Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam LSeems that the trend of Chinese establishments specialising in mini bowls isn’t quite coming to an end yet — whilst the local dining scene has seen quite a number of such establishments such as that of Bai Wei Mini Bowl 百味小碗菜, Mom’s Hand Mini Bowl Kitchen 妈妈手小碗菜, Delibowl Express Rice Kitchen and Kuan Zhai Wan Wan Xiang 寬窄碗碗香 coming into the scene within the past year, there are also a number of indie operators that can be found serving such fare located in their very own shop spaces or within food courts / coffeeshops around. It seems that there is yet another one of such establishments that had found itself setting up shop in Singapore — this would be SteamLiu’s 浏阳蒸菜; a brand that hails from mainland China. The brand already has several accolades under its belt — with more than 200 stores in operation in mainland China, the brand is also said to be an “intangible cultural heritage of Hunan province as well. Occupying just a stall space within the Scarlett 思家客 supermarket within Westgate (which in turn, takes over the former premises of the now-defunct Eccellente by HAO mart, SteamLiu’s can be found occupying a space that is relatively nearby to the outlet of COTTI COFFEE there. Much like most stalls serving up Chinese-style mini bowls out there, SteamLiu’s does display the dishes that they have to offer pretty prominently at the counter — the printed menu does segregate its offerings into sections dedicated to Signature Dish, Vegetable, and Soup while the only carb option available would be the Steamed Rice.
There is a little bit of difference if one were to compare SteamLiu’s offerings against that of what other stalls specialising in Chinese-style mini bowls are offering — the most obvious difference here would be the serving of dishes in earthenware as compared to metallic bowls within a plastic bowl that most establishment tend to use. Another noticeable difference is how there seems to be very little dishes listed in the Vegetable section that SteamLiu’s has to offer — it does seem that many of the dishes featuring meats at SteamLiu’s also do come with root vegetables as well. One such example would be the Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam, which is also an item that is being listed in the Signature Dish section of the menu. Considering how even the bowls of rice are served with earthenware, the Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam is exactly that item that one should go for — the rice does come a little dry since the heat from the earthenware would take quite a fair bit of moisture away from the rice; the Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam would be exactly the item that helps mitigate the slightly less than desirable texture of the rice. Whilst the cubes of Yam look fairly solid, we were surprised at how they carried a very soft consistency that turns into mash the moment we sink our spoon into the dish; the fragrance from the pork lard lacing all the earthiness of Yam without being over powering not being too jelak. The Steamed Pork Ribs does come with a meaty note which was necessary to give the dish a contrast of flavours, but we really liked how the pork comes off the bones without much effort as well.
When it came to the Braised Pork with Potatoes, the potatoes also carried a soft consistency — not quite the same as that of the Yam in the Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam, but still doesn’t require much effort to break apart anyway. It is interesting to note that the braised pork does fine with both leaner parts, as well as fattier cuts like the pork belly that comes gelatinous for more chew. We did feel that the savoury notes of the braising liquid isn’t quite as deep or flavourful as what we would have liked it to be, but there was this undeniably comforting flavour that reminded us of home-cooked fare. While we usually would tend to order three (3) dishes per pax with one being a vegetable dish at such establishments, given how SteamedLiu’s had designed their menu, perhaps it would be a wiser choice to just do away with the vegetable dish since there isn’t a variety of Vegetable dishes listed on its menu — it is also noted that most of its meat dishes also does come with root vegetables which makes the portion size a little bit more substantial as well. One thing worth noting about the price point of the dishes at SteamedLiu’s is how they are priced slightly on the higher side as compared to most other establishments serving up Chinese-style mini bowls around; the bill for ordering two Signature Dishes with a portion of Steamed Rice at SteamedLiu’s would be higher than that of ordering two mid-priced dishes and one low-priced dish at other establishments. With that being said, given the quality of the Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam, we are more than willing to try the other dishes that they have to offer — the Steamed Pork Ribs with Yam also being a dish that would definitely draw us back for a return visit as well!
