SHAO Tapas 烧 (Holland V)

For dessert, the Teochew Yam Paste ($9) was a sad portion for the price but a well-balanced rendition. Not all that sweet, the thick paste was smooth and fragrant. Either they added a little coconut cream or none at all, as the taste was savoury and predominately of yam which I think most prefer. I love that they served it really hot and with a fair number of lotus seeds which provided that sweetness.

Perfect for the rainy weather, the steaming Poached Seafood Crispy Rice with Seafood Stocks Pao Fan ($40/ regular) was belly-warming and came with a decent amount of sweet sliced fish, fresh scallops and prawns. The broth was pretty mild in taste with a light distinct sweetness so the rice crispies added that taste and textural oomph. A tip, please ask the staff to serve the crispy rice separately as it simply turned mushy when the pipping hot dish was served so the staff gave us extra cause we thought it was missed out.

The Pan Seared Hokkaido Cuttlefish with Squid Ink sausage ($28) was also a must-try (seen ordered by almost every table). Not knowing what to expect, I was pretty skeptical about the taste but you do get the sweetness of the cuttlefish in every bite. The seared edges were lovely and texture-wise it was lightly plump-chewy. Indeed resembling a squid-flavoured lup cheong of sorts.

Sticking to their recommended dishes, I had a pretty solid dinner at Shao Tapas recently. Offering a modern twist on traditional Teochew cuisine, the Marinated Roe Crab ($78) was simply divine. I haven’t tried all that many raw marinated crabs but their soy marinate was not too sweet-salty or overly spicy, had plenty of garlic (say yes to garlic breath) and their rendition tasted fresh overall. The chilled jammy roe was so lusciously shiok. It was pretty easy to eat as well as they cut it into really manageable pieces.

It's thick and topped w osmanthus syrup.

But the portion is tiny. There's nothing too premium about it to justify the price

Ridiculously priced, avoid. The food here is roughly double the fair price, idk why they still managed to open a second branch. Are people so starved for fancy teochew?

Good news is that this is definitely more than 100g. But it ends there

Greasy, chewy, not crispy. Very jelat and rlly not good at all, not to mention the price. Waiting time was a ridiculous 20-25min during lunch when there's only 3 other tables, plus they said they just need 5mins. Scammers

The only part that tastes good is the sharp fruity sour sambal

Avoid like a plague