COCONUTS HOT SPOT — Chinese restaurants in Singapore are everywhere, at every corner you turn. (Although, to be honest, our neck of the woods is in Chinatown… but you get the drift.) What’s not so common? Elegant shophouse restaurants serving up modern Chinese cuisine with European influences.
At Xin Divine, it’s an entirely different experience. Don’t expect any tacky red decor plastered on the walls, or Lazy Susans swiveling on round tables where boisterous families gather and chat to the backdrop of clanking dishes.
Instead, the cozy second-floor shophouse space is all kinds of elegant, with huge windows ushering in natural light, blue-grey cushioned chairs seated around tables draped with white cloths, and a pastel-hued private room with its own entrance for the Very Important.
Just don’t enter the wrong door — the restaurant has one for regular patrons, one for its VIP room guests, and one for its ground floor Divine Bar, which offers lunch bowls, coffees, and cakes during the day, followed by cocktails and bar bites after sunset.
If you pop by the cafe-bar, you gotta try the tongue-numbing Szechuan chicken karaage ($16) with cashew nuts, or the XO carrot cake ($12) tossed with shrimp, sesame, seeds, scrambled egg, and homemade XO sauce.
To match its look, Xin Divine’s menu is just as sophisticated, with an intricate mix of Chinese flavors enhanced by European culinary flair. Completing the East-meets-West concept are three head chefs specializing in Cantonese, Szechuan, and French cuisines helming the kitchen.
For a start, get your taste buds going with Egg Royale, a cold amuse-bouche of silky smooth Cantonese steamed egg custard (reminiscent of chawanmushi) with a top layer of gel created from prawn head stock, salmon roe, and crabmeat.
Next up, the signature appetizer, which comes in the form of delectable Szechuan-style tortellinis ($18) stuffed with minced kurobuta pork, swimming in a sauce of Szechuan chili, ginger, and vinegar. But if you’re not one to turn down a bowl of nourishing soup, go for the Nu Er Hong (Chinese rice wine) shark bone soup ($28), a collagen-rich broth served with abalone and Chinese cabbage.
As for heartier plates on the menu, one popular choice is the poulet de bresse ($35), a foie gras and drunken chicken thigh roulade covered by a pleasantly crispy tempura batter and served with popped rice and a purée made of sweet corn and Nu Er Hong. Alternatively, we’d recommend the Chilean seabass ($32) for bites of juicy pan-seared fillet with deep fried enoki that you can drown in a sour and spicy Szechuan sauce.
If you’re not done yet, fill up on carbs by ordering a plate of XO fried rice with crab and smoky Parma ham ($8), or go for the more nutritious option (that won’t weigh you down) of Chinese polenta ($8), with millet and grits cooked in chicken stock and steamed pumpkin for a porridge-like texture elevated with truffle foam, crab claw, dehydrated you tiao (dough fritter), and Chinese yam.
When the time for dessert comes, don’t shy away from Xin Divine’s offerings — especially the osmanthus sphere ($12), a light and refreshing jelly orb with crystallized osmanthus and wolfberries that you can pop (not in your mouth, though) to scoop up the winter melon and rock sugar liquid filling. It’s served with a shot of fizzy, sweet red date juice that you can either sip on separately or add to the mix for a sweet ending to a meal that won’t land you in a food coma.
Xin Divine is at 10 Duxton Hill, (+65) 3100-0030. Xin Divine: Mon-Sat noon-2:30pm, 6pm-10pm; Divine Bar: Tues-Sat noon-1opm.
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