Xing has been open for about a year now, but has until recently seemed to us like a puzzling underperformer on its bustling stretch of 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. By rights, this is where a quirky, neo-Asian bistro with entrées in the mid-teens and an extensive special cocktail menu ought to thrive. But there was that old menu… not bad in theory, but never really very compelling. So when the former chef parted ways with the restaurant and new chef Lulzim Rexhepi (introduced to us as ‘Lou’) came on the payroll, we hoped for a little change.

What we got, as we discovered at a menu relaunch and press event last week, was a massive overhaul of Pimp My Ride proportions. Very little of the old menu remains, and that is a wonderful thing. Xing now has a menu that holds its own against the cocktail list, a menu that is as imaginative as the zany interior it inhabits, a menu with some long overdue panache.

Our favorite dishes of the night were the sliced hamachi in mandarin and sweet chili sauce appetizer, an uncooked preparation of soft triangles of white fish that had us and our two table companions wishing for a larger portion. The sauce is pretty peppy, but subtle enough not to overwhelm the flavors of the thin, light-meat slices of yellowtail.

And then there were the ribs: two kinds of them. The first was another appetizer of BBQ Chinese Spare ribs, which were at once briny, sweet, and lightly sprinkled in furikake confetti. Some of the most tender pork we’ve eaten in a long while, these ribs were absolutely gorgeous. They’re also the most straightforward Asian dish on the revamped menu. The second appearance of ribs came in the form of the guava poached short rib entrée. Served with a luscious sweet potato purée, this dish encapsulates the modern, fusion approach taken by Chef Rexhepi, one that emphasizes pan-ethnic flavors that might be equally at home in a restaurant like Alias or Cru.

Our meal ended with the delivery of still-warm doughnut holes, rolled in a mixture of sugar and five spice powder. HungryMan declared them inspired, while I just sat back and took in their scent– the heat from the doughnuts created a table-enveloping aroma that I found bewitching. Although the doughnut holes were delivered with a small dish of strawberry sauce, neither we, nor our table companions thought it was a particularly good match for the five spice powder. Something creamy or chocolatey might have been a better pairing. But on their own, they were lovely.

There were just a few minor missteps in the menu we were served: the black cod with black truffle and galangal would actually have been much tastier without the truffles, whose flavors were completely buried by the galangal; and the pepper-crusted scallops were a little cold when they arrived to the table. Yet in the case of both of these dishes, the greens– designed to act only in supporting roles– were phenomenal. Overall, the new Xing impressed us enormously with the quality and creativity of its food. We can’t wait to see what the Rexhepi Dynasty will bring next.

Xing, 785 Ninth Avenue (at 52nd Street), 646-289-3010