[CLOSED] Dilys Creation (MD6)

Too spoiled for choice bidding goodbye to Dily’s last week before their move, so I ended up treating myself to an extra dish. I got the sweet and sour fish (which turned out to be more batter than fish, also the batter was pretty tough to cut), stir fried Kang Kong with anchovies, stir fried long beans and egg fu yong. In true Dily’s style, I had some unexpected eggplant and ladies finger slices in my vegetables even though I didn’t order them courtesy of the dish mixing auntie. Thanks for the ride all these years Dily’s, you’ve consistently served up a wide variety of dishes, some hits and misses, at an affordable price. For $3.80, I had a huge packet of food which I probably could’ve eaten for two meals. We will miss you at NUS!

Last few days of operation at MD6 last week and we’re gonna miss Dily’s at NUS. The disparities between which auntie scoops your dishes have never been more apparent - this packet was super tiny when wrapped. The amount of rice was about half of what the other aunties would usually scoop, the potatoes and fish slices were taken piece by piece (only 3 small pieces each?! Seriously?).

Apart from how sad this packet of cai fan looked, the dishes were still pretty decent and there was a wide selection still available at 12.45pm. We will miss Dily’s!

Surprisingly pretty nice salad bowl despite being really simple?? DIY salad comes with either a cabbage salad base ($4.80) or pasta base with 3 toppings of your choice! Additional proteins can be added at extra charge and I chose dijon tuna ($1.50) for this, which was pretty yummy! 😋😋 Liked that the toppings had a huge variety with nuts (almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds) and many many vegetables and beans! Balsamic sauce was really good and you can ask for more if it’s not enough!

Once again the serving ladies have tons of issues wrapping the takeaway packets, especially so since today’s order had 4 different ingredients. The lady spent quite a while trying to flatten out the rice and dishes so she could secure the packet with a rubber band. We had an interesting/exciting time opening the packet to prevent any precious ingredients from falling out.

Today’s pickings were the dry curry fish, fried chicken, egg fu yong and Chinese spinach. The fried chicken is usually a safe choice, it’s crunchy and not too salty, but the portions can be small (there were only two pieces of it given today). As for the curry fish, we couldn’t tell what it was seasoned with just by looking at it, but the taste was pretty good. Might be nicer with more gravy instead of a dry rub but then again packaging and spillage would be a problem. I found that the omelette portions were smaller than usual today, so that was quite disappointing. Taste-wise it’s been consistent always. The spinach is pretty standard, not spicy and nothing spectacular but a solid veg dish to choose from especially on days like today when there are limited vegetable options.

Haven’t visited Dily’s in a while but the one thing that never changes is how terrible the staff are at wrapping your cai fan. Each time we open our packs of rice, we’re always on the edge of our seats and scrambling to see if we need to line the bottom of our packed lunches with tissue paper so the gravy doesn’t spill out. Almost none of the serving staff can wrap a decent pack of cai fan, so good luck to you if you order something with gravy. Prepare tons of tissue or just open it in the plastic bag.

Ordering dishes from Dily’s is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. Although you can see the dishes right in front of you, sometimes the seasonings or gravy taste isn’t so apparent and the staff usually don’t bother to tell you what it is apart from the type of meat that’s in the dish. Sometimes the aunties also tend to combine dishes so you might end up with eggplant hidden at the back of the ladies finger dish you pointed to.

I got the chicken in gravy, ladies finger and scrambled egg with onions. My chicken gravy was savoury and non-spicy in this order, but this isn’t always the case. My colleagues ordered from the batch of chicken in gravy that came out directly after mine and theirs was spicy with chilli slices and chilli seeds hidden in the unassuming gravy. I think the garlic cloves came with the chicken, but I’m not too sure. I’d usually pick them out but since I just came back from Korea and learnt to eat raw garlic cloves, I ate these with the rice. They were quite sweet and still released a little heat with each bite which was nice. Overall, the chicken chunks are always pretty good, they’re tender and do absorb the flavours of the gravy they’re cooked in. The ladies fingers are quite decent, but they always tend to be very gooey so if you don’t like the ladies finger slime then stay clear of this. The scrambled egg is usually a safe option, and it’s not too salty or tasteless. Keep in mind that depending on the server you get, you might want to opt for the pre-cut omelettes or pre-portioned dishes as some servers tend to be more kiam siap with others and you end up with a tiny portion especially during lunch hour.

Some days...science canteen food just won’t cut it 😂 I initially decided to treat myself to just one (relatively) high SES sandwich and inadvertently over-ordered when I saw how reasonably priced everything was. The sammich itself was pretty meh - though toasted, the filling remained cold and bland. Plus, I don’t get why the “honey mustard” salad dressing is so thick...

My add-on salad was pretty impressive though! I expected a stingy pinch of nuts, but the staff really scooped and piled the goodies atop the salad!! Glad I chose the refreshing citrus dressing for this one, it certainly went well with the nutty flavors. Finally, the carrot cake! Back up a second, I DONT GET HOW THIS AMAZEBALLS SLICE CAN JUST BE $2?!? It’s absolutely packed with carrots, nuts, all spice and cinnamon and the cream cheese slathered on top is perfectly sweet without overwhelming. I’d say it’s on par with Cedele’s carrot cake. Looks like I’ve found a new lunch spot!