Dragon Bowl Offers A Unique Blend Of The Old And The New For The Year of the Dog

CONTENT: Yiew Kai Jie

Celebrate this Chinese New Year with an effortless value-for-money Dragon Bowl Fortune Package in the ease of your own home

Chinese New Year- the most hectic period of the year for most Chinese families where everyone has to get the house cleaned till its spotless and put up chinese new year decorations. But most of all, figure out how much to place in a red packet to give to your cousin’s child you only meet once per year at Chinese New Year as they swarm you expecting that coveted red packet.

Yet on top of all of this, the most stressful moment comes when you have to perform and push out stunning dishes for the all-important reunion dinner with your family that needs to seek your elder’s grunt of approval else you will be blackmarked for the whole year for giving them a bad reunion dinner.

Ease The Strain
Dragon Bowl ushers in the Year of the Dog with their Dragon Bowl Fortune Package (S$288+ for 5 pax; S$468+ for 10 pax) This exquisite takeaway package comes with their signature Prosperity Abalone Yusheng with Fish Roe; Herbal Kampong Chicken with Cordyceps; Yuan Yang Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf with Waxed Meat and Sakura Shrimp; and Dragon Bowl Prosperity Fortune Treasure Pot.

Get started with the traditional ‘Lo Hei’ with the Prosperity Abalone Yusheng with Fish Roe, with a slight difference of Abalone replacing the fresh salmon in the dish accompanied with a serving of fish roe that increases the indulgence! The abalone and cilantro gave the dish a refreshing seafood flavor, however the taste of the fish roe was nonexistent, despite the generous portion they gave us. Since the salmon was replaced with abalone, it gives a sense of exclusivity and an impression of wealth to your family. However. this dish is slightly sweet and may not sit well with elders, who prefer a more balanced mild sweetness, but it’s enough to impress them with the dish as it is a must have at any table for Chinese New Year. So get your cameras out and get ready to shout what you’re wishing to achieve in 2018!

Inviting and full of herbal goodness, the Kampong Chicken with Cordyceps dish is cooked with an assortment of Chinese herbs and cordyceps flower. The chicken was slightly dry but was still soft and tender. The general herbal flavor of the dish came through but could have been more prominent, the skin isn’t even imbued with the fragrance of the herbs. Overall the dish is nice but could use more flavour.

Slowly unwrap the huge rice dumpling and wait for the fragrance of the Yuan Yang Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf to envelop your nose. The rice is tossed with savoury waxed meat and sakura shrimp, which is then wrapped in lotus leaves that gives that unmistakable aromatic lift to the dish. Despite the impressionable fragrance that left my taste buds craving to chow down on the rice, the flavor of the dish was rather one dimensional. The sakura shrimp only acted as a decor, there was no special crunch or flavor that helped to add any substance to the dish.The yam and pork was also lost in translation as they did not provide much flavour and were bland when eaten. The rice had a nice texture and bite to it but is more salty rather than being packed with flavour from that first impressionable whiff I gotten when I unwrapped this treasure box.

The Dragon Bowl Prosperity Fortune Treasure Pot comes with 15 premium ingredients, that ranges from head abalone and sea cucumbers to huge king prawns and pork trotters and tendons. Visually the dish looked stunning, with the arrangements of the ingredients making a good first impression, but the flavour fell short from its visual expectations. The scallops tasted old and frozen and was rather hard to chew while the beancurd tasted aged and bland. The other ingredients such as the mushrooms and prawns were acceptable but could have used more seasoning in them.

All items are chilled at the point of collection. The four offerings are available as a la carte options as well. A complimentary $30 cash voucher will be given with every purchase of the Regular Fortune Package and $50 cash voucher with every purchase of Large Fortune Package.

Prices for a la carte takeaway offerings

• Prosperity Abalone Yusheng with Fish Roe: (S$38.80+, regular for 6 pax; S$56.80+, large for 10 pax)
• Herbal Kampong Chicken with Cordyceps: (S$33.80+, regular)
• Yuan Yang Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf with Waxed Meat and Sakura Shrimp (S$26.80+, regular)
• Dragon Bowl Prosperity Fortune Treasure Pot (S$238+, regular for 5 pax; S$398+, large for 10 pax)

The Eight Good Old Times Special
Apart from it’s Chinese New Year menu, Dragon Bowl has brought back eight of their signature dishes as part of its “The Good Old Times Special” menu! From the 3rd to 31st of January, these classics that had won the hearts of gourmands will be back for a limited time and will be available only exclusively at the Aperia Mall outlet.

