Feng 丰

Have been walking past the Feng 丰 (not to be confused with Feng Food 豐富 which serves Taiwanese cuisine at its locations in Northpoint City and Woods Square) quite often during its renovation phase that had started out some few months ago — Marina One has been seeing quite a fair bit of new F&B tenants added to its retail mix in the past couple of months despite also having quite a number of tenants move out in recent times. Feng is located in the space of the now-defunct Starbucks outlet at Basement Two of the shopping gallery — they are also conveniently located right beside the escalator that would lead up to the ground floor area near Marina One West Tower as well. Despite its signboard bearing the name Feng, the establishment is registered in local business records as Xiao Tai Feng; a name which the wallpaper on its walls introducing the establishment also mentions. Whilst the name is a fairly new entrant to the local F&B scene, it seems that the Feng is a brand behind the folks of 2nd Best Noodle based on the dining ware that they are using; 2nd Best Noodle being a little bit of a chain eatery that exists in coffee shops with outlets situated at Marsiling, Clementi and Alexandra. Feng is the brand’s very first individually-run concept; the interior of the space is decked pretty simply though also tastefully with the use of a bright red and white interior that is particularly eye-catching as well. The interior features a mix of booth seating that is located at the back of the entire space, while most of the dine-in seating comprises of wooden stools — the tables catering for groups of four (4) pax. The food menu at Feng is segregated into sections dedicated to Dim Sum, Noodle, Stew Soup, Steamed Dishes and Cold Dish.

Noting that Feng does serve up dim sum that is only freshly made upon order, it was needless to say that we were eyeing on quite a number of Dim Sum items to try. It is interesting to note that Feng actually serves up quite a number of variations of Xiao Long Bao; this will include more artisanal versions such as that of the Scallop Fresh Pork Xiao Long Bao, as well as the Mala Fresh Pork Xiao Long Bao — considering how this is our very first visit to Feng, we had decided to give the more regular Fresh Pork Original Flavour Xiao Long Bao a go instead. Given how all of their dumplings are wrapped and steamed on the spot, there is some waiting time of around 10 minutes that will be involved with every order of the dumpling. All varieties of the Xiao Long Bao come in a portion size of six (6) pieces each; patrons can also help themselves to the slices of ginger and vinegar at the condiment bar near the order collection area. Digging into the Xiao Long Bao, we were quite a fan of the delicate dumpling wrapper that the Xiao Long Bao came with; these were especially thin and requires much care in handling in order to not get the broth within ooze out as one picks them up with the chopsticks; but this is also essentially why it makes their Xiao Long Bao so good. The pork filling within is fresh and comes with a soft yet firm bite; slightly vinegary but free from any undesirable porky stench — the Xiao Long Bao also comes all filled up with broth within that eagerly bursts as one chews through the dumpling wrapper; warm, savoury and flavoursome on its own. One can also choose to drain the broth from the small opening on the top of the dumpling to savour the broth on its own as well.

It was also a little difficult to skip on the Golden Lava Custard Bun after realising that Feng also offers this item on its menu as well. We were a little surprised by how big each of the Golden Lava Custard Bun is — each portion also comes with three (3) buns as well. Whilst we originally thought that the Golden Lava Custard Bun could be overwhelming due to its sheer size, we were glad that the buns are still pretty manageable to have. Sinking our teeth into the bun, the buns here are surprisingly light and fluffy; the consistency of the bun being one of the better ones that we had tried in recent times. Whilst some would mention about the buns not being filled up with molten salted egg custard entirely, we did feel that it was of an adequate amount that carries sufficient flavour without causing the buns to feel particularly overwhelming especially given the size of the buns here anyway — the salted egg custard filling here will likely appeal to those whom like their salted egg lava to be a little more on the sweeter side with just a slight lingering hint of saltish-ness for that contrast of flavour.

The Fresh Pork & Chives Pan-Fried Dumplings are also pretty decent here; the pan-fried nature of the dish also meant that the dumplings can be a little greasy for some, but it is still within quite a reasonable level for us nonetheless. Whilst we do like how there was an evident note of chives in the filling while the dumplings were also well-filled with a crisp, pan-fried bottom, we do feel there is a little bit of a missed opportunity to not serve the pan-fried dumplings with the starchy “wing” at the underside of the dumplings — this is especially considering how the Fresh Pork & Chives Pan-Fried Dumplings were referred to as “鍋貼” in the menu which translates to “pot-stickers”, and that the starchy “wing” is usually a feature for pot-stickers as well.

We also had given the Braised Meat Noodles from the “Noodle” section of the menu a go; our order of the Braised Meat Noodles is observed to come with other elements such as the sunny side-up, Baby Bok Choy, carrots and beansprouts. Giving the noodles a bit of a toss, there was sufficient braised meat and braised sauce to go around the entire portion of noodles — one would also probably notice how the portion of the noodles can be considered as relatively huge here. Slurping on the noodles, the noodles come laced with the braised sauce that provided a light, savoury note that flavours up the noodles; all that whilst the small chunks of minced meat further gives a meaty bite without any undesirable porky stench that could be detected. The other elements such as the carrots and beansprouts were good to have, providing an element of crunch that helps to refresh the tastebuds and another dimension of textures to the dish. The sunny side-up in the meanwhile is a good-to-have; for those whom prefer their food to come a little spicy, one can help themselves to the Lao Gan Ma-esque chili which can be found at the condiment bar around the order collection area — this helps to add a slight hint of smokiness and savouriness whilst giving a rather manageable level of heat even for those whom are tolerable to lighter levels of spiciness overall.

Being an item that is listed under the Cold Dish section of the menu, the King Oyster Mushrooms is a definite must-have for us — featuring slices of king oyster mushrooms that are tossed in chili oil, the King Oyster Mushrooms here does seem to replicate the sort of flavours that we are usually looking for in the Chinese-style chilled spicy beancurd skin salad; the fact that king oyster mushrooms are being used here also meant that it comes with a bouncy bite to it as well which we found to be pretty addictive. Marina One hasn’t really seen a F&B tenant serving up Chinese-style noodles with the departure of brands such as Nuodle (which had been rebranded into Shiok Burger / Delibowl Rice Kitchen Express) and Suo Fen 嗦粉 — the addition of Feng definitely gives the folks working in this part of the Central Business District a rather different dining option at a price point that is comparable with most other F&B establishment within the same building. Amongst the various dishes that we have tried, it seems that Feng does serve up pretty good steamed dim sum and dumplings which we would wholeheartedly go for again especially when the cravings for such fare kicks in!