G I F T
For those who aren’t ready to dine out yet in Phase 2 of Singapore’s post-Circuit Breaker, you’ll be pleased to know @restaurantibid is continuing with their takeaway/delivery menu until Sunday, 28th June. On offer is an eclectic spread that’s full of delicious surprises, so I suggest ordering an assortment of items that catch your eye and graze across them. Here’s what Chef-owner @woowaileong selected for my dinner last Thursday:

1. Shao Bing - This has been on the menu since Ibid opened for business but has been tweaked and refined over time. It’s currently available with two kinds of fillings: sweetish shredded Wagyu Beef and Cheese with scallions. I preferred the latter because of the savoury taste and I thought the oozy creaminess was marvelous with the chewy dough.

2. Ibid-Style 8 Treasure Duck - Deboned, the #duck is stuffed with fluffy sticky rice mixed with a generous amount of chopped up “lap cheong”, mushrooms, chestnuts and more, which pretty much qualifies it as a one-dish meal too. I enjoyed it most with the bright chilli sauce served alongside. By the way, the caramelised skin is not meant to be crispy.

3. Five-Spice Roast Spring Chicken - A classic done with a Chinese twist. If you aren’t fond of the coriander powder-heavy seasoning, you might want to skip this as it’s liberally rubbed all over.

4. The 50/50 Potato Purée - Super smooth, buttery and creamy, it was beloved by everyone.
5. Shaoxing Creamed Spinach - The Chinese spin put on this popular steakhouse side got it more appetisingly nuanced.

6. Lao Gan Ma Slaw - Did the chilled crunchy cabbage improve from a spike of savoury Oriental-style heat? You bet it did.

7. Mapo Tofu - Like I suspected, this turned out to be one of my favourites. Supremely fragrant and controlled in spiciness, Ibid’s had more structure than most renditions that tend to veer into mushiness.

8. Pork Fat Rice - Dressed in pork oil, crispy lard and scallions, it’s a most apt and delicious carb for the Mapo Tofu.

9. Lion Head’s Meatball - Formed from seasoned minced pork, the huge thing contained a mild Hongkong-style curry at its core which flowed out once a cut was made.

10. Scallion La Mian - The strands of al dente noodles tossed in scallion oil were a good match for the XXL meatball.

11. Black Glutinous Rice Mochi Cake with Taiwanese Milk Oolong Ice-cream - So utterly perfect in its uniqueness and taste, I was inspired to do a stand-alone post about this dessert (please go have a read). The cake is incredible bare but when served a la mode, it took things up a few notches.

12. Chocolate Chip & Walnut Cookie - The other (and rather unexpected) favourite of mine from this meal, I would go so far as to call it THE BEST chewy cookie I’ve had in the past few months.

Don’t hesitate to hit up Restaurant Ibid to get your order in.