My friends and I sampled the specialties of the newly opened Xiù (Chinese for “elegant”)—a Cantonese restaurant in Greenhills that offers an eclectic array of dishes, including a selection of live seafood.
Xiù is a collaboration between Hong Kong nationals Lawrence Koo (owner of West Villa) and executive chef David Cheung. True to its name, the restaurant exudes elegance both through its charming old-world interiors and in the masterful way the dishes are prepared and styled.
Chef Cheung, whose career spans 30 years, has graced the kitchens of West Villa and the famed Lei Garden. The secret to his dishes is the use of age-old cooking techniques—the tedious process of making stocks and sauces from scratch, the long hours of simmering, the procurement of hard-to-find ingredients, and the expertise to put all these together.
No shortcuts
The Double-Boiled Fish Maw and Almond Soup is one dish that best represents Xiù.
There are simply no shortcuts to make this dish. It takes at least six hours to prepare—from putting the fish maw, pig’s lungs, chicken, chicken feet, ginkgo nuts, pork and almonds in a clay pot, to submerging in water (though not totally), and slow-cooking until all the natural essences from the ingredients are extracted.
The resulting broth is milky, sweet, nutty. Some enjoy the soup as is for its clean taste. Some want to drizzle it with soy sauce. Doing so transforms it from pristine to multidimensional.
On the side comes a plateful of chicken, pork, chicken feet, nuts—all the other ingredients that were boiled in the clay pot, served with the soup.
This is not your usual soup. I recommend it if you wish to have something out of the ordinary, or would like to explore new tastes. It is very healthy, too. Fish maw is rich in protein and collagen. It has healing, energy-boosting and anti-aging properties. Almond soup is also good for the lungs and the skin.
Modern dishes
While Xiù takes pride in applying age-old cooking techniques, it also offers modern dishes and classic favorites. The menu is designed to depict the vibrancy of the Hong Kong dining scene.
Just like authentic Cantonese cuisine, the dishes served at Xiù are not masked with heavy seasonings or spices. Instead, food is cooked and prepared such that the ingredients are allowed to shine in their purest state.
Xiù’s menu is also peppered with new takes on dishes such as the Taro Puff. Theirs is stuffed with scallops and truffles.
Another popular dish is melt-in-your-mouth US Beef Short Ribs, slow-cooked with a very light Asian gravy.
The Baked Black Ink Rice is also not typical, created exclusively for Xiù. Nothing like black paella, it is a delicate, black ink-smeared rice dish with seafood, green onions and crunchy bits of rice that had formed a crust at the bottom of the clay pot.
Personal favorites
My personal favorites, however, are not the highfalutin’ dishes but those that give me comfort.
How many times have we judged a restaurant for its sweet and sour pork? Simple as the dish is, it’s not easy to perfectly balance the two tastes. A bit more sugar makes it too sweet. One more drop of acid makes it too tart. Also, we want the outside of the pork to be crunchy, and the inside soft, moist and tender.
Of the many dishes we ordered at Xiù, this was the first to be wiped out. Not a morsel was left on the plate. Needless to say, it was well-executed. Like the other dishes we had, this was cooked with a light hand. Not one taste overpowered the other.
My other personal favorite was the Honey Glazed Prime Cut Char Siu. Sliced an inch thick, it was so tender, moist and tasty. The honey laced the meat with just a tinge of sweetness.
The Wok Fried E-Fu Noodle with Dried Shrimp Roe, though understated and devoid of frills, was so packed with flavor and proved to be an easy eat.
From simple to complex, traditional to modern, there is a dish for every craving or mood—for everyone—at Xiù.
Xiù Fine Cantonese Dining, 115 Connecticut St. Northeast Greenhills, San Juan; Call 6507189.