Ba Xian 八仙 @ Raffles Place (2026)

A family gathering for a cousin that we have not met for years, a wonderful lunch ensued.

An intimate yet stunning dining venue, Ba Xian Dining Room is established as one of Singapore’s best Chinese restaurants. Reflecting Singapore’s rich Chinese heritage, the décor is ‘Chinois chic’ – contemporary with subtle touches of oriental. Expertly-crafted, delicate yet sumptuous Cantonese-style cuisine is served on designer chinaware from Wedgwood. 

Ba Xian Chinese restaurant has an amazing view of the CBD and the sea. Service was also on point with regular refills of tea, changing of new tableware and setting of the table. This was our lunch.

点心精选 Dim Sum Appetiser

First up, a quartet of their best-selling dim sums. (LR) 上海小笼包 Steamed Shanghai Xiao Long Bao, 鲜虾炸角仔 Deep-Fried Prawns and Yam Dumplings, 黄金鲜虾饺 Steamed Golden Har Kow and 鱼子鸡肉烧卖 Steamed Chicken Siew Mai. They are famous for their dim sum, and these did not disappoint. The Shanghai xiaolongbao was better the famous DTF, and the golden hargow with its bouncy thin skin was pretty and delicious at the same time.

脆皮烧肉 Roasted Pork Belly with English Mustard

脆皮烧肉 Roasted Pork Belly with English Mustard did not disappoint as well. Crispy skin and tender, moist meat, how did they get that so right?

港式蜜汁烧叉腩 Barbecue Pork Belly Char Siew

The Iberico pork char siew was too lean for my liking, even though the flavour was spot on. Mental note to self – must remind them next time to give me the half-fat, half-lean cuts.

蒜蓉冬粉蒸竹蚌 Steamed NZ Bamboo Clams with Garlic and Vermicelli

蒜蓉冬粉蒸竹蚌 Steamed NZ Bamboo Clams with Garlic and Vermicelli was the special of the season. Bamboo clams, aka razor clams, are long, thin, edible bivalves known for their sweet flavour and firm, tender texture. And when they were this fresh, you don’t need much except to steam them appropriately with minced garlic and finished with a Cantonese style soy sauce drizzle.

海味焖芥菜煲 Braised Mustard Lettuce with Shredded Fish Maw, Black Mushroom, Dried Scallop and Shrimp

Instead of soup, I ordered their 海味焖芥菜煲 Braised Mustard Lettuce with Shredded Fish Maw, Black Mushroom, Dried Scallop and Shrimp, which is like a shark fin soup without the shark fin.

One order was good for 7 of us. The ingredients were quite generous with large pieces of Shiitake mushrooms, crab meat (watch out for the occasional shell), and strips fish maw (fish stomach) and dried scallops. Delicious even without the vinegar as the mustard green added the bulk and reduced the fishiness of the soup.

避风塘烧鸭 Roasted Duck Marinated with Five Spice Powder, Garlic and Ginger

Typhoon shelter or 避风塘 is a safe harbour for boats to hide away from the frequent typhoons that hit the island. They also serve as quays for these fishermen to berth when the fishing season is over. And many would then function as floating restaurants, serving delicious seafood. One of the technique that came out of these boats is the typhoon-shelter stir fry, which uses a lot of garlic and curry leaves (or basil) to enhance the flavours of shellfish and crustaceans.

Chef here used the same technique for the roasted duck. The duck is covered with a layer of deep fried garlic which is crispy and puffy like rice puffs. Together with the crispy duck with moist and flavourful meat that was roasted to perfect, this was a surprising hit for all of us.

家乡炒面线 Fried “Mee Swa” with Sliced Prawn, Pork Char Siew, Assorted Capsicums and Egg

This fried “Mee Sua”, aka fine rice noodles, is one of their signature. It is difficult to fry Mee Sua without turning them into mush with too much oil or totally broken up with too much movement. They nailed it every time I ordered this dish.

The noodle was still intact and not too oily, yet retained all the necessary wokhei. I liked the beansprouts in the mix but if you are not into those, please tell them to exclude it.

The dessert menu came as a little red book, handwritten with what was available. The last time I was so engrossed in the conversation that I forgot to take the photos. This time I made sure I captured the Chinese pastries that are sold separately in single pieces.

流沙煎堆 Deep-Fried Salted Egg Glutinous Rice Dumpling

The luscious, creamy salted egg filling with the crunch glutinous rice shell was a mush-order. The skin was slightly sweetened to balance off with the savoury filling.

玫瑰豆沙窝饼 Crispy Red Bean Pancake

This was my niece favourite dessert since young. The red bean paste had a little rose and date taste to it, which is not what we remembered as childhood favourites. But this dessert was not too sweet, and so qualified as a good dessert.

蛋白杏仁糊 Almond Paste with Egg White

And I always order the almond paste if it is available in the menu. And this one was really smooth. Even my cousin who was stuffed to the brim finished his.

The Tower Club was established in 1997 and it has since been the club for business meetings and gatherings. There are three main dining establishments within Tower Club at the top of Republic Plaza. 

• Atlantic: Western / Continental, both set meals and a la carte available
• Ba Xian: Chinese Fine Dining, with an amazing Dim Sum menu on Saturdays
• Straits Bar: As the name suggests, it is a Bar – though Afternoon High Tea is available at midday

Amex Platinum Charge card and Amex Express Platinum Reserve card members are given reciprocal access to Tower Club. While visitations require a pre-booking with the Amex Concierge service, I’ve never had a problem with the process as long as you are not calling to request for popular dates.

The very formal setting is truly quiet and exclusive. I can’t think of a better place for corporate lunches – there’s even meeting rooms that can be booked – do enquire with the Amex concierge in advance however. Reciprocal members (like Amex) have to pay 10% extra though.

The Tower Club Singapore – Ba Xian
9 Raffles Place Penthouse (62nd – 64th Floors)
Republic Plaza Tower 1 Singapore 048619
Tel : +65  6737 3388

Visited Mar 2026

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