On Friday night, we had a nice dinner at Dian Xiao Er restaurant in Vivocity. 
The first to arrive was Nic’s elder sister and her husband. While waiting for the rest of us, they walked to and fro Vivocity to see if there are better options available but after scrutinizing a few menus, Dian Xiao Er still won out even though they were the only one who refused to book a table for us.
Instead, Dian Xiao Er uses a different system called the Priority Queue. After you have called to book, you will be given a priority to be seated at the next available table when you and all of your guests have arrived. This means you won’t get to be seated until all of your guests have arrived, but you won’t have to join the back of the queue either. This maximizes their efficiency while being fair to the customers.
Since we couldn’t be seated until all of us had arrived, we hung around for a while at the entrance. I then noticed a rather clever promotion to maximize their turnover. You’ll get 12% discount if you are the among the first ten patrons to arrive for dinner at between 5:30pm to 6:30pm!
Don’t think of trying to cheat by sending one guest to get there earlier though. Again, this is only valid when all of your guests have also arrived so that they can serve the food immediately.
Nic’s sister ordered the set menu for six pax so we didn’t have to crack our brains to figure out what to eat. When all of us finally got here half an hour later, a waitress in a very cute traditional Chinese Xiao Er costume guided us to our seats. I was amazed by how authentic the restaurant’s decor is to its theme. It really felt like we were in a traditional inn situated inside an ancient chinese village in the mountains, just like those you would have seen in old kung fu movies. I half-expected the patrons to be dressed in traditional cheong sams and sam fus. 
The moment our butts touched the chairs, another waitress in the adorable Xiao Er outfit appeared with six bowls of soup while the waitress who had guided us in took down our orders for drinks.
Nic helped to vinegar and pepper my soup. Before I’d had five slurps, the rest of the dishes arrived. Our small table was happily crowded all the way to its very end with dishes and more dishes! Nic’s dad looked dazed for a while to see so much food arriving all at once. I was so surprised at the speed of the service since the whole restaurant was very busy. After we’d had the chance to blink our eyes, we dug in indulgently!
The food was hot and aromatic. It succeeded in refreshing our senses after a long day. Our favorites from the menu were definitely the herbal roast duck and the baked fresh prawn (JiangNan style). Not that we could find any fault with the rest of the dishes.
According to an interview with Samuel Yik who is the owner of Dian Xiao Er, the duck is roasted in a special oven from Germany which helps to keep the meat plump and juicy even though the skin gets dried and crisped. The herbal flavor reminded me of a really good roast duck we’ve had in Johor Bahru. I didn’t think I’d be able to get the same thing in Singapore city.
Since they served us so speedily, I wondered if they would hint we should leave quickly after finishing the meal so that they could use the table for another group of hungry patrons. Thankfully, they didn’t make this faux pas.
The Xiao Ers who served us were very pleasant. Their smiles were warm, they looked really fresh and energetic. As a result, the whole family stayed on for quite some time to catch up with each other.
One other thing that surprised me was how well Dian Xiao Er had planned the set menu. When we finished the dessert which was a platter of sliced fresh fruits, we discovered we had neither had too much nor too little. It was just enough to feel satisfied, comfortable and contented.
Dian Xiao Er is located at #02-137/8 VivoCity, Singapore. Tel: (65) 6376 9786 Email: enquiry@dianxiaoer.net
Opening hours are Mon - Fri, 11:30am - 2:30pm, 5:30pm - 9:30pm / Weekend and Public Holiday, 11:30am - 3:00pm, 5:30pm - 9:30pm, (last order 9.30 pm)
Disclosure: These photos were not taken by me but are from the Dian Xiao Er restaurant website.
