I applaud these restaurants' confidence, because without a constant stream of word of mouth reviews, they probably would be taking down their signboards within months.
A word of caution, if you hail from anyway but the west, it will be wise to arm yourself with a street directory or pay http://www.streetdirectory.com/ a visit before attempting to find these places.
As for food wise, you definitely won't need a magnifying glass or directions to see the quality for reasonable prices.
We ordered a couple of signatures including their abalone with vegetables, sliced fish rice noodles, emperor chicken, dog-duck, to name a few. I didn't of course touch the vegetables and abalone as clearly I'm anti-green and healthy stems. The fish noodles were not as tasty as the Hong Kong street famous soupy variation. What I really liked, was the chicken and duck.
The emperor chicken was rich in its stew-like broth and the meat tore so easily away from the bone. The duck, was interesting. Why the name 'dog-duck'? It seems the duck is cooked in ingredients and a gravy that was once used on dog-meat dishes. Well, better ducks then those cute lovely dogs, I say!! Simba will keel over...
The black pepper beef was pretty standard, nothing outstanding. The usual slightly soft chewy texture and lightly peppered flavours, are becoming common fixtures in Chinese restaurants big and small, ostentatious or basic.
I would say Zi Yean is still no where close to Pu Tien's standard. But if you are in the area and looking for some decent chinese food, you know where to go. They open at 7am and serve, apparently, recommended dim sum for breakfast. Considering the lack of good and reasonable dim sum available in Singapore, it could possibly become a gem pretty soon.
ZI YEAN RESTAURANT
Block 56 Lengkok Bahru #01-443,
Tel: 6474-0911
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