TATLER FOCUS This stalwart Chinese restaurant has overhauled its menu to offer both contemporary dishes and updated classics rooted in Cantonese cooking traditions.
Today’s generation of food lovers have grown more discerning, their palates sharpened by constant travels and exposure to different cultures and cuisines. And long-standing Cantonese restaurant Man Fu Yuan, which opened with Intercontinental Singapore on Middle Road in 1996, recognises this growth. To adapt, it has overhauled its menu and injected modern touches into its latest offerings.
Executive chef Eric Neo leads the brigade, and, not surprisingly, took inspiration from his globe-trotting trips. “My travel experiences play a central part in my cooking, and encounters with food never fail to jolt my imagination and creativity,” he shares.
This is evident in the rejuvenated menu where classics dishes and contemporary spins sit next to one another, and they're all cooked with premium ingredients using authentic Cantonese techniques.
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The trio of appetisers, to start, includes the quintessential pork belly, elevated using the Kagoshima kurobuta bara. Chef Neo caramelises and smokes the meat; this lends the dish an undeniable sweetness that contrasts nicely with the slight smoky aftertaste.
Accompanying it are the mango passionfruit prawn, a cleverly re-imagined version of the wasabi prawn, and the deep-fried pork shoulder dumpling, which satiates one's appetite with a crisp coating that hides the meaty minced pork shoulder and shrimp filling.
Soups are a hallmark of Cantonese cuisine, and the double-boiled chicken stands out in our book. The smooth and milky broth, which doesn’t use superior stock and is made only by boiling the chicken bones, has a great depth of flavour and is as heart-warming as it gets. In the soup you'll find tender chicken, shredded dried scallops, fish maw and wolfberries.
