Whenever we think about Chinese Food, Sichuan Cuisine comes to our mind straight away. However, there more to Chinese food than just peppercorns and chills. Introducing to you one of the many other Chinese cuisines, Silk Road Cuisine by Alijiang, a Northern Chinese Restaurant located at Vivo City.
Silk Road Cuisine originates from places and countries along the Silk Road, taking influences from both Middle Eastern/ Muslim Cuisine and Chinese Cuisine mainly. At Alijiang, the restaurant takes culinary inspiration from the ancient Silk Road and it specialises in finding the perfect balance between flavour and aesthetic plating. Alijiang, serves a variety of dishes ranging from appetisers, mains, desserts and more which is new to most of the Singaporean taste palette! In collaboration with Eatigo, I had the pleasure to try some of Alijiang’s dishes! As Alijiang is one of the merchants on Eatigo, you’ll be able to enjoy up to 50% time-based discount on their altar carte dishes (including the dishes mentioned below, other than the whole roasted lamb) when you make reservation using Eatigo!
Starting with appetisers, the appetisers offered at Alijiang are rather light, mainly consisting of fresh vegetables and fruits which is a rather nice and “healthy” way to start of your meal. Two of my favourite appetisers were the Cherry Tomato & Lychee, and Serindia Homemade ‘Niang’ noodles.
As the name of the dish says it all, the Cherry Tomato & Lychee is made of preserved cherry tomatoes and Lychee. The cherry tomatoes skin were hand peeled and soaked in a sweet and sour tasting lychee marinate. As a result, when you eat the cherry tomatoes, they are more succulent and taste like lychee as well which complements with the tanginess of the tomatoes. This dish is both refreshing and appetising. If you like lychees or fruit salads, give this dish a try as it is something different.
The Serindia Homemade ‘Niang’ Noodles is a cold dish made up of niang noodles, beancurd puffs, peanuts and some shredded mixed vegetables tossed in a special thick spicy sauce. The niang noodles are similar to our local kway teow but it’s chewier and more and feels more substantial with every mouthful. What makes this dish great would be none other than the spicy sauce which is very flavourful and brings together all these simple ingredients to make a great dish!
before the sauce was poured
after mixing with the spicy sauce
For the mains, I’ve managed to try the famous Xinjiang ‘Dapanji’ and the Claypot Redpepper Chicken.
The Xinjiang ‘Dapanji’ is a famous dish in Xinjiang China. It is a hearty chicken stew with potatoes served on a big plate as it’s name suggest. The stew is rich, full of flavours and it is spicy as well (a bit of the mala taste to it).
You can also add on noodles to the dish to soak up and enjoy the flavoursome gravy of the stew. This is one of the more popular dish at Alijiang and definitely worth ordering to share.
The Claypot Redpepper Chicken consist of chicken slices stirred fried in black sauce, garlic and onions. This dish was tasted pretty normal and was not very spicy although there was red pepper inside it.
Lastly for dessert, I had the Steamed Glutinous Cake with Osmanthus Flower Syrup. This delicate looking dessert is similar to our Kueh Kueh but the glutinous rice was much softer and chewier. This dessert wasn’t too sweet and glutinous rice had raisins and dried cranberries to add on another texture and taste to it. The fragrant Osmanthus Flower Syrup makes a nice pairing with it as well. It is a very humble oriental dessert which it reminds me of those Chinese period dramas where the emperor will be sipping tea with his concubines and enjoy their sweet snacks which looks just like this dessert!
I also had the privilege to try Alijiang’s Signature Roasted Whole Lamb! Sadly, this dish is not included in the Eatigo time-based promotion. This roasted delight is made using a 6-8 months lamb weighing around 15kg. The lamb is marinated for a whole day and roasted in the oven for 5 hours. It is good for sharing with 10-15 paxs (or maybe even more) on special occasions! A variety of condiments together with wraps and baked naans will be served with it as well, so that you can enjoy the lamb in different ways! Please note that for this dish, 3 days advance reservation has to be made ahead.
*not included in Eatigo discount
So, what are you waiting for! Come on down to Alijiang to get a taste of what Silk Road Cuisine is like! It will definitely evoke your tastebuds and introduce new flavours that you have never tasted before. Also remember to use Eatigo to make your reservations if you want to get some savings while dining at Alijiang!
Alijiang
Address: Vivo City, 1 Harbourfront Walk #03-11, Singapore 098585
Opening hours: Monday – Sunday: 11:30am – 3:00pm (Last order at 2:15pm), 5:30pm – 10:00pm (Last order: 9:15pm)
