Have you tasted savoury bird's nest before?

Cheah Ui-Hoon | The Business Times | Thu Aug 26 2010

Singapore, August 23, 2010

Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant
80 Raffles Place

Serve a bowl of soup topped with something transparent and white to any non-Chinese, tell them it's made by the swiftlet spitting out phlegm to make its nest, and it’s really a leap of faith for them to believe it’s good for you.

But the nutritional goodness of “bird’s nest” is so culturally ingrained in the Chinese that any food with “bird’s nest” in it will automatically make us feel that we’re imbibing in something treasured and healthy. No wonder then that Si Chuan Dou Hua’s bird’s nest feast promotion is doing so well; the restaurant is planning to extend it beyond Aug 31.

Another reason for the popularity must be because it’s rather tedious to prepare your own bird’s nest dishes – think hours of soaking or slow cooking, or even the preparation before that if you’re really old school and believe in using unrefined nests.

Si Chuan Dou Hua does a really good range of dishes with the prized ingredient, in its collaboration with Dragon’s Brand. Most of us really know bird’s nest as a sweet dessert, but the 30 over dishes featured are mainly savoury. The chefs get quite creative with it, with excellent results.

The double-boiled chicken soup for example, comes topped with a palm-sized nest, and the notion of it is just ultra-nutrition. The tasty, clear soup is enriched with yunnan ham as well, while the nest is done just right so that you get some firm, stringy bits with an overall light, frothy texture. The soup is part of the Set A Menu priced at $68++ per person. The menu doesn’t feature all dishes with bird’s nest, naturally, so the menu selection will also see baked cod fish and braised pork with scallops, while the other dish to include bird’s nest in it is the coconut pudding dessert.

For the $88++ menu, bird’s nest is included with the Alaskan crab claw and crispy sea perch. The sea perch is quite an unusual dish, which sees white fish fillet wrapped around salted egg, and deep-fried in a breaded batter. It’s done really well, with the fish still moist and tender, sitting on a paste of salted egg which gives it flavour, and the topping of bird’s nest just adds some texture.

If the set menu doesn’t catch your fancy, then there are quite a number of choices on the a la carte menu. The steamed pendant scallop is an excellent choice ($46 per order), as the scallop is topped with a helping of bird’s nest, and one long green bean is prettily knotted through it.

You can taste the sweetness of the scallop here, and the soft textures of the nest and scallop meld together nicely. But you do down this in only two bites.

For something a bit more filling, the double-boiled brown rice congee with bird’s nest and chicken ($24) is a medium-sized bowl bursting with nutrition. The congee is a mix of brown and white rice, so it’s not as hardcore as you’d imagine, with the brown rice grains adding the bite to an otherwise smooth congee (“chok” style, in the Cantonese tradition). This is healthy comfort food personified.

Then there are about eight desserts featuring bird’s nest, for $28 each, like beancurd topped with nest, or nest prepared with almond and milk. The baked egg tarts are $24 per order of three pieces.

If you just want a taster, the Tian Fu Tearoom also offers high tea at $28++ per person on the weekends, and $20++ per person on weekdays. The weekend high tea is the value-for-money deal as it comes with a complimentary copy of a cookbook authored by former Shangri-la chef Peter Tsang, and comes with a step-by-step explanation of how to prepare food using classic Chinese herbal ingredients.

For August, UOB credit card members will also be entitled to a 20 per cent on the Bird’s Nest Feast set and a la carte menus.

Rating: 7/10

Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant
Top of UOB Plaza
80 Raffles Place #60-01 UOB Plaza 1
Singapore 048624
Tel: 6535-6006