The stellar dish in this line-up is the Song Fish Head with Special Homemade Sauce (S$19.80). The Asian Bighead Carp is extremely fresh and tender, topped with a mild spicy sauce and crispy pork lard. Boasting an earthy note and pleasing aroma, the fish does not have a strong fishy taste to it and the pork lard helps to enhance the flavour of the fish when eaten together. Do remember to watch out for the bones!

A close second for the line-up is the Baked Marble Goby with Garlic and Roast Pork (S$48.80) A classic Cantonese dish, the fish has an enticing crispy exterior, and the chunks of roast pork give the dish a savoury lift. The fish was nicely cooked with the ‘wok hei’ flavour before baking to intensify the flavours within the fish. The roast pork tasted slightly better than the fish, but managed not to overshadow and yet compliment the fish, the crispy skin is so thin that it melts in your mouth instantly and gives you shivers when you hear that crackling sound as you pick the meat out of the fish. The most impressive thing about this dish was that the meat wasn’t overcooked, a rare feat as a Goby fish tends to overcook very easily when it is fried and then baked.

The Wok Fried Coffee Flavoured Spare Ribs (S$16.80) is bound to astound everyone with its strong, distinctive flavour. Even through the ribs are tender and easily melt in the mouth, it leaves a lingering coffee aftertaste, so do pair this heavily flavoured dish with rice!

The Braised Pork Belly with Yam (S$16.80) is slow cooked for 3 hours, and hence every piece of the pork belly has a melt-in-your-mouth texture. However, the flavour of the pork was too overpowering and the yam was way too mushy and soft despite its shape holding together. Overall the dish was rather salty that after a bite or two, I had to stop and chow down on other dishes to compensate for the saltiness.

Pair all these lovely dishes with the Wok Fried Milky Egg with Four Treasures (S$18.80), which comprises of milk married with Shrimp, Bacon, Scallop and of course eggs. The eggs were nice and creamy and had a very light texture to it, akin to traditionally made scrambled eggs. There was added texture from the tender prawns and the other ingredients that worked in perfect sync with each other. The chef has a secret method of cooking this dish along with infusing the egg with some in house secret ingredients- a definite must order that is very unique compared to other traditional egg dishes.

The Claypot Black Pepper Prawn Vermicelli (S$23.80) was slightly disappointing as the ingredients were overcooked and the dish was salty to the point that all I could taste was the grease and saltiness. The noodles have a roasted flavour and leaves a oily and sticky flavour in the mouth and the flavour of the prawns were practically non-existent!

Continue the gourmet experience with The Wok Fried Three Cup Chicken (San Bei Ji) (S$16.80) will have you rubbing your hands with delight. The chicken is cooked with three key ingredients: sesame oil, Chinese rice wine and soy sauce, and has a very robust note when you bite down on them.

Temper the protein indulgence with the Braised Claypot Eggplant with Yuxiang Sauce (S$14.80). Meaning “fish fragrance”, yuxiang sauce has its roots in Sichuan cuisine, and is made with pickled red pepper, garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce and vinegar. The flavours of this dish were both salty and mildly sweet, the eggplant itself was rather soft and was not astringent that it easily melts in your mouth. The little bits of pork adds more flavour and texture to the dish. The dish can be a little bit too oily and greasy, let the oil drip off the eggplant before you consume it, especially for the elders, if not the oil might overwhelm the dish.

Set menus that symbolise luck, happiness, fortune and health
Dragon Bowl will also be offering dine-in set menus from 1 February to 2 March 2018. There are six set menus, catering from four to 10 diners. Depending on the menu, there are dishes such as Braised Pig Trotter with Abalone and Black Moss; Braised Shredded Shark Fins with Crab Meat and Conpoy; Braised E-fu Noodles with Fresh Assorted Mushroom and Black Truffle Oil; Steamed Chinese Herbal Chicken with Ginseng; and many more. The prices start from S$388++.

Dragon Bowl is open throughout Chinese New Year. All outlets will be closed on the 1st day of Chinese New Year, 16 February 2018.

Chinese New Year Eve: *LIMITED SEATING*

• 1st Seating: 5pm to 7pm
• 2nd Seating: 7.30pm to 9.30pm

Dragon Bowl is located at the following locations:

• Marina Square (Cityhall)
  6 Raffles Boulevard Marina Square #03-129A, S039594
  Operating Hours: 10:00am – 10:00pm
• Greenwich V (Seletar)
  1 Seletar Road, Greenwich V #02-04, S807011
  Operating Hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm, 5:00pm – 10:00pm
• Aperia Mall (Lavender)
  12 Kallang Ave, Aperia Mall #02-09, S339511
  Operating Hours: 11:00am – 9:30pm