Steamed Cod stuffed with Mushrooms and Water Chestnuts in Paper Roll from Jiang-Nan Chun. Essentially a light, juice-cleansed and yoga-performing deconstructed Chinese soya glace fish bear-hugged by a chewy, fleshy Vietnamese rice paper roll creature. 3.9/5 This was a hosted meal, courtesy of Jiang-Nan Chun. Jiang-Nan Chun 190 Orchard Boulevard…
Jiu Zhuang Xiaolongbao infused with Single Malt Whisky (?!?) from Jiu Zhuang, a Chinese dim sum bar tucked deep in Dempsey forestry. Essentially soup dumplings gone all Eyes Wide Shut-esque libertine debauchery, with the whisky striking with an arresting fumes-y, throat-drying vengeance. 4/5 Jiu Zhuang Block 6C & 6D Dempsey…
Glorious Prosperity Yu Sheng with Baby Abalone from Indocafe. Essentially a Peranakan curry chap chye-esque take on yu sheng, with the mischievously spicy nyonya sauce having a tentative yet beguilingly intriguing rendezvous with the raw salmon slices and the candied citrus peel adding a youthful glow to the proceedings. Unexpectedly…
Special Char Siew from Char Restaurant. A life-changing, life-affirming experience, and deserving to be the locus classicus for glazed char siew. The stupendously fatty char siew has but a mere sliver of chewable flesh in each block, every other inch being unadulterated, molten sweet fat which melts on your tongue…
Sweet & Sour Pork on the Rocks from Kai Garden. While the glacial context keeps the coats of the McNugget-esque meat balls fairly chilled, the balls intriguingly maintain both coat crispness and a comforting level of bodily warmth. 3.7/5 This was a hosted meal, courtesy of Kai Garden. Kai Garden…
Superior Lobster Fortune Pot from Mitzo – braised lobster in Mao Tai wine, abalone, dried scallop, flower mushroom, sea cucumber, deep-fried fish maw, dried oyster, roast duck, cabbage, lotus root, white radish, roasted pork belly, and fa cai. Quite the blockbuster experience. The roasted pork belly’s skin is gloriously crispy…
Crispy Roast Pork with Chilli Oil Dip from Sum Yi Tai. The salty skin grudgingly crackled thus fulfilling its titular obligation, but the meat itself had the tired toughness of a sixty-three year old roast meat stall auntie, and the Hong Kong cafe-esque chilli and mustard only serve as coarse…
Lychee prawn from Lin Rooftop Bar – chopped tiger prawns sautéed with garlic and stuffed in whole lychee, served on a bed of savoury tomato concasse sauce. The lychees wrap their angel wings around the happily garlicky prawns like a possessive crazy ex-girlfriend, positively smothering the prawns with sweet, sweet…
Savoury soya milk panna cotta with shoyu jelly, oriental minced pork and century egg from The East Bureau. Essentially the savoury soyness of salty Taiwanese beancurd (think Yong He Eating House in Geylang) meets the supple softness of Lao Ban beancurd, with lots of random elements sprawled on top for…