Snippets: Ding Dong at Amoy Street | New location and Set Lunch Promotion for the CBD folks

Posted on December 5, 2016 by theRantingPanda in Snippets

What’s Buzzing? We checked out Ding Dong at its spanking new location at Amoy Street recently ever since it moved out of its Ann Siang Road premise. Other than the new space, there have been some new additions to its menu.

The Highlights One current promotion right now is that you get to enjoy two dishes at S$28++ per person from the Set Lunch Menu from Monday to Saturday, which we reckoned is quite a good deal for some communal dining with a wide variety of choices; S$35++ per with a dessert choice; or additional S$10++ for a glass of wine or beer. The restaurant used to operate only during dinner hours but has recently opened up for lunch. That said, one point which does not change is that Ding Dong is still a modern Asian restaurant, particularly South-East Asian flavours which are all too familiar for us.

I particularly enjoyed the Green papaya and prawn salad with long bean and tamarind, a refreshing take on the classic Thai appetiser and salad, garnished with fried shallots, crushed peanuts, crispy shrimp crumble, lemon and coriander. The Heirloom tomato salad with crispy beef strands, watercress and sesame uses Italy Heirloom tomato, served with a Japanese-inspired sesame dressing and a watercress sorbet. The crispy beef stands are addictive, which serves as a nice garnish and flavour to the salad dish. The beef strands are marinated with fish sauce, soy sauce and cumin, then steamed before being deep fried in strands.

On mains, the Pancake wrap with spiced waygu short rib and puff rice is one of the more interesting dish for me as it is the Asian version of burrito. The tender wagyu beef ribs are braised for 48 hours, then pulled and served it with homemade pancake and puff rice. The spicy element could have been more for me, which I feel will elevate the overall flavour further.

The Crispy pork belly with spiced quinoa, cashew nut, pineapple puree is Ding Dong’s take on the Thai Pineapple Fried rice but served with turmeric-spiced quinoa and raisins rather than rice and pineapple puree for a touch of sweetness. The Canadian Pork belly is marinated with red fermented bean curd and cooked sous vide for 12 hours before deep-frying till crispy.

For desserts, I would say they are all not what I usually expect. The Cheng teng with dried longan pays tribute to the old-school local dessert which my mum will be so familiar with. Served with fresh longan jelly, aloe vera, finished with a sugar cane earl grey soup.

My favourite is the Soursop milk with chia seed, yogurt ice cream and milk meringue, made with fresh soursop, housemade yoghurt ice cream, honey chia seeds and crispy milk meringue.

Alternatively, the most conventional option is the Salted caramel , brownie and natto. The brownie was not too sweet, and the soft texture is attributed to the 5 hours steaming process.