The Seafood Place You Never Knew You Needed: Xian Seafood Village 鲜味园 on Tagore Lane

No air-conditioner, but powerful fans. It was pretty cooling on the day we visited Xian Seafood Village.

With a name like "Tasty" Lady's Finger (SGD10), what an irony it would be if it wasn't, right? Thankfully, this dish was well-executed and the lady's fingers were adequately cooked to a soft, tender, stringy yet not mushy texture, which I really enjoyed. It is actually a simple dish but I often tried less than ideal versions of this elsewhere. This was cooked carefully to perfection.



The Garlic Pork (SGD10) is another safe, simple homecooked dish that is crispy on the outside with the distinctive fragrance from the garlic. This has to be eaten fast otherwise it will lose its crispiness quickly. So, no waiting for dinner flatlays with this dish - eat it while it's hot!


This Thai Style Tofu with Prawn (SGD10), on the other hand, manage to maintain its crispiness sometime even after our extended photography session (there were quite a lot of us) which I really liked. The fried batter is a thin wafer, wrapped with juicy prawns inside... so delicious that I can't help but go aroi~~



La La Steamed Egg (SGD15) was pretty good, with a smooth custard-like texture steamed egg in a seafood broth.



Their Specialty Braised Meat (SGD15) is really the best though, and it's been long since I've had a braised meat so gelatinous and fatty, sinful yet amazing. The sauce is also thick and savoury enough. The fatty layers are full of collagen too but that's hardly why you would eat this delicious slab of braised meat.


Bbq Sturgeon Shark (SGD16) is similar to your usual sambal stingray, except with much more meat to try and more tender too. Super yummy with a spicy kick to it too!




Hong Kong Style Steamed Shark Lips (~SGD35, dependent on weight. Pictured is about 600gm) is a unique dish that I've yet to try before, and it turns out that I liked it! Not something I'd pick out normally though because it seems rather outlandish (no pun intended), but since this is one of Xian Seafood Village's specialties, we tried it out. To my surprise, this tasted really indulging! To those who loved eating steamed fish eyes, this is almost the same except you get a whole chunk of it. Firm jelly-like texture steamed simply with soy sauce, you can even taste the natural goodness of its original flavour.


The gigantic Cheese Baked Seafood Platter (SGD138) consists of lobsters, Jumbo Crabs, prawns, fan-shelled scallops and clams. This is another way for you to enjoy your seafood especially if you adore cheese, imagine piping hot taste of lobster meat with melted cheese... The cheese is coated everywhere and they certainly are generous! I am a traditionalist when it comes to seafood, so I prefer them steamed and boiled most of the time to enjoy the freshness. Of course, this is up to personal preference. This dish is also quite pricey for the amount you get to eat though.


Salted Egg Lobster (SGD15 per pc) is the most photogenic of them all. The salted egg craze might be dying down, but don't deny that you do crave for that taste from time to time. Xian Seafood Village does a pretty good rendition of the salted egg sauce, rich with salted egg bits paired with sweet lobster meat from the panfried lobster... This mouthwatering combination sure gets my heart pumping! Worth to get your fingers workin', messy and dirty for this.


The Soft Shell Crabs (SGD5 per pc) are crispy and maintained its crunchiness for a long while even after it was served, and you'll be surprised how much meat each soft shell crab has!

Thank you Roy for the invited food tasting. Eat with Roy at his blog.