Xfrens Café and Restaurant

A little typical chinese restaurant on the edge of the
SS18 housing area, Xfrens has quickly gained popularity over the past few years. Recently, they did a complete refurbishing of their shop and extended the indoor seating area to seat more people.
Most evenings, you’ll see the restaurant is full of people, but it is relatively quick if you wish to wait for a seat. People are constantly coming and going so at the most you would only have to wait 10 minutes. Service here is excellent, all the waiters are very attentive and patient and always repeat the order clearly and slowly.
One of the dishes that XFrens are famous for is the marmite pork ribs. The ribs are tender inside and crunchy outside and are coated in just the right ammount of marmite so that it is not too tasteless nor too salty. A personal favorite of mine is the Lemon Chicken. The small portion can easily be shared by up to 4 – 5 people.

I don’t know why there’s a café in the name when Xfrens is obviously a ‘tai chow’ Chinese restaurant, but I’ll just leave it at that. It’s a small coffee shop like restaurant with round tables as most Chinese restaurants do to make it family friendly, and because it is quite popular especially during Chinese celebrations, booking may be required or there will be a long wait before you get a table. They are quite strict with the bookings. If you say you’re coming at 7pm, be sure that everyone is there at 7pm, or they may not give you a table until everyone’s present. This is all depending on the crowd on that day.
The food in general is good but the portions are small. Either you order two of the same dishes or order more variety. I would recommend the friend brinjals, crispy fried pork, marmite pork, and tofu (with salted egg I think). The food comes almost all in one go. So once you’re first dish arrives, get ready for a flurry of other dishes to come in. Don’t worry about not having enough space on the Lazy Susan, the waiters will clear the empty dishes and put the leftovers of a dish on a smaller plate.