SINGAPORE (July 23): Sebastian Goh has fond memories of the mee sua cooked by his mother. So when he was tasked with creating a Chinese menu that eschews unhealthy flavour enhancers in favour of fresh, natural ingredients, he immediately thought of recreating her recipe.

At Yellow Pot, a modern Chinese restaurant and bar at boutique hotel Six Senses Duxton, Goh serves a mouth-watering stir-fried mee sua ($18++) infused with the flavours of tiger prawns, Hokkaido scallops and caramelised Nanyang soy sauce. The result is a dish with the deceptive appearance of stir-fried beehoon, but with a softer texture and much more depth.


Chef Goh serves a version of his favourite childhood mee sua with tiger prawns and scallops

In keeping with the Six Senses emphasis on wellness and sustainability, Yellow Pot offers a range of Chinese classics that have been tweaked so they are healthier or more sustainable. The result is pleasing, as the food tastes almost home-cooked.

A great example is the fish dish: steamed Kühlbarra barramundi ($22++) that is sustainably farmed. It is topped with a house-made scallion-ginger pesto of ginger, coriander and spring onions that packs a pungent punch. Instead of soy sauce, the fish is served with a stock of anchovies, fish bones and fish trimmings. This reduces wastage while allowing the freshness of the fish to stand out.

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For a dish of chilled organic vine-ripened tomatoes ($8++), Yellow Pot has sourced the tomatoes from a Malaysian farm and serves them with micro herbs from a local farm. The tomatoes are soaked in a juice of liquorice root, mint leaves and rock sugar for three days. Although they continue to look like and have the texture of tomatoes, they taste like Chinese dried sour plums.

 

The standout item on the menu is probably the roast duck ($32++ for half a duck). It is marinated for two days with star anise, bay leaf, fermented bean curd, cinnamon and locally produced five-spice powder. The duck is then roasted in an Apollo oven — a type employed traditionally for ducks — using hickory wood chips. The skin comes out shiny and just mildly crispy; the meat is tender without falling apart.

Wash everything down with the hand-blended almond tea ($7++). Goh adds a Chinese take to almond milk by adding the southern and northern almonds — better known as nan xing bei xing — to the mix. It is a warm glass of comfort.

There is nothing homely about Yellow Pot’s décor, though. The black, yellow and gold colour scheme is sharp, like a chic Chinese woman. At one end of the restaurant, a shelf filled with the restaurant’s namesake yellow pots lines the wall. Most of the other walls are plastered with large copies of a deed for a property that the hotel’s designer Anouska Hempel owned for many years. The contrast between the contemporary surroundings and the almost classical cuisine works, elevating what might be a simple meal into an elegant experience.

Yellow Pot
88 Duxton Road
Tel: 6914 1420

Opening hours
6.30am to 10.30am (breakfast),
11.30am to 2.30pm (lunch),
5.30pm to 10.30pm (dinner),
11am to midnight (bar)