Look, I ain’t gon lie to y’all, @8bar.sg Prawn & Potato Gratin ($14 nett) does feel kind of disjointed at times, but it’s held together purely by the supreme savouriness of the prawn bisque that’s served in a little metal contraption.⠀
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Even though the menu description proclaims the square of deep fried potatoes as a potato gratin, it’s really a potato mille feuille as there seems to be an absence of butter & cheese between each thin layer of potato. Sure, it might not strictly conform to the definition of a gratin, but this potato mille feuille is a sufficiently pleasing potato dish. The outermost layer is a convivially crunchy layer that conceals the inner layers of dense & soft potatoes that have been sliced thinly, and this deep fried square of layered potatoes performs as you’d expect.⠀
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To anyone who has ever had dim sum, the prawn pancake half of this appetiser should be eerily familiar. That’s right, the prawn pancake has been compacted into the familiar form factor of a beancurd roll. However, there are visible & discernible chunks of prawns in the beancurd roll, so you know for sure that you’re actually eating prawns in this savoury, delicious beancurd roll.⠀
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Now, the potato mille feuille/gratin square & the beancurd roll have absolutely nothing in common, but that undeniably umami prawn bisque ties it all together. The stunningly savoury & briny flavours of all the prawns are expressed into the brown liquid, and that luscious liquid fuses the potatoes & prawns together with its irresistible flavours. It sounds like crazy talk, I know, but you got try the Prawn & Potato Gratin to believe it.