Miss Vanda by Labyrinth

We wouldn't have gotten around to trying Miss Vanda by Labyrinth save for the friends' recommendation. While I admired Chef Han's creations at Restaurant Labyrinth, I'm not wowed by them in the early years. It's not my kind of food. I prefer my food served in its conservative form, and not in foam or other unexpected surprises that my tastebuds can't appreciate. 

However, with Miss Vanda, I was happy to taste his take on our local favorites. Since the government is only letting us out on 10 August, we still gotta get takeouts. Over the National Day weekend, we ordered in food from Miss Vanda in support of the F&B industry for a patriotic celebration. I was relieved to see solid food on Miss Vanda's menu. LOL The friends said that Miss Vanda is a long-form version of Labyrinth's fancier small-bite presentations. Miss Vanda has been steadily propping up the main Labyrinth during this pandemic restaurant closure thing. Dunno if it will return when dining-in gets back to normal. 

I couldn't resist the Singapore style seafood laksa and XO garouper noodle soup. The laksa totally hit a spot — I love atas laksa. Teehehehe. The jackfruit and you tiao fritters with peanut rojak sauce was soooo good. I love jackfruit done in any way! The fish soup was delicious too — all that I ever want in a good fish soup. 

The man opted for the Van-Li burger with ma-la curly fries. As delicious as that was, it wouldn’t be sufficient food for him. Of course he shared the XO garouper noodle soup with me. He also bought a bottle of kaya. He's a kaya monster, and he likes this style of old-school Hainanese kaya. 

The friends had a curry pork cutlet donburi, and also the laksa. Would you believe that we were soooo full that we couldn't finish two boneless crispy har cheong chicken wings. Also, the table thought that the shrimp paste wasn't strong enough. Hurhurhur.

Luckily the friends also ordered dessert from the restaurant. My freezer and fridge have no storage space. LOL Dessert was a Kaya Sea Salt Buttercream Swiss Roll and a Miss Vanda X Mr Bucket Double Soy Sauce Caramel Chocolate Bon Bon. The kaya roll thing wasn't my cup of tea. The bonbon was! OMG. 64% dark chocolate ganache made with cacao beans from Panchor, Melaka. THAT SOY SAUCE. It was paired with Kwong Woh Hing's light and dark soy sauces that were "cooked into a flowy caramel". 😍 Totally my type of dessert.