Restaurant Ibid

The man kept Chef Woo Wai Leong and Restaurant Ibid in mind, and got us a takeout for dinner over two nights. The man loved his shoyu braised wagyu short rib penne. There was a mixed mapo tofu with black fungus, and a giant fist-sized Lion's Head meatball with scallion noodles. There was a HK-style curry sauce of sorts inside the meatball. The man loved it. (He likes that weird beef curry served at the cha chaan teng in Hong Kong. Or at the big ones; think Tsui Wah.)

I was slightly apprehensive of Restaurant Ibid's food because mod-Chinese food tend to include loads of Sichuan pepper/peppercorns and mala spices. I'm excellent at picking the tiniest pinch used even in meat or fish marinade. I hate that metallic twang — my tastebuds go numb for hours. There was a side of stuffed boneless chicken wings with Xi’an spices. I steered clear of those. I'm not keen on the Laoganma slaw because I don’t like the taste of Lao Gan Ma chilli oil or black bean sauce.

My dried scallop porridge was rather good. It was pretty much chok. It could have gone thicker, but it would do. The dried scallops were decent and the broth was legit. There might have been a few dried oysters thrown into the broth. It was topped wih crispy pork lard and scallions. No other meats within.

Porridge was great for my stomach. But I did blink at the price. $26 for this bowl. Hmmm. Good quality dried scallops aren’t cheap, neither should the effort of extracting the broth for the porridge be discounted. I’d pay to have this bowl at the restaurant, or if I don’t already have all these ingredients at home and I can't do good chok. Heh. Otherwise $26 for porridge as a takeout is just sad. Chok is best eaten piping hot.

That cheese shaobing (燒餅) was impressive. We also ordered a tub of freshly whipped and yeasted French butter, and scooped out some to go along with the cheese shaobing. Good gawwd. It was ridiculously tasty. There was an off-the-menu fish sandwich that I really liked. It should be officially on the menu this week for S$19 a portion. It’s the kitchen’s take on McD’s 'Fillet-O-Fish'. Of course this is the superior version called ‘Fillet of Fish’ Hahaha. Two pieces of breadcrumb-crusted fish with the nuclear orange American style cheese and a pickled green chilli tartare sauce between two thick slices of toasted brioche. It was delicious! They use catfish, which flakes nicely. At the next dinner, I ordered two sandwiches so that I could save one for lunch the next day. Hurhurhur. #SupportLocal

The man wouldn't miss dessert. He ordered their famous chocolate chip and walnut cookie. It was huge! All 180g of it! It was rich and savory, and also rather sweet. It wasn't quite my kind of dessert either. He even ordered ice-cream. A whole 700ml tub of Horlicks. Ermmm okay lor. He doesn't even like Horlicks as a drink. It's damn gross. But he said that the malty flavors work well as ice-cream. Whatever... it's not for me! I had a bottle of sangria to finish. That was my dessert.