I am doing a research project on Chinese rice culture and buddy suggested that I check out the "Crispy Rice Bubble" dishes at Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant (we went to the PARKROYAL Beach Road outlet). It was a delicious and fascinating experience.
We were here today for their puffed rice dishes.
First, we had the braised seafood version. The puffed rice crisps and seafood
came in separate bowls. The staff poured the seafood and sauce over the
rice crisps. We can hear the crackle, sizzle and pop when the sauce smothers
the freshly crisped rice puffs.
Oh... I love the look of this dish. There's mushroom, leafy juicy greens, fish slices, prawn and beautifully cut squid that looked like intriguing white blooms. Underneath were puffed rice crisps half soaking in the thick brown sauce.
Everything in the large bowl was fresh and cooked to just the right doneness
preserving all their natural crunch and flavours.
The thick sauce tasted savoury sweet with a bit of underlying tanginess (from black vinegar).
The rice crisps are boiled rice, air dried and deep fried to make puffed rice. They are light, crackly crisp and tasted subtly sweet.
When dunked in the sauce, the rice crisps absorbed the sauce like a sponge. The whole rice crisp infused the savoury sweet tangy flavours of the sauce. The rice crisps turned wet, soft, and melt in the mouth squeaky chewy with a bit of residual crispness.
Love the interesting textures and flavours.
Next, braised sliced pork with "crisp rice bubble".
Same puffed rice paired with a sauce of slightly different savoury sweet taste profile and tender pork slices.
Our third "crisp rice bubble" doused over by sauce with braised homemade tofu, spinach and dried scallop.
The tofu version caters to vegetarians.
We enjoyed all three versions of the "crisp rice bubble" - my favourite is the seafood one. The soft crisp chewy texture of the sauce saturated rice crisps was fun to eat. Ranging from $22++ to $26++ (small serving), I thought it is an affordable indulgence for a couple.
Eat already, very enjoy..., the next thing I need to do is to research on the origins of "crisp rice bubble" and its related dishes. I still got a lot of work to do but meanwhile, just want to recommend Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant to you.
The next day we went to Si Chuan Dou Hua's Kitchener Road outlet and had Pao Fan, Mui Fan and Hokkien Fried Rice 👈 click
Si Chuan Dou Hua serve many Chinese teas including our favourites from Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants.
Service was impeccable. The enthusiastic staff ensured our tea cups were full at all times. They were also attentive and responsive to all our needs.
Trawling my memory, I first had "crisp rice bubble" in Taipei.
Written by Tony Boey on 21 Oct 2021
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