Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant 阿一鲍鱼富臨
楊貫一 (Mr. Yeung Koon), better known as 阿一 (Ah Yat) is currently employed at Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant Holdings Pte. Ltd. in the position of Founder. He is the famous chef from Hong Kong known as “Abalone King”.
The restaurant specialises in abalone (from Japan) of course! The abalone offered can cost an average of US$7200 per kilogram.
Did you know that Forum Restaurant is a 1-starred Michelin Cantonese restaurant, originally established in 1977 on Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong?
If you are interested to know his rags to riches story, click here.
I dined at Ah Yat’s when they first opened in Turf City more than a decade ago. They serve wonderful Cantonese cuisine with a huge display of live seafood aquariums where you can dictate your own menu. My most recent trip to Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant was last Thursday (3rd October 2013).
I must admit I haven’t ate at Ah Yat’s for some time due to my stay overseas mainly in the Middle Eastern region and Melbourne. Eating at Ah Yat’s is nostalgic for me as we used to have family dinners there quite often (about twice a week) when my girls were younger.
This was the first time I had hairy crabs from Ah Yat. In comparison to the price I paid for hairy crabs at Capital Restaurant, I think Ah Yat’s were far superior in terms of taste and the amount of crab roe in the crustaceans (they know how to choose their crabs, either that or they had better supplier). The price was about the same, give and take a little.
Hairy Crabs season has just begun so the roe are not plentiful yet. I couldn’t wait for November to arrive, so I had to tucked in two as a prelude to hopefully, a 500g crab later! I will definitely go back for more. Maybe just crabs and vegetables 😀
The other Cantonese cuisine I had from this set menu seemed heavy but I did not felt that way as they were portioned adequately for one person. But if you are a small eater, or would like to eat more hairy crabs, choose one of their many set meal and share with a makan kaki (wifey, partner, blah blah blah…).
Ah Yat’s group of restaurants has many promotional set menus at discounted prices. My friend did the ordering for one of those sets. I did not know what would be served until I studied the blue chit while seated. Anyway, here’s our 6+1 course dinner inclusive of a hairy crab (see yesterday’s post).
“Menu” for tonight’s dinner.
Actually, this was meant for the server. They would strike off the food which had been served as they come.
1st course, an appetizer.
Marinated Shredded Chicken and…
Deep-fried Diced Abalone Shrimp Cake.
Braised Shark’s fin with Crab Roe but I didn’t get any roe.
I prefer black vinegar instead of the red. The taste is different. I find the black sweeter and the red slightly tangy, more sour. I will splash a little more black than red (if the restaurant does not offer black).
There’s taugeh (beanshoots) under the fin but nope, no roe to be found.
Cannot find crab roe in my shark’s fin and yet so happy, you know why? See the menu for next dish 😉
Stewed Whole South Africa Abalone with Japanese Mushroom and Kale.
The menu said 3 head Abalone (in Chinese). Do you know what that means? Am I getting 3 abalone or an abalone with 3 heads?
1, 2, 3, 4, etc… etc… headed abalone is a term used to grade the pricing, or the size or a special feature of the abalone. The ‘heads’ refer to the weight of the abalone.
Traditionally, it’s counted in 1 kati or 600g in metrics. 1-headed abalone means there is only 1 piece in a kati i.e. 600g each. 2-headed means there are 2 abalone in a kati i.e. 300g each. Mine was 3-headed so it was 200g (600g/3head = 200g).
Time to eat!
Hairy crab that came with the set meal. A small one about 175g.
Hairy crab also known as Chinese Mitten Crab.
You only get to eat this once a year.
Hairy crab is an autumn delicacy in Shanghai cuisine and eastern China. It is prized for the crab roe.
Stew Beancurd & Vegetable with Crab Roe.
The menu states crab roe but I don’t see any. Did the chef pulverised the roe or am I colour blind?
This is not Ye Zi Mei bao “叶子楣包”. Steamed Shanghai Dumpling with Crab Roe aka XLB (小笼包) but not so 小 also. So how? 中笼包? Hahaha…
XLB or 小笼包, of course must eat with 浙醋 or Zhejiang Black Vinegar and some ginger julienne. Yummy!!! The meat was packed full of flavour.
Oh no, forgot to check if inside got crab roe! Panick after the dough skin broke and all the heavely juices flowed out
Double-boiled Bird’s Nest in Almond Juice.
