Had visited Seng Coffee Bar quite some time back when they had first opened their doors and tried the Cempedak Creme Brûlée during that visit — was looking for somewhere to sit around since there was some time before dinner and thought why not settle here; especially considering how I had been wanting to check out this dish after rave reviews from a friend and how I loved Nan Lu everything as well.

For those who aren’t familiar with Nan Lu, it is essentially fermented bean curd — often used for marination of meats and comes with a really umami flavour profile. Whilst usually used as a marinade for pork dishes, it is interesting how they have used it for fried chicken here instead; the umami notes of the fermented bean curd is really distinct here — almost akin to that of prawn paste, providing the fried chicken chunks with a hint of sweetness atop from the familiar savoury and umami notes of Har Jeong Kai (i.e. Prawn Paste Chicken). The chicken comes coated with a batter that is reasonably thick, providing much of a crunch and bite while the flesh is juicy and tender — thought the chicken chunks were good on their own, but the housemade chili dip adds that zippiness and tang similar to that of the chili served with Hainanese Chicken Rice; good in its own right, though does drown out quite a bit of the fermented beancurd flavour.