heard that serves lobster sashimi, and it’s very common in Singapore.
This place looks like it’s worth checking out.
Hi Thanh – eww…your comment is kind of making me feel queasy. Stronger smellier flvour? *shudder* No, I must admit that I didn’t try this dish at all, mainly because I was sooo full! But I will confess I’m quite partial to marrow. The European (Spring St) does a corker of a dish – two huge marrow bones, roasted, served with thick brioche and a knife. You just scoop out the marrow and eat it on the sweet toast.
And I’m positive they reuse the carvings. That little fisherman came out a few times! But, I don’t mind. As long as they wash them between servings, I’m fine with it.
Hey Pseudo Epicurean – yeah, I really enjoyed it…as did the bunch of Singaporeans at my table! The lobster sashimi was oh so sweet too…
LOL- you are soooooo right about the throw up on the vegies- yikes- I am sure it’ll taste nice! You’ve gotta try something once! You’re a foodie! That said if you’ve asked me to try deep fried cricket I wouldn’t either- LOL
Ohhh hey Thanh, Shoya does Lobster sashimi too.
Piggy Eatalot, I love lobster sashimi. It’s so rare that you can eat some good ones, as the lobsters at most restaurants are frozen anyway. I did lobster sashimi a few times at home when I bought live lobsters and it was divine.
Ohhhhh you must be v.v. skillful, apparently if you don’t cut it right or kill it right or something it’ll leave a weird taste
How do you cut/kill it?
Piggy, I’m not skillful at all. But trial and error has taught me a few things. The weird taste comes from the urine (or whatever liquid is in it) of the lobster. The first time I did it, the lobster stunk and was wasted. The next times I did some research first. I froze it in the fridge to nearly kill it, then you stick a chopstick up the bottom end of the lobster tail and the urine comes out. Then you wash it fully and it’s all good.
God Thanh – you stick a chopstick up its bottom?!?! Oh my!
Yes Mellie, it does seem a bit off, but what can you do. It’s either that or smelly urine infused lobster. I can’t even imagine how you’d go about killing a fish or chicken. We live in such a highly food processed country that none of us have ever had to kill our food.
I know, I know…just seems kind of…well…disturbing. I commend your bravery!
We ate at San Choi (Kew)last night knowing nothing about it at all. What a surprise. We were with some rather unadventurous people but the food was extremely interesting and there is fantastic variety. I certainly want to go there again – perhaps to the Chapel St. venue. Tx for the beaut pic’s and descriptions!!
Oops. I remember now that I did go to San Choi with Elizabeth Chong’s Gourmet Club 9 months ago but her menu was not as exciting as it could have been. It’s definitely worth a visit
Hi there Elliot – so glad you enjoyed it! I must admit I was certainly suprised at the quality/authenticity of their food. Most of the items we ordered were not on the menu – came from having a Chinese ex-chef (Uncle James) at the table who is rather particular about what he eats!
Likewise I am dying to go to the Kew venue now.