Taiwanese cafe beneath a HDB with DTF-style fried rice and popiah coriander ice cream

The final nation that I travelled to pre-pandemic was Taiwan, again in early 2020. Taiwan is what I might take into account to be a meals haven, with dishes and road meals that may fulfill all types of tastebuds. With travelling turning into much less handy in latest instances, I made a decision to show to Abundance for my repair of Taiwanese fare.

Abundance is a restaurant-bar positioned on the base of a HDB block in Redhill. Since its conception in 2021, the restaurant has seen an unfaltering explosion in recognition, with an abundance of consumers (hahaha) lining up for a style of its dishes. On weekends and through peak hours, you could spot lengthy queues snaking out of this quaint and cosy eatery.

Except for serving Taiwanese dishes, Abundance additionally affords a variety of alcoholic drinks, together with beer and even a wasabi cocktail!

What I attempted at Abundance

The primary dish we tried at Abundance was the Beef Noodles (S$16.90), served with recent noodles, braised beef meat and beef broth.

The noodles have been agency and springy with a chewy texture, and tasted very completely different from common store-bought noodles. I loved how thick every strand of noodle was, and we may inform that the noodles have been home-made.

The items of beef have been extremely tender and fell aside simply. The meat was flavourful and wealthy with an excellent ratio of meat to fats.

The soup was simply the star of the Beef Noodles, because it had a wealthy and full-bodied umami-ness and a robust meaty style. The beneficiant addition of spring onions additionally added one other dimension of flavour to the soup.

Although the value is steep, Abundance’s Beef Noodles jogged my memory of being again in Taiwan with its full-bodied, sturdy and genuine style.

Subsequent, we had the Niu Yolk Fried Rice (S$19), made with beef brief ribs, an onsen egg, beef fats and truffle. Visually, the presentation of this dish was completely gorgeous.

The meat brief ribs have been tender and aromatic with a melt-in-the-mouth high quality to them. They have been smoky in flavour with simply the correct quantity of sweetness, and the onsen egg was gentle and runny, making the fried rice somewhat creamier.

The fried rice itself was fluffy and never too oily. It didn’t have the strongest wokhei aroma, but it surely jogged my memory closely of Din Tai Fung’s well-known fried rice, with a liberal addition of fried egg and spring onions to reinforce its flavour. I may additionally style a whiff of truffle, which added one other layer of perfume to the dish with out being too overwhelming.

饗好吃 Xiang Taiwanese Desserts and Meals: Inexpensive Taiwanese lu rou fan & comforting desserts within the neighbourhood

One of many dishes that drew me to Abundance to start with was the Gua Bao (S$7.90), stuffed with braised pork stomach, hand-roasted peanuts, pickles and coriander. The thiccc fillings made this Gua Bao a beautiful sight to behold.

I used to be immediately blown away by the flavours of the Gua Bao from the second that I bit into it. The thick slab of pork stomach was extremely tender, and as somebody who often dislikes overly fatty meat, I discovered that the fats parts on the pork stomach melted in my mouth and have been extremely scrumptious.

The pickles, roasted peanuts and candy sauce added candy and mildly bitter components to the dish and complemented the meat properly. The bao was additionally gentle and fluffy, and acted as the proper base for the components.

I’d actually return for this Gua Bao once more!

A dish that I discovered essentially the most attention-grabbing was the Golden Egg (S$7), consisting of century egg wrapped in fried dumpling pores and skin, topped with bonito flakes and candy & spicy sauce. I’ve solely ever actually had century egg in porridge, so seeing it wrapped right into a dumpling was fascinating to me.

Every fried dumpling had a crispy pores and skin encasing a slice of entire century egg. Although I’m not a lot of a century egg fan, I loved how the delicate and creamy style of the egg blended with the candy & spicy sauce, such that it was not too overwhelming.

The crispy dumpling pores and skin offered a pleasant textural distinction to the gentle egg. I used to be positively intrigued by this dish!

One other certainly one of Abundance’s well-liked aspect dishes is the Mala Popcorn Hen (S$9). Every popcorn rooster piece was crispy and peppery on the surface and extremely juicy on the within. The mala flavour was sturdy, and every bit of popcorn rooster left a lingering aftertaste of spices and peppercorn in my mouth.

Mala lovers will certainly benefit from the Mala Popcorn Hen, because it doesn’t maintain again in delivering a strong mala kick. Nonetheless, to extra spice-intolerant diners, this dish could also be a tad too sturdy.

The Balsamic Vinegar Fries (S$10) have been very crispy and got here coated in a candy balsamic vinegar glaze. The vinegar style wasn’t too sturdy and the acidity was balanced with an enough degree of sweetness. These fries jogged my memory a little bit of marmite, and I totally loved them.

To finish off our meal at Abundance, we had the Peanut Ice Cream Roll (S$6.90), consisting of a block of vanilla ice cream, hand-roasted peanuts and coriander wrapped in a popiah pores and skin.

The mixture of ice cream with coriander and popiah pores and skin appeared relatively unorthodox to me, however I later learnt that this can be a well-liked dessert in Taiwan. The candy vanilla ice cream blended properly with the aromatic peanut items, and the gentle and skinny popiah pores and skin held the weather collectively properly.

The component that I felt not sure of was the coriander. On this world, you both love coriander otherwise you hate it, and sadly for me, I relate to the latter. Therefore, enduring bites of soapy coriander was relatively disagreeable for me, however I usually nonetheless actually loved the Peanut Ice Cream Roll. I’m certain that coriander lovers would fall in love with this dessert much more than I did.

Last ideas

Although its costs are comparatively steep in comparison with different neighbourhood eateries, Abundance doesn’t maintain again when it comes to commonplace, and affords a wide selection of top of the range and genuine dishes.

Let it’s made abundantly clear that after I get my subsequent pay verify, I’ll positively be spending it on one other feast at Abundance. I’ll stay an hour away from Redhill, however I might journey for these dishes once more!

Anticipated harm: S$8 – S$20 per pax

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