Chubby Botak Koala - Singapore Food Blog, Travel and Lifestyle: Famous Kitchen – Usher in The Year of The Rat [MEDIA INVITE]

Caramel Prawn @ Famous Kitchen

Celebrate this year Chinese New Year with Nanyang cuisine from the Famous Kitchen. The culinary team at Famous Kitchen has curated prosperous set and ala carte menus guaranteed to gratify your taste buds.

The Prosperous Set Menus include Sapphire, Jade, Crystal and Diamond available until 10 February 2020. For this tasting session, we tried Famous Kitchen Sapphire Set A (S$488 ++ for 8 diners).

Prosperity Salmon ‘Yu Sheng’

The feast begins with Prosperity Salmon ‘Yu Sheng’ (七彩三文鱼捞生). Fresh, crunchy, well balanced and appetizing Yu Sheng. The sweetness of the plum sauce is just right, with a mild tartness allowing us to eat the Yu Sheng without feeling overwhelmed.

Prosperity Salmon ‘Yu Sheng’

Braised Shark’s Fin Soup (海味鱼翅羹). Solid, robust, thick and packs with umami flavour broth paired nicely with crunchy shark fin. The gelatinous fish maw provided a delicious contrasting texture in this soup. I had mine without the black vinegar as the shark fins do not have any fishy taste in it.

Braised Shark’s Fin Soup

Braised Shark’s Fin Soup - The Shark Fin

Braised Shark’s Fin Soup - The Fish Maw

Braised Sea Cucumber with Beancurd and Mushroom (白玉菇豆包海参). Sea cucumber, one of my favourite ingredients in Chinese cuisine. The sea cucumber is crunchy yet bouncy at the same time. The gravy is robust, with intense flavour and clings on the broccoli. The mushrooms and carrots complement the texture and flavours nicely in this dish.

Braised Sea Cucumber with Beancurd and Mushroom

For the fish dish, the Sapphire Set A will be serving Steamed Marble Goby with Soya Sauce (名食煮顺壳). Meanwhile, for the tasting, we tried Steamed Fish with Preserved Vegetables on Hot Plate ( 招牌铁板酸菜蒸鱼 – available on normal ala carte menu, seasonal price).

Steamed Marble Goby with Soya Sauce

The Marble Goby fish is covered with salted vegetables, chilli padi, pork belly and delicious thick gravy. Though the salted vegetables are strong in flavours, it compliments the fish nicely instead of overpowering it.

Steamed Marble Goby with Soya Sauce

The Sapphire Set A will be serving Herbal Chicken (发财富贵鸡). For the tasting, we tried Oven-Baked Volcano Chicken (available on normal ala carte menu, $58++ for a whole chicken, advanced order required).

Oven-Baked Volcano Chicken

This chicken dish sure knows how to make a grand entrance to the table. Standing upright, the chicken is doused with hard liquor (whiskey, rum or rose wine) and set alight. It created a superb WOW factor, looks like a phoenix on fire and the fragrant aroma of the burning alcohol is very appetizing.

Oven-Baked Volcano Chicken

Once the show is over, it is brought back to the kitchen to be chopped. The skin is lightly crisp, while the flesh is juicy and succulent, especially the breast part. To accompany the chicken is ginger and spring onion paste, which complement the chicken nicely.

Caramel Prawn (雪花焦糖虾). The gigantic tiger prawns are fried to perfectly crisp and coated with caramel sauce. The skin is crispy and the prawn legs are nice to bite on. The flesh is crunchy and bouncy. The umami sweet and savoury sauce is irresistible, I can finish a bowl of rice with this dish alone. The best dish of the night.

Caramel Prawn

Fried Rice with Waxed Meat Wrapped in Lotus Leaf (腊味荷叶饭). A subtle ending for the savoury dishes. The rice is aromatic filled topped with generous fillings of lap cheong and pork belly. The surprising part is that the lap cheong does not taste salty, but more like Taiwanese cocktail sausage for steamboat. After the bold flavour of the caramel prawn, this dish actually tastes a bit bland.

Fried Rice with Waxed Meat Wrapped in Lotus Leaf

Soya Bean Ginko Nuts with Snow Fungus (豆浆福果雪耳). Nice soya base dessert, accompanied with crunchy the texture of the snow fungus. The sweetness and subtle creaminess of the soya gave this feast a nice ending. Yummy.

Soya Bean Ginko Nuts with Snow Fungus

Overall, it was a delicious reunion dinner meal that LD and I enjoyed. Our personal picks are Braised Shark’s Fin Soup, Braised Sea Cucumber and Caramel Prawn. Cheers!!

Usher in the Year of the Rat with Famous Kitchen

When: 10 January to 10 February 2020.

Where: Famous Kitchen

For Reservations, order and inquiries:

Call +65 6636 8333 / +65 6257 1843

Email: famouskitchen@singnet.com.sg

Chinese New Year Set Menu and Ala Carte is listed below

Thank you very much Jennifer Yeo Consultancy and Famous Kitchen Team for hosting us.

Food: 8/10

Value: 7.5/10

Service: N/A (Tasting Invitation)

Ambiance: 7.25/10