Kraken Congee

Had to see what the hype is about Kraken Congee. It used to be a pop-up and is now a year into its brick and mortar shop. What a fun name with interesting dishes on the menu, but it might end up being a novelty sort of food. Won't know till we eat it.

Swung in on a not-too-hungry day to try out its congee. Mainly congee of course. There're a dependable fried rice with spam, apples, egg, bean sprouts and green onions, as well as a curried prawn ramen bowl with sous vide egg, kai lan, and pickled vegetables. Lots of pork adobo stuff too. The man was keen on its pinch buns, which were always a familiar sight in Asian cuisine. Ordered the pork which was really well marinated and braised tender.

The man took a Five-Spice Duck Confit Congee with pork cracklings, bok choy, soy-cured egg yolk and beet-soaked mustard seeds. It was a tad salty, but tasty. He left the pork cracklings untouched. Hahaha. I was really curious about their version of Champorado, a chocolate congee with a hint of chili, longanisa sausages, caramel whip and fleur de sel. Tried that in Spain and Philippines and didn't mind it. But because champorado uses glutinous rice, it felt more like dessert to me. i.e. like pulot hitam. :p In the end, I stuck to the plainer sounding 10th Dragon Congee with fish balls, squid two ways, rau ram and yuzu drizzle. Those sous vide eggs were da bomb. It's difficult for me to fault eggs with runny yolks. Can't go wrong!

The menu and what came out of Kraken Congee's kitchen tasted very... Los Angeles. Oof. It's supposed to be influenced by Filipino cuisine. The congee is pretty good- creative flavors are the expected norms now. I like that. However, there's something about the rice grains used that I'm not fond of. I wish that their congee isn't so watery. It was literally 'rice soup' in arroz caldo style; a slightly thicker version would be 'lugaw'. But I'd prefer it thicker still, perhaps closer to 'oatmeal porridge' or Cantonese 'jok'. Heh.