Silk

My sister is back in Singapore with her family to visit so we headed to Silk for a last-minute family dinner. They were on the red-eye from Germany so we weren't quite sure if their body clocks had been re-tuned in time for dinner. Silk's seldom fully booked so we can always get reservations at the last minute.

Silk's the reincarnation of Hong Yuen, and while prices have risen a little, the food quality has, thankfully, also gone up. It's also sexier and more lush, with black and maroon tones and ornate Chinese art and an imposingly huge crystal chandelier. The restaurant also boasts an expansive view of the green, courtesy of the floor-to-ceiling windows stretching the entire length of the hall. 

The downside of this place though, is the strict dress code: the Hubs ended up borrowing Pop's pants to wear for dinner. But, the upside is that Silk's super reasonable prices. A 9-course dinner for 7 persons and a toddler came up to $230! Considering that we had a couple of seafood dishes and the fact that most of the dishes were at least above average, we thought it was a fairly value-for-money meal.

We started off with a Steamed Marble Goby 'Soon Hock' ($85 at $8.50 per 100g), one of my sister's favourite dishes. Justice was done to the sparkling fresh fish, it was steamed to perfection, moist, flaky and draped in a delicate soy marinade that complimented the light fish.

Silk's Deep Fried Crispy Cereal Prawns ($36 for medium), another favourite of hers (she loves loves LOVES prawns) is a unique marrying of salted egg yolk prawns and cereal prawns. I love them both separately, but marrying the 2 styles together just didn't work. It was neither here nor there, see-saw-ing between the sweet and savoury, but never striking a balance or arriving at a conclusion. The flavours just clashed. That said, the prawns were relatively fresh. Bouncy and sweet.

My brother-in-law loved the Sweet and Sour Pork ($21 for medium) with pineapples and peppers. To be fair, he loves all sweet and sour pork. I swear it's an "ang moh" thing. Thing was, Silk's sweet and sour pork was actually delicious. Juicy on the inside, crisp on the outside, and coated in a sticky tangy and sweet sauce. It could very well  be that I haven't had sweet and sour pork in a very long time, but I thought this was one of the better ones I've tried.

The Braised Homemade Beancurd ($24 for medium) was baby bottom-smooth and delicious. Probably the best dish of dinner and apparently one of Silk's most popular. A slathering of a gooey oyster sauce-based gravy littered with freshly shredded crabmeat and spongy bamboo pith as well as poached Chinese spinach added texture and flavour. I could eat just this with white rice on its own.

The Sauteed Baby White Cabbage ($24 for medium) was lightly fried with soy, highlighting the sweetness of the crunchy greens.

The distinctive taste of shrimp roe peppering the Braised Ee-fu Noodles with Chives and Shrimp Roe ($18 for medium) didn't go down so well with us as well. The heavily fishy flavour didn't quite gel with the noodles and even the clear fresh taste of chives couldn't lift this out of the fishy doldrums.

The Redbean Pancake ($8) was fairly commendable as well. Crisp light flaky pastry and sweet smooth redbean paste  with oodles of sesame seeds, a dessert that didn't quite induce the guilt-trip after.

The complimentary appetizer of Chilled Pickled Long Beans was refreshingly light. Crunchy beans simply dressed in a tangy savoury sauce.

Silk
180 Island Club Road
Singapore Island Country Club
Island location
Tel: 6431 8426
Open for lunch on weekdays from 11.30am to 2.30pm
Lunch on weekends from 11am to 2.30pm
Dinner from 6pm to 11pm daily
Closed on Mondays