Chinese/Cantonese

4 munchies: Pan-fried to golden brown, the exterior of the cod fish had a nice caramelisation and the meat inside remained flaky and tender-firm. The Huaiyang dish is served with a green purée made from spring onion, soy sauce, and ginger, giving the mild-sweet fish a punch of bright and pungent flavour. I’d highly recommend the Tobiko Egg White Fried Rice with Crab Meat and Scallop to go with it! #Burpproved

This was a hosted meal by Imperial Feast; many thanks to Brand Cellar for the hospitality and invitation!

4 munchies: Simmered and steeped until tender and succulent, the chicken is then coated with a layer of honey to give the bouncy skin some shine and sweetness. Having absorbed all that aromatic soy sauce dressing with a hit of herbal fragrance, every part of the chicken – breasts included – was so juicy and packed full of savoury flavour!

What really amazed us was the excellent braised beancurd featured in the background. Braised using the same sauce for the chicken, the texture of the tofu was ultra smooth yet firm! #Burpproved #BurppleBestofChinatown

Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-189

4.5 munchies: I love it whenever I walk into a restaurant with zero expectations and a dish like the quinoa brown rice featured here exceeds them all. Served in a hot stone pot, the brown and black rice was cooked to al dente perfection and had a savoury, nutty taste to it. White quinoa was also added for extra fluffy texture and nutty flavour. The rice was still sizzling away when I helped myself to the third serving! Absolutely loved the crispy grains at the bottom of the stone pot – think of claypot rice without all the sodium and grease. It was so flavourful that I was able to ignore the finely-diced green and red capsicum in the dish. 5 munchies if only shiitake or lion’s mane mushrooms were added to the dish! #RASEpicurean #Burpproved

I'd also highly recommend the Wild Mushroom & White Truffle Pizza and Snow Chrysanthemum with Grass Jelly dessert. Congratulations to elemen 元素 for winning the Best Asian Restaurant (Casual Dining) award at the RAS Epicurean Star Award 2017!

3.5 munchies: With over 50 contemporary vegetarian dishes that are prepared using only natural and premium ingredients to choose from, my top pick goes to the Braised Mushroom. Served in a hot stone pot, it features the meaty lion’s mane mushroom and earthy, smoky shiitake. Besides the stir-frying of crunchy bamboo shoots with chilli and ginger, the sweet and fragrant addition of basil leaves also greatly enhanced the savoury braised sauce. May I have a bowl of brown rice to go with these juicy mushrooms, please? #Burpproved

4.5 munchies: I usually raise my eyebrows when restaurants try to be over innovative and infuse funky flavours into traditional dishes, but not this absolutely smashing Bak Kut Teh Xiao Long Bao that commemorates SG52. The broth is painstakingly made with several hours of simmering pork ribs with added herbs, dang gui, pepper, garlic, and other herbal ingredients. Loved how the herbal flavours did not overpower the distinctive, rich pork taste! Its skin was also thin and yet strong enough to hold the tender minced pork and umami-packed soup.

Priced at $5.20 for 3 pieces, the Bak Kut Teh Xiao Long Bao is available from today to 13 Aug 2017 at all Yum Cha outlets. Good news for all Yum Cha members and DBS/POSB cardholders: You get to enjoy 1-for-1! #Burpproved

3 munchies: Not usually a fan of the tingling, numbing sensation you get from Sichuan peppercorn in a mala dish, but I did enjoy this bowl of medium-spiced mala pot in the heartland of Tampines. With a variety of pick-your-own ingredients to choose from, go for the crunchy lotus root, tender pork slices, and silky glass noodles to soak up the savoury-spicy sauce that was neither overly salty nor oily. The sweet potato noodle seems to be a hit, but I found it to be rough in texture and a tad chewy. #BurppleBestofTampines

Can't say I got my dim sum fix when I didn't manage to have 3 of my favourite items (liu sha bao, char siew puff pastry & HK-style cheong fun with prawns/youtiao) at this traditional place that was founded in 1889. According to my local friend, the above items might be either too "modern" or that we had to wait a few rounds for the push cart aunty to come by. Probably not a good idea to visit on a Sunday morning too; it was jam-packed with both locals and tourists.

That being said, I did enjoy the steamed Chinese sausage roll, spare ribs, and beancurd roll with chicken & mushroom. The smooth and mellow pu'er tea also makes a great pairing with the savoury dishes.

📷: Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, courtesy of Canon Singapore.

2 munchies: The craving for some authentic roast meat was real and I decided to walk in to the closest roast meat specialty I could find at Mong Kok. It was so unfortunate that the BBQ pork and roast pork failed on me. While there was hardly any char on the char siew, the siew yuk had no crackling skin at all. Thankfully, the HK$7 top-up for the roast goose was worth it – crisp skin with juicy and tender meat.

3.5 munchies: Served in a sizzling claypot with a gas burner, wheat beer is poured over the chicken for added fruitiness and crisp-edged flavours. The meat is marinated in Chongqing spices, in which ginger slices, garlic cloves, and oyster mushrooms can be found in the savoury-spicy sauce. Oh, the regular level of spice was hot enough to numb our tongues!

After we were done with the chicken, soup stock was poured into the claypot with the residual sauce. Regular steamboat ingredients are available for diners to enjoy round 2 of the hotpot!

雞煲 is open only for dinner from 5pm onwards; reservations for more than 6 people are highly recommended.

3 munchies: With more than 50 combinations of ingredients to choose from, I picked the tomato, pork chop, sausage, and fried egg with instant noodles for HK$35. The noodles were cooked firm to the bite; pork chop was nicely marinated. Despite having bits and chunks of sweet tomatoes that have been cooked down, I'd have liked the broth to be richer in flavour – thankfully the egg yolk was runny enough for me to mix into the soup.

3.5 munchies: Resembling an omurice dish, the silky omelette was drenched with savoury mushroom sauce and topped with char siew and roast pork. The char siew might be charred nicely, but unfortunately, the roast pork was sliced so thinly that you could hardly get a good bite of it. Thankfully I got some crunch from the sprigs of blanched kailan to go with the char siew, tasty sauce, and steamed rice beneath the omelette.

There are also 2 other toppings to choose from: Roast Pork & Prawns or Roast Pork & Beef.

3.5 munchies: Available only at the Holland Village outlet with a dine-in concept, the bowl of elbow macaroni comes in a rich tomato and chicken broth topped with three sunny-side up eggs and strips of crispy Spam. The soup is made from scratch and never left on the stove longer than 30 mins so it doesn't reduce and become overly sour. Break the yolks up and stir into the broth for some creamy texture! I could have this bowl of comfort food any time of the day.