Zi Char

It is titled thick soup, and it lives up to its name. The soup is extremely thick and filling, and has a very nice seafood taste. With every scoop you get a generous portion of seafood as well. This feeds 2-3 persons and it’s value for money given how filling it is.

Crunchy cabbage with fish tofu and wolf berries poached in a broth. I really liked the light, flavourful, opaque broth. The tofu stuffed with fish paste was a nice addition to the vegetables.

This is 400g of tiger prawns, wok fried with ginger. You get to choose other methods of cooking as well, such as steamed, or cooked with chilli or Szechuan style. The prawns were thick, succulent and fresh. Best of all, they were already peeled. Definitely worth the price.

This was very good. The yam was crispy with a smooth inside, and it was packed full with lots of diced vegetables, fungus, mushrooms, chicken and nuts. It’s excellent and priced very reasonably as well. Service at Zi Yean was outstanding too.

Favourite dish of the night. The cabbage was stewed till it was really soft, and the gravy went well with it without being too salty. In fact, soft, full of gravy and accompanied by dried scallops are three things that describe many things on the menu. Everything we had was delicious, and at reasonable prices with no service charge.

I’ve had this twice and it’s been my favourite dish both times. Soft smooth tofu, with a nicely browned firm surface, doused in a thick golden yellow pumpkin and salted egg sauce with shredded crab meat, and served with fresh broccoli. Highly recommended!

This cold starter was refreshing. The seaweed has a surprisingly creamy texture, while being slightly crunchy. The portion is quite large but it doesn’t fill you up, so it’s a nice dish to start dinner with.

This was a popular dish on many tables, and I can see why people like it. The bittergourd is sliced thin and not too bitter, cooked with a generous portion of egg, and with a surprise ingredient – salted egg. The dish was a little too salty for me, but it’s fragrant, tasty and not oily.

Although it’s called curry fish head, most people come here for the steamed fish. This fish was huge! It’s thick and firm and well-cooked in the Cantonese style. Price is very reasonable given the size of the fish.

Don't underestimate this humble-looking dish. This isn't just lettuce, it's cold, fresh, very crunchy lettuce that refreshes you and is delightful to chew on. The roasted sesame sauce for dipping is a perfect and all-round popular companion.

Clockwise from top left:
- seafood phad thai
- basil minced chicken
- stir fried kailan
- steamed seabass with lime and garlic
All the dishes were good. I loved the phad thai the most. The kailan was crunchy, and the seabass was fresh and generously portioned for $28. All in all a happy dinner at reasonable prices.