Food-at-Large

The humble minced pork is one of the most common and yet grossly underrated ingredients in Chinese cuisine. Paired with other ingredients, it has a subtly sweet and rich flavour from the pork fat.

Roughly minced pork with pieces of salted fish is steamed in a metal plate. It reminds me of a hand smashed burger patty with a good firm bite but yet remains juicy. The salted fish adds to a savoury and umami laden touch to this dish. I am not too sure but I thought there was a touch fermented beancurd or prawn paste in the dish as well but that may be the salted fish at work!

For a "balanced" diet, I highly recommend their fried bitter gourd with sliced fish.

The bitter gourd is crunchy and subtly sweet. Lightly battered sliced fish belly is added and the dish is finished with a fermented black bean sauce.

I like that you can taste the distinct flavours of each ingredient - the bitter sweetness of the bitter gourd, the rich creamy fish belly and the savoury fermented black bean. Yet, the flavours are well balanced and meld harmoniously.

For someone who hates bitter gourd, I must say that this dish was surprisingly good!

Hong Kong Style Kitchen (港式小炒) is a stall in the Toa Payoh Lorong 4 market run by a Hong Kong Cantonese couple serving da pai dang style dishes.

There is no menu per se but the stall helpfully lists some of their signature dishes on the signboard. They ran out of their signature steamed fish that night so we tried their sweet & sour fish. For slightly over $20, you get an entire deep fried grouper fish. The fish skin was shattering crisp and we were surprised to find the fish meat moist, flaky and steamy hot. The sweet and sour sauce also also well balanced and excellent with both the fish and over rice.

We definitely enjoyed the meal and have been back several times since! The food is always great and affordable.

The braised beef broth is LeNu's signature broth which uses only the freshest beef marrow, bones and Chinese spices and is painstakingly prepared over 18 hours.

The broth itself is intensely beefy and hearty, and you get a choice of the original, pickled vegetables or spicy. I do recommend the later two as it helps ameliorate the strong beefy flavour. The imported Wagyu beef was also soft and melt in your mouth tender.

For a limited time, LeNu @ Funan is offering a 50% off after 5 pm. We recommend grabbing a dining partner and having both the braised beef broth and tomato broth for sharing as it really compliments each other!

LeNu Chef Wai's Noodle Bar is part of the Paradise Group of eateries with several outlets islandwide.

As its name suggests, LeNu serves Chinese la mian with different types of broth and toppings. The Nagano Pork Belly with Tomato Broth Lamian is one of their newest offerings, featuring a surprising appetisingly tangy tomato broth, topped with soft and tender sliced pork.

We really enjoyed the tomato broth and the portions are surprisingly good. If you are looking for something a little different, do check this out!

BBQ Seoul Shokudo is a newly opened casual western eatery with Japanese and Korean influence.

Doria is a Japanese style of rice gratin wherein rice is topped with a creamy white sauce, cheese and a choice of protein.

We liked BBQ Seoul Shokudo's version. The cheese and white sauce was rich and savoury and paired really well with the sweet and tangy bulgogi beef. My only complaint though was that the portions are really small and left me rather hungry...

I am not one to rave about greens usually but Lotus Thai really does theirs well. Their kang kong is stir-fried to perfection with a nice hint of wokhey. We also love that it comes with chunk of yummy and subtly sweet garlic. But a word of warning though as the chilli is really spicy!

Lotus Thai's garlic pork was highly recommended by several Burpplers who have made earlier visits.

We liked that they used thicker and bigger pieces of pork instead of small tiny chunks. The pork was tender and juicy on the inside with a crispy crust on the outside. There is also a nice subtle hint of garlic in the battered crust. I personally like the deep fried garlic bits sprinkled on top of the dish. The only problem is that it tendered to get stuck in between your teeth and sometimes you get a hard rogue piece which can be a pain in the teeth.

Located at the corner on the 2nd floor of Paya Lebar Square, Lotus Thai seems to attract a crowd even though the mall itself suffers from a lower footfall compared to its larger and more glamorous neighbours. We had walked by the Thai eatery on several occasions for Lau Wang next door and decided to check it out one evening when the line was relatively short.

Besides the ala carte dishes, Lotus Thai seems a variety of combo sets at a range of prices and pax. Besides the fixed combos, they also have an awesome pick and mix combo wherein you get a curry/soup, meat, vegetable, rice and drinks for 2 pax at only $33++. We have done the math for you. Basically, your drinks (which is rather pricey at $4 for a Thai milk tea) comes free with their combo sets!

Their Thai green curry seafood seems to be the pick of most tables. It comes served with an assortment of prawns, fish and sotong in a lovely creamy green curry gravy that is perfect over rice. Depending on the cook, it may get a tad too spicy on certain days. The portion is also rather generous for 2 pax!

Our other must-order dish is Lau Wang's eggplant with minced meat.

The portions are as usual very generous. Chunks of melt in your mouth tender eggplant and minced meat is mixed in a piping hot claylot with a spicy and moreish sauce that is great over rice.

I personally prefer this gravy because it is packed with more flavours and a little more salty compared to the sesame chicken gravy which is a little lighter and sweeter.

If you are looking for a comforting and satisfying meal which reminds you of home cooked food, look no further than Lau Wang!

Lau Wang is one of Miss K's and my favourite casual eateries for a quick and fuss-free meal.

Their signature sesame chicken is one of our must-order dishes. For $6.30, you get a very generous portion (it's definitely more than enough for 2 pax!) of juicy and tender bite-sized chicken chunks in a thick braised gravy which is fragrant and flavourful. It is puuuurfect over rice and even more comforting when the weather is wet and cold.

Saving the best for the last, the fried chicken burger was probably the best dish of the night.

The grilled chicken thigh was juicy and tender and the bbq mayonnaise sauce was well executed. This is one dish I wouldn't mind being back for.

Yummo Chow is currently running a 90 minutes ala carte buffet for less than $40 per pax. It's good value if you consider the variety involved but just expect that there will be hits and misses...

Specially thanks as always to the good folks from #Burpple and Yummo Chow for hosting us!