Braised Pork Belly Rice It seems that People’s Park Complex has seen a slight revamp of its space recently — the shopping gallery have had some of new shop spaces that are sectioned off from its aisles on the ground level, which led to the opening of a MIXUE 蜜雪冰城 kiosk that had opened within the mall not too long ago. 非常想你 is a new Chinese eatery that occupies the larger units that have been part of the aisles of the shopping mall previously; as opposed to the unit that MIXUE occupies, the space that 非常想你 had taken up is sufficient for it to have two dine-in sections with the food preparation area and the counter space being conveniently located inn the middle of the space. Being an establishment that serves up Chinese fare from the mainland, 非常想你 focuses its offerings around braised meats. It’s signature offering would be the Signature Pork Leg Rice, although they do offer quite a good variety of meat options which include braised pork belly, braised pork trotter and the braised chicken thigh; just to name a few. For those patrons whom wish to go for more than one type of braised meat with the rice bowls, one can opt for the Braised Duo / Trio Pork Rice as well. Beverages available at 非常想你 are fairly limited — think syrup-based drinks such as that of Iced Lemon Tea, Calamansi and Water Chestnut are available.
With its signature offering being the Signature Pork Leg Rice, that was the very item which we were eyeing upon when we made our visit to 非常想你 on a weekday lunch hour. That being said, we were told at the counter that the Signature Pork Leg Rice was still in the midst of preparation and would require a wait of around 20 minutes for it to be ready to be served — considering so, we decided to go for the Braised Pork Belly Rice; an item which was readily available. There was minimal waiting time for the food to be served at 非常想你, considering how most of the items were ready and all that was required or the staff was to plate the items into a bowl; patrons would still be issued with an electronic buzzer upon payment and will be paged to collect their order once they are prepared. All orders are served in a paper bowl that bore a rather cheeky slogan that says “人生大事吃口肥肠” and “一口入魂 满脑肥肠” — these translates from Chinese to English as “celebrate life’s moments with chitterlings” and “one mouthful to enter the soul, thinking all about chitterlings”. The Braised Pork Belly Rice comes with primary elements such as the braised pork belly, braised egg, fish cake, preserved vegetables and stewed cabbage — all atop a bed of short-grain rice. Going straight for the braised pork belly, we note that the braising here is on the lighter side; the pork belly being on the leaner side, though the skin layering above the meat does come melt-in-the-mouth and gelatinous — there is an evident meatiness with the pork belly, though does not come with an unpleasant porky stench. There is a bit of braising liquid from the pork belly that was absorbed by the rice; subtly flavouring up the rice, the rice also bore a suitably moist and sticky texture without being clumpy — pretty easy to eat. The braised egg and fish cake were nothing much to shout about, though the stewed cabbage and the preserved vegetables helped to keep things refreshing by providing a crunch; the latter also providing a saltish tang that cuts through the flavours of rice and the meat.
Having tried the Braised Pork Belly Rice from 非常想你, we felt that the braised pork belly rice did not quite hit the spot for us — we did feel that we might have been a little bit too Singaporean to really fully appreciate the dish in a way that it truly should have been. We are especially used to, and particularly love our braised pork belly to come with fatty and gelatinous, melt-in-the-mouth meat; all that whilst coming with a slightly punchier savoury note from the braising liquid — the Braised Pork Belly Rice does seem to be one that is more tuned towards the tastebuds of mainland Chinese instead. There is nothing wrong with this however, considering how the Braised Pork Belly Rice from 非常想你 is a rather easy eat as compared to that of the local versions of the dish that we are used to having. The lighter flavour profiles here for the 非常想你 also meant that the dish was actually more salty from the chili dip as well as the preserved vegetables; the egg and tomato soup that came on the side does mediate all of the stronger, saltier components with its clean and light flavours that is accompanied with a slight tang. The prices of the rice bowls available at 非常想你 ranges between $5.80 to $9.80 for the rice bowl items that feature a single type of braised meat; a comfortable price range for most considering how it is priced under $10. It was a shame that we did not manage to give the Signature Pork Leg Rice a go during our visit; we would reckon that the Signature Pork Leg Rice would be pretty tasty considering our experience with the Braised Pork Belly Rice that we have had — probably something which we would have to make a return visit for!