There’s quite a generous amount of Yan Wo “燕窝” in this dessert. I am salivating too, not just the swallows, hahaha…
This set meal cost S$138 per pax.
There are many promotions from Ah Yat. I’m sure you will find a menu to your liking.
Ah Yat Abalone Forum Restaurant 阿一鲍鱼富臨
Hotel Grand Pacific.
101 Victoria Street.
Singapore 188018.
Tel: +65 6332 2288
Operating Hours: Daily
11.15am – 2.30pm (Lunch)
5.45pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)
Ah Yat Seafood 阿一海鲜
Turf City: +65 68832112
UE Square: +65 62358779
Bird Payk (Jurong): +65 62658218
Their stronghold is in serving abalone (having done so for the past 30+ years), as well as other various seafood and Cantonese dishes.
To see the restaurant’s promotions click here.
If you are interested to know about the nutritional value of dried abalone, click here.
Information credit: Online Resources and Wikipedia.
You are so beautiful, you should be a model! The food looks very tasty (except for the crab LOL!)
Looks like a very nice place to eat. The presentation of the food is very artistic. Looks too good to eat! Just hang it on the wall.
I sincerely hope to eat with you in Asia one day, Laura. It’s a different culture but one I’m sure you will enjoy even if you won’t touch the hairy crabs, the scorpions (deep-fried), the cockroaches and gecko (in TCM), lol… :p
There’s no way we can have a meal of abalone here in the US. It’s kind of protected here, at least in california.
Ren, have you decided to put Bangkok on your itinerary? When you come to Singapore with your family, remember to try the foods I posted. I try to do some ratings nowadays so you can have a rough guide on where and what to eat. Do check out some street food (hawker centres and food courts) from my earlier posts. 😀
Bangkok is included, but now, we are talking about just one or two countries ( exluding the Philippines coz that;s where we’ll be originating) due to some money problems. ( My parents are constructing a vacation house in the Philoppines… you’ve read about that, right? And you know, the cost is escalating, so much more than the original ) we just checked how much it would cost to go to Japan from the Philippines. IT’S HUGE ! ! ! The choice now is just go to Japan ONLY, or exclude Japan and go to Singapore and Thailand. We still don’t know . My aunt is checking out what we can do with the least amount of expenses, ha ha ha. She has friends in Singapore who can put out the mat for us, ha ha, and Mom more or less knows her way around Singapore ( although she admits a lot have changed… we stayed there for one month when I was 4, ha ha ) then go to Thailand . We’ll see. We still have 9 months to think it over.
Oh ya, 9 months you have a lot of time to consider. Who knows, you may want to go to Korea, the “in” country to visit these days. Japan is still ever popular but K pop has taken over for the last decade and escalating these 5 years or more, haha… at least in Asia.
WOW Sam! and what an incredible story Ah-yat has. I’ve never had abalone. I think we aren’t allowed to fish for them off the California coast anymore. Protected species.
On another note. Is it the rainy season for you? are you getting rain from those typhoons in your area?
Hi Janet, I didn;t realise Ah Yat is awarded 1 star Michelin until I did this post. Yes, an incredible story of Ah Yat indeed!
We used to buy canned abalone from Mexico and a tin cost S$99 then (20 years ago). This dried version is more expensive (any delicacy in Chinese cuisine that has been dried usually cost more, even the mushrooms and scallops etc…) but Ah Yat has made them affordable to heartlanders (average income earners). Abalone has always been prized fresh or dried and was considered “discarded” food from the west. I did not know it is protected species. I also hear that female crabs are banned by certain countries in the west and Australia as they are deemed destructive (their burrowing nature). Oh well, as long as these are available (not banned) in Singapore restaurants, I will eat them.
The monsoon is starting and so the rain but no typhoon in our area as we are a tiny island sheltered by the bigger boys (Malaysia, Indonesia… you can see on the world map).
How’s things on your side of the world? 😀
Delicate and delicious ,Jalal
Thanks for visiting Jalal 😀
Niice post my freind 🙂
Thank you my dear friend 😀
Who are you??? Abalone, roe, shark’s fin and hairy crab at one sitting? Obviously I am in the presence of food royalty.
I am on one knee with head bowed in deference. Please let me know when I may get up – my knee is hurting me. 🙂
You should only be on one knee when proposing or taking photos, lol… Ah Yat has many good (and most importantly tasty) deals so they are affordable to non royalties like me. Do remember this place when you come to Singapore. There are few branches around the island but this one is in town so easier for transportation. Thanks for enjoying this meal with me:D