Ex-Din Tai Fung Chefs Open Taiwanese Bun Café, With Awesome Beef Fat Fried Rice

The appeal of the gua bao is obvious — it’s essentially an Asian burger. It is characterised by a ‘lotus leaf’ bun, so-called for its distinctive, tortilla-like shape. Once folded over its fillings, the bun resembles a gaping maw, hence its colloquial nickname of 虎咬猪 (or tiger bites pig).

Yuan Xin had first tried the dish — and many other street snacks now in Abundance’s menu — while holidaying in Taiwan.

The home-based biz, however, wasn’t their first choice. “We were always looking for a permanent space,” he says. “But while we looked, we spent a lot of time refining our recipes. The home-based business was a good testing ground.”

The two chefs — Jaz is on the left, while Yu Kim is on the far right — have three decades of culinary experience at Din Tai Fung between them, leading to some pretty exacting standards where it comes to food. “I remember when we first start cooking in a home kitchen,” says Yuan Xin (pictured in the middle). “The chefs were used to working with far more [equipment and staff]. Things got pretty intense.”

In order to streamline their operations, Yuan Xin started trawling commercial property listings. “CommercialGuru was my best friend for these months,” he says with a laugh. “I eventually found our current location — on Chinese New Year’s eve.”

That said, the kitchen at their new premises isn’t as big as they’d hoped for - especially not for the kind of food they were hoping to make, says Yuan Xin.

For example, the roasted peanuts used in their gua baos and peanut ice cream rolls are laborious and time-consuming to make. “It takes about two hours of continuous stirring,” says soft-spoken Jaz. “We still make it every morning for the next day.” The various sauces in the baos are also house-made, as are the cocktails on tap.

For the proteins, some require long cooking times, like the six-hour braised pork or beef short rib, which undergoes a 16-hour cooking process in a water bath. Others, like the deep-fried chicken and tilapia, must be cooked a la minute for optimal crunch.

However, they’ve had to make some compromises. The lotus leaf buns, once house-made, are now from a supplier, so too the dumpling and popiah skins. “Once we’ve refined our processes, we’re hoping to do more of everything ourselves,” says Yuan Xin.

Apart from running front of the house, Yuan Xin manages the marketing and operations end of things. Despite being in a relatively sedate neighbourhood in Redhill, they’ve got the full hipster works: neon signage, enamel plates and a cutesy mascot.

More than that, almost everything about Abundance is a pun or play on words. For instance, Abundance refers both to the joy and conviviality of eating, and the buns that are central to the eatery’s menu. The Niu Yolk fried rice revolves around beef and an onsen egg, while also, well, sounding like New York. As for the crispy chicken bun (abbreviated to CCB), we’ll leave you to decipher that for yourself.

“It’s a reflection of our personalities and the kind of atmosphere we wanted to bring”, says Yuan Xin. Which is also why they’ve decided to go with the tagline ‘Buns, beers and beats’ — beers referring to the seven craft beers (and three cocktails mixed in-house) they’ve got on tap, as well as a fridge full of craft beers with prices ranging from $11.70 to $88.90.

As for beats, none of the trio profess to be DJs - but at the very least, you can be assured that the music at Abundance is meant to foster “a chill and relaxed environment - the kind of place you’d hang out at after work”, says Yuan Xin.

The menu is split into a few main categories — buns, sides, fried rice and noodles. The latter two, says Yuan Xin, are particularly popular with the lunch crowd from nearby car showrooms and offices. While the menu comprises largely Taiwanese fare, many of them are influenced by Thailand and other Asian countries.

Not everything is available all the time for now. Buns are currently only available after 5pm, while the fried rice and noodles are confined to lunch hours. Once operations have been smoothened, they’ll be available throughout opening hours.

“We spent the most time on this recipe,” says Yuan Xin. That includes pre-frying the spices before the braise, and experimenting with different cuts and grades of pork over countless iterations, he adds. For now, they’ve settled on pork belly, braised for six hours in light soya sauce and a special thick soy sauce, both imported from Taiwan, five-spice powder and mushrooms.

Rounding out the dish are roasted, coarse-ground peanuts, sliced preserved vegetables and cilantro, all within a fluffy steamed bun. Taste-wise, we’re more than happy with the flavours - it’s savoury, smoky, salty, fresh and everything in between. The only disappointment is in the meat’s bite. The fat is yielding and melted away instantly. However, the layers of meat below the skin and fat are a little tough.

The crispy chicken bun fared far better. The well-marinated battered chicken thigh is well-crisped on the outside and moist within. It’s garnished with a Thai-influenced papaya slaw of julienned carrots and papaya tossed with peanut butter, ginger flower, chili padi and dried Thai shrimp, making for a tangy, intensely aromatic accompaniment to the greasy meat.

Here, deep-fried tilapia is paired with a simple kaffir lime mayo. It’s done well enough, but we found the tilapia itself to be a little too bland of a protein. We’d have preferred a punchier, spicier sauce to accompany this, too.

Yes, this does taste mighty similar to Din Tai Fung’s famous fried rice. It’s slightly wet (in a good way) with an eggy flavour. But here’s where it differs: it also boasts strong beefy undertones thanks to the addition of rich beef fat in the wok. And unlike DTF’s prawn version, this comes topped with modestly portioned slices of sous vide beef short rib. After 16 hours in a water bath, they’re seared in a pan, sliced and further charred with a blowtorch. They’re tender and deliciously smoky — well worth every penny. The meat doesn’t overpower the delicate wok hei of the fried rice, which remains the star of the dish. We enjoy it even more once we’ve mixed in the luscious onsen egg, giving the already moist grains a creamy mouthfeel.

Don’t confuse it for malt vinegar, like you’d find in some traditional London chippies. Balsamic vinegar differs from your usual fish-and-chip vinegar with its distinct fruitiness and marked sweetness — a sweetness unfortunately further overwhelmed by the addition of maple syrup and honey to the Italian-imported vinegar. So we’d stick with the hackneyed, if ever-reliable, truffle fries also available on their menu.

Their only dessert so far is another mainstay in Taiwanese night markets — the peanut ice cream roll. Here, they swap out shavings of peanut candy for roasted peanut, while coriander remains a key garnish. We actually appreciate the smoky notes of the roasted peanut over the sugariness of peanut candy, especially when contrasted with the already-sweet vanilla ice cream. The popiah skin exists simply as a vehicle to deliver the dessert into our mouths. If you’re at all unsure about cilantro in your sweets, ask for it to be served on the side because its assertive herbaceous flavour isn’t masked by the peanut or ice cream.

Abundance’s buns are messy, decadent affairs that are quite fun to eat. That said, we’re even bigger fans of the luxe beef fried rice. The hip vibe and menu seems aimed towards the younger residents in the area, especially if they’re fond of a good drink. For the record, we found the full-bodied and chocolatey Playground Witch Chocolate Stout ($15 a pint) a good companion to the rice, while the lighter Dainton Stormtrooper Imperial New England IPA ($19 a pint) worked well with the chicken bao. If you'd like to try their food amid the new no dine-in restrictions, they're pivoting to delivery now. Just drop them a message on their social media pages.

Abundance is at #01-378, 63A Lengkok Bahru, S151063. Open daily except Mon 11am - 10.30pm. For delivery orders, drop a message via Facebook or Instagram.

Photos: Kelvin Chia