Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe

Another restaurant which is very close to my heart is Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe (XWHKC). It is no wonder that it had to figure in FoodieExpress. This place came into focus from the time Sash was raving about the Iced lychee tea and the glasses they were served in. Another dish which pushed this restaurant onto our foodie express list was '/\'. Patience my dear readers. You will find out what '/\' is soon. After all we have to save the best for the last ;)

XWHKC have a couple of branches around the country. We chose to visit the one in Siglap since its the one closest to our homes. Located at the junction of East coast road and Upper east coast road, it is quite easy to find. Siglap is full of restaurants and XWHKC is one among them.


The place is nicely done up and has a chic ambience. They even have booths. Although, it required some amount of squeezing oneself between other tables to reach them. But once reached, one can park one's ass comfortably and look forward to a nice meal.

As their name suggests they serve food local to Macau, Shanghai and Hong Kong(I can't wait to go there) and do have a few vegetarian options. But I guess one has to be able to eat non-vegetarian food (also known as food here in Singapore) to enjoy most of the dishes. Amongst the common veggie items, one item which stood out was the Papaya soup. I hadn't heard of it before and was quite eager to try it. It comes in a huge bowl with vegetables, a cob of corn and a few huge chunks of papaya in a white coloured broth with ramen noodles inside. I have a soft corner in my heart for noodle soups. So its no wonder that I enjoyed the dish. Although, I felt it was slightly bland for my taste. The other dishes ordered were a baked veggie lasagne, a curry maggi dish and a chicken dish. Good food. Very fast and efficient service.

Oh! I forgot to talk about the drinks. Two items which must not be missed are the iced lychee tea and a cold Ying Yang. Many would have had the iced lychee tea, so am not going to describe it. But, many may not have had a Ying Yang. Before telling you what it is, I think you must know that it tastes delicious and is very refreshing. It has to be had cold and in a special steel tumbler that they serve it in, which I guess may be characteristic of Hong Kong.

Ying Yang is actually a mixture of Coffee and Tea! Weird combination no? But, trust me, it doesn't taste weird at all. After you take a sip, it is the flavour of the tea which hits you first. The coffee flavour hits you later once you have almost swallowed it. Since it is served cold, it can very refreshing on a hot day and still keep you alert at the same time. Both the flavours are not very intense. Very pleasant. This is my favourite drink at the restaurant!

And now, let me present to you the highlight of of the meal - the '/\'


Yes, its a mountain of shaved ice on a bed of mango pieces with mango sauce/puree dripping from its sides and a scoop of mango ice-cream on top. Mango lovers, this is a treat for you. One word to describe it -YUMTASTIC!!

It cost us about 80 dollars and we were totally 5 people. But, let me tell you that a couple of us hardly ate anything. So on an average, it might cost you about 20-25 dollars per head. Worth it!