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…
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…
Traditional salt baked crab from Joyden Treasures. Nude by Nature, Sephora or similar brands should definitely engage this crab for a “quote the code ‘SaltBakedMeGivesYouJoy’ for 15% off” social media outreach deal as it is positively glowing in its au naturel charms, being gloriously sweet and supple without a visible…
Crispy pumpkin, yam and sweet potato strips from Paradise Teochew Restaurant. Essentially what you get if ham chim peng (Chinese deep fried bread), muah chee and sweet potato had a rambunctiously greasy, chewy romp on country club hay. 3.7/5 This was a hosted meal, courtesy of Paradise Teochew Restaurant. Paradise Teochew…
Mitzo special barbecued pork. The skin of this amazing piggylicious delight must have been separated at birth from crème brûlée. I doodled a diagram in my notes whilst eating this – it was a circle labelled “middle” within a box with area outside the circle shaded and labelled “melts in…