Saturday 26 October 2019

Kai Duck – Creative Cantonese Cuisine [MEDIA INVITE]

Peking Duck Salad Hand Roll

Kai Duck by Kai Garden is a new modern Cantonese casual dining outlet focused on Cantonese style of Peking Duck and Cantonese Cuisine. Group Executive Chef Fung Chi Keung curated the innovative menu at Kai Duck to cater to young millennial diners and smaller parties, allowing them to enjoy the exquisite Cantonese cuisine without the need to dine in a big group.

Kai Duck

What is the difference between Beijing Peking Duck and Cantonese style Peking Duck? Beijing Peking Duck went through the process of blowing and overnight air-drying, to separate the skin of the duck and the meat. When the duck is roasted the next day, the skin will become crispy and separate from the flesh. Meanwhile, Cantonese style of Peking Duck is roasted then finished off with hot oil bath for the extra crisp. Both styles are equally delicious and it just depends on your preference.

Entrance to Kai Duck

Enamel Plate, Bowl and Cup

Highlights of the creative dishes at Kai Duck:
Sliced Peking Duck with Crackers ($4.80 per Pc, Min 4 Pcs). A crispy duck skin served with fried handmade corn crackers and corn base sauce. The duck skin and crackers are crispy, crunchy, while the cucumber and tomato add a refreshing taste to this dish. Tasted like a crispy duck sandwich for me. Yum Yum.

Sliced Peking Duck with Crackers

Sliced Peking Duck with Crackers

Mini Burger with Peking Duck Salad ($4.80 per Pc, Min 4 Pcs). Duck meat with skin attached tossed with lettuce and seaweed and served with a housemade fried bun. Kai Duck version of Peking duck sliders. Soft and fluffy bun holds the fatty flesh nicely. The lettuce and seaweed, mixed with a slightly tangy sauce balance the “jelakness” of the fatty Peking Duck nicely.

Mini Burger with Peking Duck Salad 

Mini Burger with Peking Duck Salad 

Crispy Bun with Sliced Peking Duck ($9.80). Crispy Peking duck skin, full-bodied cream cheese and fried mantou. Never in my dreams, I ever make a connection between Peking duck with cream cheese. The result is delicious crunchy finger food. I find if they added some meat in between the skin and the cream cheese, it will give this dish more body.

Crispy Bun with Sliced Peking Duck 

Peking Duck Salad Hand Roll ($4.80 per Pc, Min 4 Pcs). Peking Duck served with cucumber, lettuce, sesame sauce and seaweed flakes, wrapped in crispy spring roll wrapper. Crispy, crunchy, fragrant, juicy and delicious. The combination of seaweed and crispy spring wrapper added extra flavour to the crispy skin. A super innovative dish that not to be missed. I can have this all day. Yummy!!

Peking Duck Salad Hand Roll

Do take note that Kai Duck also serves the traditional whole or half Peking Duck.

Meanwhile, we also tried some of their Cantonese dishes. We started our dinner with Chilled Mini Tomatoes topped with Japanese Sesame Sauce ($10) as appetizers. The Japanese cherry tomatoes are bursting with sweetness; it is marinated with plum sauce that is sweet and tangy and topped with sesame sauce for the creamy and earthy flavour. Make sure you taste the aiyu jelly at the bottom that soaks up the sauce and marinates.

Chilled Mini Tomatoes topped with Japanese Sesame Sauce

Pan-fried Carrot Cake ($13.80). A distinct shape of the carrot cake, it is round, like a mini pizza. The exterior is fried until it is crispy, while the interior remains moist and filled with cubes of radish evenly spread. It is topped with chilli sauce, however, it tasted more of sweet sauce instead of spicy.

Pan-fried Carrot Cake

Stir-fried Hong Kong Cai Xin with Pork and Preserved Vegetable ($15.80). A slight twist than the usual kai lan with oyster sauce dish. However, the signature Cantonese vegetable of sweet and crunchy remains in the cai xin. The twist of adding pork and mei cai as the topping of cai xin feels weird to me, but the toppings does taste good with a bowl of rice.

Stir-fried Hong Kong Cai Xin with Pork and Preserved Vegetable

Poached Patin Fish Soup with Chinese Wine ($38 for 4 diners). Kai Duck uses the patin fish from the wild and flown in regularly from Sarawak, Malaysia. The flesh of the fish is silky, smooth and accompanied by the cloudy milky broth. The Chinese cabbage infused natural sweetness to the fish broth. Like the Cantonese tradition, a bowl of this fish soup will help you warm up your stomach.

Poached Patin Fish Soup with Chinese Wine

The Fattiness of the Patin Fish

Crispy-fried Fish, Prawn and Crab with Black Truffle Sauce ($16, Min 4 Pcs). The fish, prawns and crab are chopped and mixed together hand mould on the crab leg. It is coated with cereal and fried for the crispy exterior, with springy and bouncy interior. You can dip it with the truffle sauce or eat on its own. I prefer the seafood ball on its own, as I can taste the natural seafood sweetness in the ball. The truffle sauce is just too strong for this mild seafood dish.

Crispy-fried Fish, Prawn and Crab with Black Truffle Sauce 

Signature Fried Rice with Black Truffle Mushroom and Beetroot ($16.80) - served in Hot Stone Pot. The first thing that catches our senses when this dish is served is the aroma of the truffle. Followed by the WOW factor, of the combination of crispy rice and purple colour rice infused with beetroot. Once you mixed it, you can taste the mingling texture crispy rice and al-dente rice, filled with mushroom flavours.

Signature Fried Rice with Black Truffle Mushroom and Beetroot

Signature Fried Rice with Black Truffle Mushroom and Beetroot

Located in Ngee Ann City, Kai duck is décor is reminiscent of the 60s cha chaan teng restaurants in Hong Kong. The restaurant in brightly lit, together with the black and white floor tiles, neon lights duck logo, rattan chairs and old school enamel plates, bowls and cups will amplify the 60s dining experience.  

Part of the Dining Area

Overall, kudos to Chef Fung in curating the creative dishes based on Peking Duck and elevating the traditional Cantonese Dishes. The portion here is suitable for small group dining and it can easily be extended to cover a bigger group. I recommend the Sliced Peking Duck with Crackers, Peking Duck Salad Hand Roll, Poached Patin Fish Soup with Chinese Wine and Signature Fried Rice with Black Truffle Mushroom and Beetroot. Cheers!!

Thank you very much Kristine for jiio-ing and Kai Duck team for hosting us.

Food & Drink: 7.5/10
Value: 7.5/10
Service: N/A (Tasting Invitation)
Ambiance: 8.25/10
Budget per Person: $26 - $50,

Kai Duck
391 Orchard Road
#05 – 10/11 Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238872

T: +65 6235 5419
IG: @Kaigardensg
OH:
Mon – Fri: 11.30 – 16.30* (L.O 16.30)
Mon – Fri: 17.00 – 22.30 (L.O. 22.00)
Sat, Sun & PH: 10.00 – 16.30*
Sat, Sun & PH: 17.00 – 22.30
*Dim Sum available

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