That’s what Chef Henry of @liufusifangcai - a private dining located in Joo Chiat, does very well. He proved it all over again during my second visit with @huatkaliao @liltune @ckaliva and @666momotaro (thank you so much again Rudy, for sharing your exceptional bottles of wine with us). Kicking off our feast that night was Henry’s signature Black Garlic Chicken Soup. As he had double-boiled the black garlic (fermented in-house himself) with a whole “An Xin Ji” (it’s a premium chicken that he feels has the old-school taste) and two kinds of dried seafood since 8.30am, it was I ntensely fragrant and flavourful. We all had to have two bowls at least of course. As the theme of his food is based on the theme of “not forgetting our roots”, it allows him a wider repertoire. So for our second course, Henry took on a seafood item usually served at celebratory events such as Chinese New Year and birthdays. His “Kam Jing Har Lok” featuring “Ang Kah” prawns from Pontian, has to be the tastiest I’ve come across. It lies in his ingenuity of swopping out the usual ingredient (ketchup) for a less expected one (hawthorn). I was licking and sucking those prawn shells like nobody’s business. From his own Chinese New Year menu came a meaningful Teochew creation featuring “Dua Cai” (mustard greens) and roasted pork belly. It’s named 酸甜苦辣 because it represents life’s complexities as well as the full spectrum of flavours our tongues can discern. This humble-looking stewed vegetable was the favourite of a few of us. We couldn’t get enough of the dazzling soup that was tangy, savoury and sweet with a touch of bitterness from the vegetables. ⬇️Continued in Comments⬇️

(Invited Tasting) I had not visited a @paradisegrpsg restaurant in more than a year, so the invitation to try the newly-reopened Pardise Teochew at Takashimaya (it’s on level 3, just below Kinokuniya) was timely. My parents, @huatkaliao and I were ushered to the private room upon arrival and settled in with little cups of “Nuo Mi Xiang Pu Erh” - it’s a welcome tea meant to help prepare the stomach for food. After we chose our condiments (I love that besides the usual chilli padi and pickled green chillies, they offer minced raw garlic and an umami dried shrimp sambal created by Executive Chef Cheng Fa Kwan), another tea was served. The “Ping Guo Hong Cha” (Apple Red Tea) with its delicate sweet fragrance, is a signature found at all #ParadiseTeochew outlets. I thought it paired very nicely with all the food we had that afternoon. The first of which was a selection of steaming hot #dimsum: - Steamed Dumplings in Teochew Style - Encased in a rather gelatinous skin was a mix of stirfried turnip, peanuts, mushrooms and fresh herbs. - Siew Mai - This classic “dim sum” item is usually not my thing but I found Paradise Teochew’s version to be really good. Apart from tasting extremely fresh, there was plenty of prawns minced in with the fish-meat paste. - Deepfried Prawn in Beancurd Skin Roll - Major love! Merging bouncy fresh minced prawns and shattering crunch is always a great idea. It was on to the main dishes next. And we were effusive in our praises for the first of those - the Fried Pomfret cooked in a claypot with “kiam chye” and wedges of fresh skinless tomatoes in a light and tangy tomato soup. A creation so appetising should not be missed. After that, it was the Trio of Teochew Style Braised Combination Platter with three kinds of goodness sliced up and accompanied by assorted dips. My favourites were the Pork Knuckle and the excellent Sliced Octopus. Plated individually was the following course, a strikingly tasty Sea Cucumber. We were told it takes 8 to 10 days for the star of this show to be prepared but I can assure you, the effort is worth it. All of us were raving as we relished each springy tender bite of the sea cucumber… ⬇️Continued in Comments⬇️

As featured is Tien Court restaurant’s Double Boiled Fish Maw nourishing soup (broth is boiled over 6 hours using only chicken collagen and snow fungus). 🥢 Next up will be Chef’s Signature Braised White Teat Sea Cucumber in Oyster sauce. Soft and chewy in the inside and crunchy on the outside😍 🥢 Chef also featured their Stir-fried pork shoulder with Chef’s special sauce, Teochew style Oyster omelette, Deep fried Oyster fritter with garlic and chilli powder, Signature Teochew Wok-fried Hor fun with diced kailan and preserved radish. 💛 Ending off the hearty meal with Homemade Tau Suan accompanied with freshly grated orange peels, ginkgo and dough fritter as well as signature Teochew crispy noodles drizzled with strawberry vinegar sauce.