We were in the mood for something new and fancy. Heard about the newly opened Xiu Fine Cantonese Dining in Connecticut Greenhills. This was previously Lugang, a restaurant I have purposefully avoided for personal reasons. It was too late when I learned that Xiu was from the same management group. >.<
Made reservations days before and learned that they provide 2-seating schedules for dinner; 6pm and 8pm. We got the 6pm slot and drove all the way to Greenhills.
As you enter, no one greets you or guides you to your table. It took awhile before someone came over to assist us. Soft opening jitters perhaps?
We were seated by the huge windows, near the fountain/waterfall decor. There was a friendly fly that kept on coming back to our table. It was starting to get irritating but they soon offered a candle for the table. Krystle arrived a little after six. While waiting for our dishes to arrive, they served us the traditional peanuts for snacking.
The first dish that piqued our interest was their Honey-glazed Prime Cut Char Siu (Php 680).
The name alone makes your mouth water; expectations were definitely high for this one. It didn't take long before they placed this on our table. Serving size is 3-4 people. Right off the bat, you'll notice that they cut the pork much thicker than usual which unfortunately bit them in the ass. This was tough to cut & chew, looked a bit pale and lacked flavor. Needless to say, for something that advertises itself as a "prime cut", it sure wasn't evident in this dish. Food-Stars Verdict? With the hefty price tag & lackluster taste, this was a miss.
The next dish they served was the Sweet and Sour Pork (Php 480). We requested it to be crunchy and they were able to deliver on that. Food-Stars Verdict? More sauce would've made this better.
Since we weren't ordering rice, we decided to get a noodle dish instead. Settled on this one just because I wanted crispy noodles ;). The seafood was diced into itty bitty pieces so as to look a lot. This was a mishmash of mushrooms, shrimps & carrots all tossed together with the noodles and then drowned in the mediocre tasting sauce. Food-Stars Verdict? The noodles were soggy due to too much sauce. This would've been forgiven if only the sauce was tasty; it wasn't.
Curious to see how they played with the salted egg, we got one prawn each. My heart skipped a beat when I saw how HUGE the prawns were... but the happiness didn't last long. XIU Fine Cantonese Dining decided to serve them with the skins still on!!! Yes, all the salted egg goodness stuck to the skin & when you manage to peel the shrimps, it was as naked as a newborn babe! You had to scrape off the salted egg from the skin & then place it on the prawns. Food-Stars Verdict? I couldn't fathom why on earth they left the skins on the prawns when they cooked the salted egg. All three of us were shaking in disbelief the whole night. This was tasty but involved too much unnecessary work.
By this time, after getting served up with 4 dishes, we were all in agreement that we still haven't found a dish worth coming back for. We decided to give their menu one last go and ended up getting their Fried Squid in Chili & Salt (Php 580).
Crunchy & sliced thinly, this was a cut above the rest. The simplicity of this dish kept our expectations at a minimum therefore giving XIU a higher chance of getting this right. Simply put, this was good compared to the other dishes served but was not enough to enter our list of tasty Salt & Pepper Squid.
By the end of the meal, instead of feeling happy, all of us left with a sense of regret. We were really hoping to enjoy our dinner but the mediocre dishes plus the bad service all night were just too much.
Are we coming back? Nope.
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| Honey-Glazed Prime Cut Char Siu (Php 680) |
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| Sweet and Sour Pork (Php 480) |
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| Pan-Fried Crispy Noodles with Seafood (Php 480) |
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| Prawns with Salted Egg (Php 180/pc) |
By this time, after getting served up with 4 dishes, we were all in agreement that we still haven't found a dish worth coming back for. We decided to give their menu one last go and ended up getting their Fried Squid in Chili & Salt (Php 580).
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| Fried Squid in Chili & Salt (Php 580) |
By the end of the meal, instead of feeling happy, all of us left with a sense of regret. We were really hoping to enjoy our dinner but the mediocre dishes plus the bad service all night were just too much.
Are we coming back? Nope.
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XIU Fine Cantonese Dining, Greenhills
115 Connecticut Street,
Greenhills, San Juan City
(02) 6507189; (02) 6508428
(0947) 7070228
Facebook: XiuPh
Instagram: @XiuPh
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