Xi Yan Casual Dining

Having tried Xi Yan Private Dining previously, where I found the experience refreshing with interesting takes on traditional Chinese dishes, I wanted to see what a scaled down version would taste like. For 3 persons, we ordered the following:
XO sauce, fried rice
vegetables
dan-​dan noodles dry, minced pork
basil satay prawns with salted egg yolk
half a roasted kaffir leaves chicken
custard glutinous dumplings with sweet potato in ginger soup
Word of advice, don’t over order.
This being the first time, I thought we’d order a number of different dishes to try. The fried rice came; lovely with a slight spiciness from the XO sauce. A decent way to start. The dan-​dan noodles were rich in flavour, strong hints of peanut and sesame but delicious none the less. Basil, satay prawns with salted egg yolk was a very decadent dish. We could’ve just order this with plain rice and then be done. The basil complements the richness of the sauce. Only issue is de-​shelling the prawns, which they must’ve anticipated as they provided forks. Didn’t help much, it was still a messy challenge. By the time the chicken arrived, we were stuffed. The kaffir leaves were a nice flavour to the roast chicken.
I would go back and try some of the other dishes. I just think they need to clear up their concept a bit. I went thru the menu to see how I would balance the dishes but a lot of them were rich and heavy. The answer may be in ordering less. =O

My aunt suggested this place for lunch. So I read, Xi Yan was first started by Jacky Wu, a designer turned celebrity chef in Hong Kong in year 2000. Sorry, I may perhaps be living in a cave for the past decade, I do not know who he is. I only know who Jackie Chan is.
I am all for trying new things during my trip in Singapore. Sure, I said. We arrived around 11.10am and it was dark inside. A staff told us the restaurant opened at 11.30am. Great! We could slowly take our time and decide what to order when we get in. There was a menu next to the entrance. The kids were excited. I already had an idea as to what to order as I have spotted something I would like to try. We then sat down on the chairs available outside the restaurant. Right before 11.30am, the restaurant opened and one male staff came and led us in.
The staff showed us a table next to the window, nice! The kids already knew what they wanted, my aunt was undecided. She asked if I like to order a couple of dishes to share, I said sure. I always try to accommodate others if it doesn’t hurt. So I let her decide what to order. Eventually she went with two dishes featured in the monthly special, stir fried rib eye with pickled green mango and pea sprouts (dou miao) with mei cai (a kind of pickled vegetables).
I asked the girls how they like their food. I told them briefly how I usually rate a dish. To make things simpler for them, I said A is something that is very good, A+ is extremely good, so good that they would order the same the next time they visit or something that would make them return just for the dish. B is alright, C is near or basically Failed.
So the girls said.
Rice in Superior Fish Soup was a B.
Sake Dongpo Pork with Mushrooms was rated an A.
Then my take on the other two dishes,
Stir fried Rib eye w/​pickled green mango — A (the beef tasted fresh and soft)
Pea sprouts w/​mei cai — A+ (pea sprouts were extremely fresh & dish was tasty)
Service is definitely an A+. If this review is based on service alone, I will definitely give this place a 5 stars. The staffs were friendly and one bespectacled female staff who spoke Cantonese to us, was knowledgeable about all the dishes in the menu. She was the one who recommended us the dishes featured in the monthly specials.
We were rather puzzled by how to proceed to make payment for the meals when we were done and ready to leave. We were given a slip with the items we ordered, so we thought we may have to pay at a counter somewhere. I started walking with my credit card and the slip of paper, and almost walked out of the restaurant. My aunt spotted a cash register behind a pillar, tucked in an awkward corner. We asked the staff if we could pay there, she said yes.
Some of the dishes here definitely need some fine tuning to be very good or outstanding. Service was what that helps to give this place a solid 4 stars from me. This place definitely has potential and room for improvement. I may pop by one day to have what I originally planned to order. We shall see.