We had our reservations when we first heard of VLV, an “all-in-one lifestyle destination combining luxury dining, entertainment and nightlife concepts”. It’s easy to pull out the old “too many cooks spoil the broth” proverb, but in the good hands of Executive Head Chef Martin Foo, VLV has been earning its stripes as a legit modern Cantonese restaurant since opening late last year.
Housed in the old Indochine premises, VLV enjoys a spacious interior with all the mod cons – reminding us of a luxury hotel lobby (in a good way). We were expecting the menu prices to match the restaurant’s ambience, but with a dim sum meal costing just a tad higher than your typical Cantonese restaurant, it makes for an affordable dining experience. This is proven even more so in their latest lunch sets, which we previewed. Here are some of the standout dishes.
Sea Prawn with Nutritious Herbal Soup
The soup looked clear and light, but the flavours were anything but. Heady with Chinese herbs, hua diao jiu and crustacean brininess, it was typically Cantonese in character and thus not very exciting, but this traditional number was a nutritious and delicious start to kick off lunch.
Singapore Chilli Crab Bun
A tad tangier than the tomato and egg sauce-heavy rendition that we’ve become familiar with, VLV’s Chilli Crab Bun is a hollowed-out mantou stuffed with crabmeat that would last all of two bites but that’s more than adequate, considering how generous the fillings are.
Claypot Prawn with Ginger, Scallion and Dried Chilli
At first glance, this dish didn’t appeal visually – it reminded us of a hastily put-together tzi-char dish. But once we had our first taste, we couldn’t stop slurping up the vermicelli, which had thoroughly absorbed all the goodness of the ingredients. Best of all, it was imbued with a strong wok hei, leaving us to wonder how chef Martin conjured up this magic without burning the delicate rice noodles.
Kimchi Seafood Fried Rice
Not quite a standard Cantonese item, the Kimchi Seafood Fried Rice is an interesting change from standard “carbohydrate” components of a set lunch in a Chinese restaurant. The kimchi taste isn’t very strong here, but other elements such as the welcome appearance of soccarat and a wobbly egg holds this rice dish together well.
Set lunches available from $48++ per person (minimum 2 persons) for the Creations menu. Please refer to the attached menu for full price list.
